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3x3 with Todd Martens! · Very Amusing with Carlye Wisel - A Theme Park Podcast

0:11
[SPEAKER_04]: When welcome to Varian Music, you're one stop shop for the story secrets and shenanigans of a popular fuel theme park German.
0:19
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm currently ways out, and I hope that for all of those who did celebrate, not everybody does, but for all those who did celebrate Mother's Day, I hope it went all night.
0:28
[SPEAKER_04]: I have done something in my household where I have just decided that Mother's Day is a holiday where we go to get high T. I don't know why.
0:35
[SPEAKER_04]: That's not a traditional Mother's Day breakfast thing.
0:38
[SPEAKER_04]: I think usually you just go and get eggs.
0:40
[SPEAKER_04]: We went to a buffet a lot when I was younger or you just like, you know, cook breakfast at home.
0:46
[SPEAKER_04]: But no, I'm like, I don't know what it is, but I'm like, Mother's Day means high tea.
0:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Mother's Day means scones and cream.
0:51
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know why, I'm not British.
0:53
[SPEAKER_04]: Like who do I think I am?
0:54
[SPEAKER_04]: And yet, I've started the tradition and Pearl and I love it, and that's all the matters.
0:59
[SPEAKER_04]: That's really all that matters to me.
1:01
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, this week is going to be so fun because my colleague Todd Martin's is back on the podcast.
1:07
[SPEAKER_04]: And just,
1:07
[SPEAKER_04]: Having Todd for an hour to talk is such a delight because Todd is so smart and yet he is a friend And so he lets me yell at him and it's just absolutely Wonderful beyond that.
1:22
[SPEAKER_04]: I am traveling a bunch in the next few weeks I've a lot of exciting stories to bring you.
1:25
[SPEAKER_04]: I cannot wait for it I hope you all are coping with the fact that it is mid bay
1:30
[SPEAKER_04]: It is mid-May somehow and it's kind of making me ill.
1:33
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't wear dead March and April go.
1:35
[SPEAKER_04]: I think they were stolen from us, like the years of COVID.
1:37
[SPEAKER_04]: They're just gone.
1:38
[SPEAKER_04]: They're just gone.
1:39
[SPEAKER_04]: Somebody was playing with a time-turner and they just goofed on us.
1:41
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I don't know what happened.
1:42
[SPEAKER_04]: But it is somehow mid-May.
1:45
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, school is getting out soon.
1:47
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know how that f***ing happened.
1:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know what happened.
1:50
[SPEAKER_04]: That was heavy.
1:50
[SPEAKER_04]: There's only six, but we are in it together.
1:52
[SPEAKER_04]: We are going to laugh and have as much fun as possible.
1:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, also ignoring the very rapid, passing of time.
1:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, I don't think any of the other house key thief stuff, but yeah, I'm just I've been preparing a few episodes for you They're gonna be fun and this one is truly the top of the list.
2:09
[SPEAKER_04]: It's amazing Have so much fun.
2:10
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll get into it on the other side of the break Um, stay tuned many discounts from back to you truly I know if you're someone who like maybe skips past it.
2:17
[SPEAKER_04]: If you're curious about when you're Disney World don't skips Like there's a lot of deals.
2:20
[SPEAKER_04]: You got to know about okay.
2:21
[SPEAKER_04]: I'll see you on the other side.
2:22
[SPEAKER_04]: Uh, love you
2:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Welcome back.
2:43
[SPEAKER_04]: We are so lucky because we have the LA Times' Todd Martin's on the podcast today.
2:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Todd is a colleague and a dear friend, but I also consider him the definitive voice of all things theme parks.
2:55
[SPEAKER_04]: To me, the discussion is not over, and in some way hasn't even really begun until he weighs in.
3:01
[SPEAKER_04]: Nobody writes about these experiences like he does, which is why it's so exciting that the Los Angeles Times just launched a newsletter with Todd's brilliant writing at the forefront.
3:12
[SPEAKER_04]: Mr. Todd's wild ride, a perfect name, by the way, and one I immediately voted yes for when I came up in the group chat, is the best of Todd, the best of theme parks, and the best of a California perspective that you can't find anywhere else.
3:27
[SPEAKER_04]: They
3:27
[SPEAKER_04]: This is after all, this city where it all began, where Walt Disney first made his mark on society, where the first, which people Disney history people will try to argue with me on that, but I'm claiming California for the first big Disney win, okay?
3:40
[SPEAKER_04]: That's just how I feel.
3:41
[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like you really made it once you was here before.
3:44
[SPEAKER_04]: That's how I feel.
3:44
[SPEAKER_04]: You just see really made it once you was here.
3:46
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't want to get it's like Marcelline lore and like the early stuff.
3:48
[SPEAKER_04]: No, no That's what I survived.
3:52
[SPEAKER_04]: This is where Walt Disney first made it huge big big.
3:56
[SPEAKER_04]: This is where the first ever Disney park opened and Where to this day Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Studios and even Josh tomorrow primarily call home
4:05
[SPEAKER_04]: This is the town where the core of the Walt Disney Company is based, and at its biggest hometown paper, the main voice about everything they do is our guy Todd.
4:16
[SPEAKER_04]: He's got a big job and even bigger success doing it.
4:19
[SPEAKER_04]: He is so talented, and he would barf and probably walk away if he heard me say that, but it's true, Todd.
4:25
[SPEAKER_04]: It's true.
4:26
[SPEAKER_04]: He looks at these theme parks with such a valued critical eye, while simultaneously caring so much about them in the same way we do.
4:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Which means, of course, that he's pretty passionate about the subject, and you know this is pretty passionate about theme parks?
4:41
[SPEAKER_04]: You're a resident girl who hops on the mic every week to scream about theme parks.
4:45
[SPEAKER_04]: So when you put the two of us together, things can get a little gloriously volatile.
4:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Todd and I once got into such a heated, but deeply respectful argument that was so intense, like we got into it, it Disney's Grand Caliburian.
5:01
[SPEAKER_04]: than a reporter from the right or not, sorry, not writing a reporter from Vanity Fair was sitting there laughing with us because he couldn't believe that this was our natural state.
5:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Just two friends out for a drink at night, get an at it.
5:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And that is what we're trying to channel some of today for you.
5:17
[SPEAKER_04]: We're trying out a loose kind of new concept here on very amusing, and we couldn't start this one with anyone better.
5:24
[SPEAKER_04]: I just want my colleagues, my friends, the people I'm lucky enough to know firsthand from doing this, who just happened to be the greatest reporters and creators in the industry.
5:33
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to welcome them into my digital home and on the podcast more often.
5:37
[SPEAKER_04]: So when Todd launched his latest and greatest, I knew there was no one better to start with than him.
5:42
[SPEAKER_04]: We're calling this three by three and the way it works is that Todd is going to bring up three topics of theme park conversation.
5:48
[SPEAKER_04]: And so in mind, and we're going to take turns, we're going to discuss, agree, argue, tackle, laugh at each other's extremely strong convictions, and just have a good time among friends who care about these things as deeply as the rest of us do.
6:03
[SPEAKER_04]: It's gonna be fun, it's gonna get heated.
6:06
[SPEAKER_04]: And Adam Minimum, we're gonna get to hear the brightest brain in this sphere up high and about, well, everything that I'm gonna make him up high and about.
6:15
[SPEAKER_04]: It's gonna be so good.
6:16
[SPEAKER_04]: So buckle up because we've got Mr. Todd himself here on very amusing.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, thanks for having me.
6:31
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm so excited because this is just like an excuse for us to hang out during work hours.
6:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all for that and all for chatting and debating with you.
6:40
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, truly, I don't think we've ever gone in hour, hanging out together where we didn't debate something.
6:45
[SPEAKER_00]: No, well, especially because usually, for hanging out, we're at chances at hour at the park.
6:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's something that one of us is seeing that it's like, I'm saying this is awesome when you're like, oh my god, this is horrible or vice versa.
6:56
[SPEAKER_04]: I believe we call that the rivers of light effects.
6:59
[SPEAKER_00]: the greatest nighttime spectacular ever.
7:01
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I didn't have that one on the list for this for this little game because I knew that it would derail the whole episode.
7:07
[SPEAKER_04]: But in retrospect, I got to see it was quite beautiful.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like a ballet on water.
7:14
[SPEAKER_04]: And Derek, Derek, I have done better than having literally nothing there.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but I do agree with you wholeheartedly on the Kite show.
7:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I do miss that.
7:24
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, okay, as long as we are, it's like we're in agreement about cocktails, we should have no issues today.
7:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, as our listeners know it is you know, we are just, we are each can prevent a present, present a few topics.
7:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Todd and I for anyone listening have also prepared backup topics in case we have the same ones.
7:39
[SPEAKER_04]: So don't panic if that happens in real time, but I'll go first, is that fine with you?
7:44
[SPEAKER_04]: That sounds great.
7:44
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, Todd, the first topic.
7:46
[SPEAKER_04]: Give me your thoughts.
7:48
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm Disney California adventure.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I have grown to really love Disney California adventure.
7:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So much so that I think it's one of Disney's stronger North American theme parks.
8:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say so you had open in 2001 as I'm sure all of your listeners know there was it opened to not a lot of fanfare because people were disappointed at black Disney land style attractions.
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, black sort of brand themed environments.
8:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
8:20
[SPEAKER_00]: but I think Disney has done a really good job of course correcting in California adventure.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: The opening of Carsland, I would say Carsland is probably my second favorite land at the Disneyland Resort, second only to New Orleans Square, which has, you know, parts of the Caribbean and on a mansion, and of course was overseeing my wall.
8:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So like,
8:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so I think you're on the square, safe to say number one, because land I feel like it's so majestic, especially if you walk in from the Samson Tokyo area, and you see the mountain range, just sort of come alive before you.
8:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I once joked, you know, with coworkers.
8:55
[SPEAKER_00]: because we're dealing with times and we're going to feature this apartment and a lot of people in the feature's apartment right about nature and and heights and stuff like that.
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like me being out at nature is just being in a car's land.
9:07
[SPEAKER_04]: Which I don't disagree with you.
9:09
[SPEAKER_04]: It is beautiful.
9:10
[SPEAKER_04]: It's man-made, but like, it's gorgeous.
9:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I do have issues with other parts of land.
9:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a big fan of San Francisco, which I think maybe you disagree with.
9:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I'm seeing.
9:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Avengers campus I think need some work, but I'm hopeful that the two new attractions there are building will make it feel more fuller and will make it feel that's like a downtown LA office part.
9:39
[SPEAKER_04]: Harsh, but deserve it.
9:42
[SPEAKER_04]: I, I mean, you had me with liking California adventure, but I don't know if I would call it one of Disney's best American theme parks.
9:51
[SPEAKER_04]: I kind of love, I love California adventure in the sense of like,
9:54
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if you have any chaotic friends, just friends are like very messy, but like you love them, they're so funny, they're so fun, but they will be 45 minutes late to dinner and have a wild excuse.
10:05
[SPEAKER_04]: Like that's kind of how if you DCA is like, oh girl, you're trying and it's just so fun to be here, you know, you're trying like, do you have your redeeming qualities?
10:14
[SPEAKER_04]: You have, you know, other factors that I don't really enjoy, but you know what we're here and we're happy and we're having a good time.
10:21
[SPEAKER_04]: I would say I agree with your car's link, exceptional Avengers campus has not aged well, but I do feel and I'm trying to have a lot of perspective about DCA and I wonder if you feel the same way where I'm trying to appreciate it for this moment in time because it feels like very soon suddenly it's going to be a completely different theme park and I want to appreciate it being a little bit of a mixed bag while it still is.
10:46
[SPEAKER_00]: We with that.
10:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I once I always go back to this moment.
10:50
[SPEAKER_00]: This was maybe 2013-14.
10:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I was sitting with a friend and a part-day circle.
10:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And this would have been, you know, car sign, it just recently opened and before Disney had built Galaxy's Edge, before Disney had built Avengers campus.
11:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And my friend was just like, it's just really nice being in Carthase Circle right now.
11:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Just need feels calm and relaxed.
11:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is all going to change in a few years.
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was right.
11:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It has changed.
11:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And not that I still don't find parts of it can be called me in Relaxing.
11:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I still enjoy Carthase Circle.
11:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think one thing California Venture.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it does a good job of, and this is maybe a controversial topic.
11:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to say with caveats, I think it does a good job with this new live entertainment, like the Vivian Out Dog show that they do during the holidays.
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that show.
11:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I love Donald, the three kept arrows and those characters.
11:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the move on, Lunar New Year, processional is really well done.
11:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you know, I think.
11:41
[SPEAKER_04]: You know that.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so DCA does a good job of bringing in like other cultures.
11:45
[SPEAKER_00]: That being said, when I prays live entertainment, DCA has a giant multi-thousand see theater that is sitting empty.
11:51
[SPEAKER_04]: That's my guy!
11:53
[SPEAKER_04]: That's my guy!
11:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Preach into the choir.
11:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely bonkers.
11:56
[SPEAKER_04]: They haven't changed the ticket price.
11:57
[SPEAKER_04]: They haven't lowered it because they're missing a massive experience and yet, and yet, no show.
12:01
[SPEAKER_04]: Would love to be out of the heat.
12:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Would love to be out of the heat.
12:04
[SPEAKER_04]: No show.
12:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was great because, yeah, if you think about the ticket price, you're paying, you know,
12:11
[SPEAKER_04]: If you're getting a par cop or you're paying 200 bucks give or take whatever the day is, but yeah, you're seeing a Broadway quality show for like 45 to two minutes and usually when they close in attraction, it's to build something else like I understand like, oh, we're going to get something on of this when they close the thing to fix it for repairs like that makes sense.
12:29
[SPEAKER_04]: You want these things to keep working.
12:31
[SPEAKER_04]: They just close the show.
12:32
[SPEAKER_04]: There's no show.
12:33
[SPEAKER_04]: There's just no show.
12:35
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, you know, I my listeners know this.
12:38
[SPEAKER_04]: The the only way for my daughter to see because she was she had a period where she was locked in and obsessed with frozen the musical.
12:44
[SPEAKER_04]: The only way to see a musical on stage rendition of Frozen was to take her on a freaking cruise ship because there was no frozen the Hyperion.
12:51
[SPEAKER_04]: They don't have anything like that in Florida and it's not on Broadway and it wasn't touring near us anytime in the next year.
12:56
[SPEAKER_04]: I had to take her to the ocean.
12:57
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a thing that was an
13:02
[SPEAKER_00]: No, and I think it's important because you talk about like your daughter, and like you talk about seeing those shows, they were really high quality, where there was the first show or the Aladdin show.
13:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was going to be like a child's first experience with like my theater and a massive show like that.
13:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And you could do it in a place that 45 minutes I know is long, maybe for a theme park, but it's still shorter than a two and a half hour Broadway show in New York than you don't want.
13:26
[SPEAKER_04]: And more than friendly than one exactly.
13:29
[SPEAKER_04]: We've lost so much.
13:31
[SPEAKER_04]: We've lost so much.
13:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so it seems like we're counting an agreement on Calvary Adventures current phase of growth.
13:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think overall, I do wonder like what other parks are you like you don't think it's better than like Disney Hollywood Studios?
13:45
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, I mean, that's bottom of the list for me.
13:47
[SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, I do think it's better.
13:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Though I do like their fantasmic has grown on me.
13:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I guess it would be, I mean, if I don't think I've ranked them on the podcast, but it's not better than Epcot.
14:00
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not better than Animal Kingdom, and I'm sure you agree on that.
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely agree on that.
14:05
[SPEAKER_04]: it's just the juxtaposition of having like the redwood creek challenge trail which is stunning stunning like at that nature for me i'm high i mean that's hard club and all that stuff with a 35 pound child like that juxtaposed with when they put decals on the trash cans when they open picks up here it's like oh
14:23
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, like we have a little bit of everything here.
14:25
[SPEAKER_04]: So a park that was more solidly designed and not still in process.
14:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Like it's so much a teenager where it's still like, it's almost reached its final adult form.
14:34
[SPEAKER_04]: I just think it, I would rank it lower because of that, but I voluntarily spend tons of time there.
14:38
[SPEAKER_04]: And I enjoy it, even though it is a kind of disparate experience.
14:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I originally thought I'm glad before we move on to that, I just don't have to say, look, I'm glad you mentioned Pixar Pier, because I do think that was not like an improvement.
14:52
[SPEAKER_00]: was a more pleasing space to spend time in.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And you go to Pixar Pier.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not Disney's best sort of environmental work.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, like, as you sort of said, stickers.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just sort of like, Pixar decals on stuff.
15:04
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I do like, I like the incredible theme.
15:07
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm a credit coaster.
15:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Did you prefer California Scream in?
15:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I did because I don't like the babies on like spears.
15:18
[SPEAKER_04]: I can't I can't argue with that.
15:21
[SPEAKER_04]: I cannot I cannot argue with that.
15:23
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, I think we've wrapped that one up now.
15:25
[SPEAKER_04]: Now, now it's your turn, Mr. Tom.
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I was going to ask you, so since we started on DCA, and I know we'll probably talk about some other parks, but maybe just sort of I wanted to touch on.
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So the changes coming to DCA, they're building Cocoa, and they've announced an Avengers coming to DCA.
15:42
[SPEAKER_00]: There is an online rumor.
15:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know anything about it, so I don't have any inside information, but there has been a debate if they should put
15:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, that's sort of fueled by, you know, some former engineers talking about things online.
15:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But I was just sort of one to ask, well, well, what would you prefer?
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Avatar or Zutopia in DCI?
16:06
[SPEAKER_04]: I would prefer, I was actually talking to my Berista about this yesterday.
16:12
[SPEAKER_04]: I only frequent copy shops where the people who may copy are very well-versed in every part, including Tokyo Disney C. And they were like, they were really hyped.
16:21
[SPEAKER_04]: We were talking about this exactly.
16:22
[SPEAKER_04]: They were really hyped about avatar coming here.
16:24
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's the first person I've actually spoken to in person that was really, really excited about that.
16:29
[SPEAKER_04]: However, I do feel like Zootopia is a better fit for this local crowd.
16:34
[SPEAKER_04]: I think that as utopia land is more visually robust than maybe kind of a scenic avatar one and for a crowd that is primarily visiting over and over and over, I think that having that sort of discovery built in and kind of being a little busy or a little more like a metropolitan vibe, I do think that would be a better place to revisit as a local than something calming like avatar.
16:58
[SPEAKER_04]: So I'm leaning towards that.
16:59
[SPEAKER_04]: How about you?
17:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really interesting.
17:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I go back and forth and I don't have like a strong, so like I don't want to sound wish you watching and I'm afraid I'm going to because there's a part of me that's like there's nothing in California adventure that would be as grand or as beautiful as an avatar area it could be.
17:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I really do love Pandora and Animal Kingdom.
17:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think it's a beautiful space and what they did in Animal Kingdom is it's an IP land But it's so divorce from the timeline of the film so that it kind of doesn't necessarily feel like an IP land I know I agree.
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It just feels like a nature preserve Exactly, so like it's a part of me that's like there's nothing in DCA that would be like as grandly pretty is that And there's also a part of me that is sort of
17:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not necessarily like a world I need to continue to live in, you know, and you know, there's all these conversations online about this app and our have the culture of residents, you know, as you do, yeah, these other films.
17:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'll please Utopia is a better overall fit.
18:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And I like it because it would sort of cartoon city would sort of work well with that Hollywood land, just position.
18:07
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah, you're so right.
18:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So it would feel and
18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're talking about Hollywood plan, you're still talking about like animation and there's the animation building nearby.
18:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So you could more easily draw the connection of, you know, between Hollywood animation and then going into his utopia area.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So I, as much as I'm going to miss the monsters attraction and is one of my favorite dark grads in the park.
18:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The show to you when charming underrated sort of attraction so I go back and forth.
18:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have like a strong opinion on
18:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Part of me wants the beauty of Avatar.
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Part of me does agree with you that Zootopia would be a better fit for what DCI is.
18:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, can I sway you with one single sentence, Doc?
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go for it.
18:55
[SPEAKER_04]: If we had Zootopia, we'd probably have puppetry.
18:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's good.
19:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I do love the puppets.
19:02
[SPEAKER_04]: We love to see the Walt Disney Company and boy puppeteers.
19:05
[SPEAKER_04]: We love to see it.
19:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I do love the puppets.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
19:09
[UNKNOWN]: So,
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And I haven't been to YouTube, hope you're letting sing hi.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you have you you've been there.
19:13
[SPEAKER_04]: I know I haven't, but we didn't episode on it because my friend Rachel worked on it, which is very okay.
19:17
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
19:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember that episode.
19:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know if you'd actually seen it in the flesh, but it looks beautiful.
19:22
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like there's full of life and it looks like there's a lot of activity, which I think would be welcome in DCA as well.
19:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
19:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I do is a little weird because it is arrived with police officers, but we can talk about that later.
19:38
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I know that you were going to have the definitive word on that, and I can't wait to read it if it happens.
19:45
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, I'm looking nervous for whatever you're going to pull out.
19:47
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm scared.
19:49
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, it's your turn.
19:50
[SPEAKER_04]: That's, oh, that was yours.
19:52
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, easy, okay, I survived, I survived.
19:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so I did, okay, so for all of you listening, Todd, and I have a group chat with a few of our colleagues, friends, and I did talk to them on the side.
20:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, fair.
20:07
[SPEAKER_04]: And they were like, this is a good one, you have to ask it.
20:10
[SPEAKER_04]: So the next discussion topic, into your Todd.
20:13
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
20:13
[SPEAKER_04]: What's better, Disney World or Disneyland?
20:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're talking to the entire resort.
20:20
[SPEAKER_04]: We're talking resort.
20:21
[SPEAKER_04]: We're talking resort wine.
20:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I just knew that.
20:24
[SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately, no.
20:30
[SPEAKER_04]: We're wrong answer.
20:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to have the strike one off my list.
20:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And we could talk about it here because I was going to ask you sort of like, what is the theme part of capital of America?
20:39
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't think we didn't have like the trademark slogan.
20:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not correct.
20:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Southern California.
20:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But Disney Land, we've got like the park with one of the most coasters in Magic Mountain.
20:54
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got the original theme park in Disneyland.
20:56
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got an older theme park and that's very far.
20:59
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got one of the best universal parks in Universal Studios Hollywood anyway.
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, I'll tell you why I think Disneyland, why my experience at Disneyland is higher than my experience at Walt Disney World.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And this isn't like a criticism of Walt Disney World.
21:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't go as often as you, but, you know, I've allowed my time in the Walt Disney World and I love animal kingdom.
21:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't really spend any time in the Magic Kingdom when I go to Walt Disney World because Disneyland is so superior.
21:32
[SPEAKER_00]: As more attractions, it has the better versions of every attraction that we both share.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's also, I love the history of Disneyland.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the fact that it was, you know, as Disney likes to say, it was the only part of Walt Walken.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But that does give it that sort of history.
21:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is the part that set the medium.
21:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It's set the tone.
21:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Walt is the world wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Disneyland Park.
21:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Disneyland Paris, Shanghai is Disneyland.
21:56
[SPEAKER_00]: None of these places would exist if it wasn't for Disneyland Park.
21:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So we defined what the modern theme park is.
22:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And then with DCA riding a store, you can walk back and forth.
22:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You could have go to a color place circle, have a nice blunt or dinner, have a beverage, a delta beverage if you're grown up, or, you know, and so I just feel like it's more compact, it's more doable, and there's more overall attractions.
22:22
[SPEAKER_04]: So I actually agree with everything you're singing and yet I know inherently that you're wrong.
22:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, what's your main argument that is incorrect?
22:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The things that like, well, Walt Disney World that are better, like Walt Disney World has better hotels.
22:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think it's weird, aside from the price of airfare, which is, you know, crazy right now.
22:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But I can go to Walt Disney World for four days and spend less than I would at Disney Land for four days, which I do find sort of odd.
22:55
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, but so I do like
23:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the Monterele.
23:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I could ride the Monterele back and forth between transmission, take and center.
23:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be happy.
23:07
[SPEAKER_04]: No, literally.
23:08
[SPEAKER_04]: If they put like a little like dessert tray and something in there, I was going to put a job reason my hand to stop the contemporary get a job breeze.
23:18
[SPEAKER_04]: Get a sweet treat and then pop back on.
23:20
[SPEAKER_04]: Have it.
23:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
23:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, but what is your main argument that tips the scale for Walt Disney?
23:26
[SPEAKER_04]: So I completely understand when people are deeply enamored with Disneyland, it makes sense for the historical perspective.
23:33
[SPEAKER_04]: It is more manageable.
23:34
[SPEAKER_04]: I also love that their fantasy land is impervious, delighting lane.
23:40
[SPEAKER_04]: We still have a piece of a theme park in its semi-original form because there's literally not space to add ways to skip a line.
23:48
[SPEAKER_04]: I love that we have that little taste of OG Disneyland.
23:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I think I agree with all of that, but to me, Disney World is the big show.
23:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Disney World is like the big dream, like if we had more space and we could build even more things, what would we build?
24:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Like to me, Disney Land is the first draft and Disney World is the story you publish.
24:07
[SPEAKER_04]: And I just love that there's, it's endless, like it's truly boundless.
24:12
[SPEAKER_04]: You can go a zillion times and there's always something new that you've never done.
24:16
[SPEAKER_04]: And while it Disneyland, that can also be true because for me, it's a canoes.
24:19
[SPEAKER_04]: There's no way on exercising when I make Disneyland.
24:22
[SPEAKER_04]: But it didn't, but it Disney world.
24:24
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just, there's so many things that I've been going through.
24:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I've been going professionally for over a decade and I still haven't stayed in every single hotel like I still have things and experiences that I haven't done and so to me Disney World really feels like a Disney city.
24:37
[SPEAKER_04]: It feels like a robust location whereas Disneyland's resort, it's somewhere I know I love but it's just not the scale of it doesn't entice me as much at the end of the day.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it took me a while to get to this point because I grew up, we both grew up in the Midwest and grew up outside of Chicago and you grew up in Chicago areas, well, and so like our family vacations were to Walt Disney World, they weren't too Disneyland, so we were going to Walt Disney World every year for you know, seven to 10 days.
25:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So Walt Disney World was my home park and then when I came out here to go to college.
25:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to just think that for the first time, this would have been before they built DCA before they built the Grand California, so it wasn't, you know, a quote unquote resort, which is a parking lot in a park and like I got on the monorail and like you could see when you're going down a hover pole of art, you could see, you know, fast food restaurants and I'm like, oh my god, this is horrible.
25:27
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, oh my god, even back in the day, you like this evening, you like to be immersed.
25:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like, as you go to Walt Disney World, that's just like you just see trees and swam plan when you're on the Monterele outside of the parks or you see hotels if you're in the Magic Kingdom loop, you know, but if you're going to have caught, you see mainly just trees and a street.
25:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was like, you know, it didn't feel immersed.
25:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So it took me a while to get here, but I think as I've gotten more into the history of the parks, as I've gotten more into why these places matter, why these things exist.
25:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think I've just sort of tip a scale toward Disneyland.
26:00
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I love the fact that you could go there and, you know, you could walk on Main Street and pick up those little phones in the Starbucks and listen to these old timey recordings of 1920s callers.
26:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I just love it has those little sort of like wall era touches.
26:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And I also love that, you know, it has Galaxy's Edge.
26:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't have to go to a separate park to do those two attractions.
26:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that it has Roger Abbott, which is a great dark pride and I love that it has Indiana Jones.
26:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's got all the stuff in one park.
26:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it is there is a lot there really is a lot that's all close to each other like I I went I mean I'm always there I've been a few days ago and I walked from the parking garage and I walked back and I looked at my watch at the end of the day and I only had 7000 steps like I walked around Disneyland all day and didn't crack 10000 steps because it's that compact which is just while that all of that is in a tiny area.
26:56
[SPEAKER_00]: No, when I go there and work and come home with like 5,000, 6,000 staffs and like I want to even go like I didn't get in pain like exercise for the day.
27:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, because in your head you're like, oh, I'm walking between all these lands.
27:05
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm busy.
27:06
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm moving around.
27:07
[SPEAKER_04]: No.
27:07
[SPEAKER_04]: And I went all the way back to Tune Town and back nothing.
27:11
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just, I mean, there are benefits to being small.
27:12
[SPEAKER_04]: There are, you know, complications because it's packed when it's packed, but there are benefits even though I was in head cock kid and so that was my podcast.
27:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I have a figment tattoo, so like I love that park.
27:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I still love that park, but it's it's just it's not the same.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I don't know.
27:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, do you get taught?
27:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you get the Disney when you get like the Disney rush of Glee?
27:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you get that at Disney land?
27:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, how am I doing like every time I walk into Disneyland, I feel just like a warming, calming sort of presence.
27:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if that's the rush and breathe you're talking about.
27:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mostly get that a Disney world where I'm like, oh, I'm here.
27:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I'm not in the place.
27:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, I know.
27:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So I, and just the world does have animal kingdom, which is my second favorite park in North America.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so I do love that about it.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I go to Disney world, I tend to spend at least two days in animal kingdom.
28:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But I know, it's the history, it's the charm, it's the fact that you can walk between two parts.
28:20
[SPEAKER_00]: There's so much to do.
28:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that you can walk between two parts, there's so much to do.
28:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like there's still things that haven't done at Disneyland.
28:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I've done all the attractions at this point because the other time it's maybe do a ride right in a couple of years ago.
28:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So the last few things I hadn't done, which was the news, I had put that off as well.
28:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, once I did it, it was lovely.
28:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, um, basically you're on the water.
28:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, just like a foot above it.
28:57
[SPEAKER_04]: Couldn't be me.
28:57
[SPEAKER_04]: Couldn't be me.
28:58
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not roasting out in the heat working for my working for my corn dog, no way.
29:05
[SPEAKER_04]: But okay, wow, that was more civil than I anticipated.
29:07
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm proud of us.
29:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I didn't, I've been more civil these days, you know.
29:14
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going proud of you, Dad.
29:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess so it's my turn.
29:20
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
29:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess what is your favorite attraction at Disneyland and why is it it's a small world?
29:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh sweet Jesus Todd, I think in the business, we would call that a leading question, sir.
29:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, the funny thing is that that is the right I go on most often now because it's my child's favorite.
29:41
[SPEAKER_04]: So I am on it all the time and it has made me
29:46
[SPEAKER_04]: So it has made me almost hate the Disney World version because the Disneyland one, I am with you on that.
29:52
[SPEAKER_04]: It is so far superior, and the holiday version is very nice, I really think I like an overlay.
29:58
[SPEAKER_04]: But if I'm there on my own, I'm not, I'm not.
30:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Like I'm simply not going on this is a small world.
30:06
[SPEAKER_04]: okay my favorite attraction for a while i was a real space mountain person i do prefer it at Disney World to Disneyland which is a controversial take i know yeah that's wrong yes i know i know i know i know i know i'm in the wrong and yet it just when i'm at Disney land on space mountain i don't feel like i could exit that ride with one less limb
30:25
[SPEAKER_04]: And even though that's never gonna happen, it's just ooh, like the risk of dizzy world.
30:29
[SPEAKER_04]: You're like, I'm scared to put my arms up.
30:30
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know what could happen.
30:31
[SPEAKER_04]: I just love it so much.
30:32
[SPEAKER_04]: And also, like, ooh, there's so much more rides smell at Disney World.
30:35
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if what it is.
30:36
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like the swamp water.
30:38
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, ooh, like the rides just have that rides smell.
30:40
[SPEAKER_04]: I just, ooh, it's like hydraulics and standing water.
30:43
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know what it is, but it's great.
30:44
[SPEAKER_04]: And I get more of it at Disney World.
30:46
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
30:46
[SPEAKER_04]: My favorite ride at Disneyland.
30:49
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, okay, now I'm just visually looking through all of it.
30:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Monsters Inc has been big in the rotation, but it has been boosted by the fact that it's closing.
30:58
[SPEAKER_04]: So I feel like that didn't count.
31:00
[SPEAKER_04]: I think I'm going to say rise of the resistance.
31:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to argue with rise of the resistance.
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's a small world, this is my favorite attraction, just because it's the only ride you're just in that
31:14
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I know, I don't want to empty my answer.
31:17
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to say it's a tie between Rise of the Resistance and Peter Pan.
31:20
[SPEAKER_04]: I never get to go on your hand because I believe is it Peter Pan's flight?
31:24
[SPEAKER_04]: They're also.
31:24
[SPEAKER_04]: I believe so.
31:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I believe so.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I could be wrong.
31:27
[SPEAKER_04]: To me, it is okay.
31:29
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to say Rise of the Sixth Place, Peter Pan first.
31:31
[SPEAKER_04]: Because I'm rarely on it, even though I love it, because that line is just...
31:35
[SPEAKER_04]: brutal, but like the facts that you can go to Disneyland and go on a ride and someone's just like pulling a lever like we're at it like we're as state fair with this IP craziness.
31:48
[SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, I'm going to go.
31:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to go Peter Pan.
31:50
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to go Peter Pan.
31:52
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I can respect Peter Pan.
31:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going with a classic.
31:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going with a 50s, 19 55 attractions.
31:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're you're going with, you know,
32:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Something that makes Disneyland special.
32:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So I could agree with that, you know, small world like I love the art of Mary Blair, you know, so that is for me, like entire ride is, you know, as all of us know, is designed in her style.
32:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me, it's just like a ride through like in our gallery.
32:15
[SPEAKER_00]: that I've grown to really a lot of over the years.
32:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, I love parts of the care being and then on the mention of the other classics.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know, I found once, once I came out, as it's a small world being my favorite production, but I got a lot of raised eyebrows.
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I, I, I, okay, okay, okay, because you just mentioned it's your daughter's favorite attraction, so it's like, oh, she's only been in five-year-old.
32:42
[SPEAKER_00]: She's new.
32:43
[SPEAKER_04]: She's new to the world.
32:44
[SPEAKER_04]: She hasn't been right for the resistance, and she's barely been on Peter Pan, because her mom is impatient.
32:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you get angry or frustrated when the boats start bumping into each other?
32:53
[SPEAKER_00]: No, because I get to stay longer in that universe.
32:59
[SPEAKER_04]: I get, I don't know why.
33:00
[SPEAKER_04]: There's something in me where I'm like, oh, operationally should it be doing this?
33:05
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I don't know what it is.
33:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I have, I don't know, my brain, like short circuits, and I try to just tamper it, but it still bothers me, and I don't know why.
33:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I try to make it my last ride of the day.
33:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Pirates of the Caribbean, like, if I'm going to do a ride day at Disneyland, Pirates of the Caribbean is usually the first attraction I do, because when we went to Walt Disney World, that was my dad's favorite attraction, so we would rush to it in the park, so just like out of homage to him and tradition, I always try to make pirates my first attraction.
33:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But then, like, I like the end of the day with its small world, because it's also, you know, 14, 15, 16 minutes long, and you can just sort of like relax.
33:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And look at the dancing figures and it's so weird, too.
33:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you really look at it, you know, like everything is like these weird, crazy psychedelic animals, like it's not just sort of, like it's not people talk about oh, it's just a bunch of dolls.
33:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like weird dolls.
33:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, man.
33:59
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and some of them like sometimes want to be a little wonky.
34:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
34:03
[SPEAKER_04]: That's fun.
34:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So, but I'm not going to argue with Bride's resistance, it's definitely the best modern Disney attraction.
34:09
[SPEAKER_04]: I, yeah, I hadn't been on it in a while.
34:11
[SPEAKER_04]: Again, like, if stuff is tricky to go on and if I'm there with Pearl, I can't go on it.
34:15
[SPEAKER_04]: But I was some friends and was like, oh, this ride still rocks.
34:19
[SPEAKER_04]: And we were in the second row of the ride vehicle and the front row was also a handful of friends but they'd never been on it.
34:25
[SPEAKER_04]: And being on it with people who've never been on it
34:28
[SPEAKER_04]: So fun, even though we did not know them, but all of the reactions were so, I mean, they were just so endearing because like, even after all this time, after track list isn't just special anymore, like we have a lot of track list stuff globally now.
34:42
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, oh, like they were just blown away by it, and I was like, yeah, this ride still rocks.
34:46
[SPEAKER_04]: It's still rocks, it's crazy what they did.
34:47
[SPEAKER_04]: It's really good.
34:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a few months ago, I was on it with some people, some strangers who'd never been on it before and had no idea the drop was coming in and they all screamed and then like if another eye they all clap and I just like, it was like, oh, kind of like tear it up a little.
35:19
[SPEAKER_04]: OK, Todd, I think we've made it to my third and final topic.
35:23
[SPEAKER_04]: And I don't know what you're going to say about this, but I would love to know your take on theme park food festivals.
35:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Interesting.
35:31
[SPEAKER_04]: We got Epont, we got DCA.
35:34
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't think there's anything else, if it's bubble.
35:37
[SPEAKER_04]: But mostly those two.
35:38
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, there's knots, but I don't really...
35:41
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't go to the boys in very fast a little anymore, so.
35:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, why don't you go to the boys in very fast?
35:46
[SPEAKER_04]: I should have thought about that before I said that out loud.
35:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, I went a few years ago with my husband, then, who you know, and we had a voice in very case of Dia.
35:57
[SPEAKER_04]: And the way we tell the story is that we usually ask people and say, where do you think the voice in Barry wasn't the case of Dia?
36:02
[SPEAKER_04]: And every answer is wrong, because it wasn't inside the case of Dia.
36:06
[SPEAKER_04]: It wasn't part of the cheese.
36:09
[SPEAKER_04]: It was the tortilla.
36:11
[SPEAKER_04]: It was a boys and very tortilla and I'm just like they're doing too much with fruit here.
36:15
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm tapping out like I just I don't need a voice if I don't need a voice and very tortilla.
36:20
[SPEAKER_04]: That's not something I need in my life.
36:21
[SPEAKER_04]: There's a reason that's not a staple of Mexican culture because it's not that good.
36:25
[SPEAKER_04]: Not not as a great park but not so if I'm driving all the way there I'm going to Disneyland.
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the boy's very festival.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I did notice in recent years, it's more like poisonberry flavor, like there's not actual real boys and berries and the stuff, but I think that has to do with the difficulty.
36:41
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not many farms that make poisonberries, any more.
36:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But, but on the question of food, fast.
36:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a scale of 1-10, I'm maybe, like, a buy.
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I could take her leave them.
36:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, okay.
36:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I know we've like walk around food fest before and I know we have had this conversation in times.
37:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I do agree with you on the sense.
37:05
[SPEAKER_00]: If a food item is back good, it should just be on the menu somewhere.
37:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
37:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I do 100% agree with you on that.
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know, I don't think a lot of times the food fest,
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't think they're a great deal because every item is between nine or $11 these days or $10 and they're all just a couple bites and they'll feel a little fast foodie or a lot of them feel a little fast foodie.
37:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I like when they change up the menu at a lamp light lounge or something and you can go get a nice dish or you know whatever, but the actual like.
37:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Tiosks of the food things, you know, I don't do, I don't really write about them.
37:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't do like a big like here the best, you know, five food kiosks.
37:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think ATL times we found there's not a huge audience for that.
38:02
[SPEAKER_00]: There are like places like Disney Food blog that do that much better than me.
38:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, let's just something I see to those outlets, you know, and I think for us, and for me, it's also not something like, I don't get a big kick out of running around all day going from food kiosks to food kiosks.
38:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that it adds a sense of life to the park.
38:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that there's, you know, with Disney Food and Wine, there's, you know, some music, and there is that little goofy show and the chef show, which is fun.
38:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the game is always good.
38:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so it adds a sense of life to the park.
38:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But when it comes to the actual food, keyouts, I could take a really good one.
38:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm right there with you.
38:38
[SPEAKER_04]: I do think sometimes there's like a really fun dish that I would maybe go out and wait me to get.
38:43
[SPEAKER_04]: I will never see an ill word about Lunar New Year.
38:46
[SPEAKER_04]: The only festival I partake in because I think it's perfect, it's wonderful.
38:50
[SPEAKER_04]: It's wonderful.
38:50
[SPEAKER_04]: In the fact that like, I don't know if I'm sure you remember this Universal Studios Hollywood you said Lunar New Year and then they just stopped doing it one day.
38:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I forgot what they stopped doing.
38:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember they did it.
39:00
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, remember they had in that what did they call that big open like helicopter landing space at the front of the park?
39:05
[SPEAKER_04]: What is that?
39:06
[SPEAKER_04]: The place that I saw you at for fanfic nights.
39:08
[SPEAKER_04]: What is that area called?
39:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Like the hug.
39:11
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that air is called.
39:12
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know.
39:12
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
39:13
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just like empty.
39:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That little circular area.
39:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
39:17
[SPEAKER_04]: Like that's where they had it.
39:18
[SPEAKER_04]: And they had like, I think, Po was there or one of the characters.
39:22
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, there was just all this stuff.
39:23
[SPEAKER_04]: And then now it's gone.
39:24
[SPEAKER_04]: And I just love that Disneyland is still doing linear.
39:27
[SPEAKER_04]: Because there's really nowhere else that you can experience like that.
39:30
[SPEAKER_04]: And also, I think they do an incredible job of honoring different cultures as part of it.
39:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Just think they do a great job of it.
39:34
[SPEAKER_04]: of the new year.
39:35
[SPEAKER_04]: But the rest of the festivals, I really, it just, it doesn't really do anything for me.
39:41
[SPEAKER_04]: I also, I don't, I don't like getting food and then being like, where am I going to sit, which is somebody of a universal, all around Disneyland Resort issue at the moment, but that's great.
39:51
[SPEAKER_04]: You just walk to flows and hope for the best.
39:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Hopefully you find an outdoor table with shade.
39:56
[SPEAKER_04]: But it just, I don't know, I'm kind of like, this is not the ideal
40:00
[SPEAKER_04]: set up for making food products.
40:03
[SPEAKER_04]: The temporary kitchen is never ideal, like a real, a real proper kitchen is a better place to cook food in, I think.
40:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes they're bangers, like there's a violent lemonade at Epcot because it has always been really good, but it's not, it's not something I'm a fan of, and
40:19
[SPEAKER_04]: Also, I don't think we've talked about this, but if you're ever at Epcot during a festival at night time or especially on a weekend night people are really intoxicated like the crowd generally is pretty pretty intoxicated in a way that I don't like to be a part of
40:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, I don't like to move through a crowd like that as though you're at a late night concert, but it's just people at the festival.
40:44
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's because there's a lot of reasons to drink fun things with these festivals.
40:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not racking on that.
40:50
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just like, oh, it's definitely a different crowd than you'll get anywhere else.
40:53
[SPEAKER_04]: It Disney parks otherwise.
40:54
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's not one that I really want to be in.
40:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been at Walt Disney World twice during Epcot, various festivals they do, and all their festivals have food kiosks and special things.
41:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will say, yeah, it's a very intense sort of thing.
41:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Like even early in the day, like even around the 11, I was like, people are already like partying it up.
41:14
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, me being like, when am I getting my next job for you?
41:18
[SPEAKER_04]: So I could not be me, could not be me getting a seasonal drink ever.
41:22
[SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, yeah, I'm just, I was curious what you thought
41:28
[SPEAKER_04]: It's this thing that we know, we know is being done because it makes money, like that's why that's why you do things like this and it's it's drawing tourism to both of the parks.
41:38
[SPEAKER_04]: It's making people go because they like to participate in them, but it is the juxtaposition against the, you know, lovingly crafted themed environments behind it, it is just a little more like.
41:47
[SPEAKER_04]: Look, a fun sushi.
41:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Like it's not as thought through as some of the permanent experiences.
41:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I... One thing I don't like about food tests as you just sort of alluded to is, like, when you're walking through, like, the area around the little mermaid, that kind of course.
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And you hear, like, pop music, like, I just want to hear, okay, control.
42:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I, if I had a home, I'll listen to him, like, I like the man.
42:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes, yes.
42:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I just want to hear it.
42:17
[SPEAKER_04]: Listen, shout out for Hanukkah, I get it.
42:19
[SPEAKER_04]: We don't always want here, but Yahoo, like there's very limited options.
42:23
[SPEAKER_04]: But it is funny to be like, oh, those three local girls, when you're like truly in a themed land, it is a little like, oh wait, why?
42:30
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, Jewish?
42:31
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, like it just takes, it's like a long thought process.
42:33
[SPEAKER_04]: I appreciate it again.
42:34
[SPEAKER_04]: I will take any hunk of this building we can get.
42:36
[SPEAKER_04]: But it is, I'm right there with you.
42:38
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a little like, wait, what was happening?
42:40
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a little confusing.
42:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
42:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And the only other thing I thought of on Food Fests is, like, I remember we're both friends with the folks at Disney Food blog.
42:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was reading one of their write ups of, like, you know, one of the chicken wings at one of the Disney Lab, DCI Food Fests.
42:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And their write up was, you know, they're not quite as good as Buffalo Wild Wings.
42:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, well, Buffalo Wild Wings, we aren't that good to begin with.
43:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, why do I want these wings?
43:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, I haven't had, we called it BW3 back in the day.
43:06
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know why because there's two
43:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Anyway, um, I haven't had them in 20 years, but they slapped when I had them a long time ago.
43:15
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I mean, yeah.
43:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Should be back.
43:17
[SPEAKER_04]: Is there what in the way?
43:19
[SPEAKER_00]: There is one in the light.
43:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually close to me.
43:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's near, uh, it's on the border of downtown and Chinatown.
43:24
[SPEAKER_04]: Wait, can we go?
43:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we go.
43:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to go.
43:27
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to go to bubble a while.
43:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, go.
43:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
43:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't teach you to margaritaville.
43:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So take bubble a while, please.
43:33
[SPEAKER_04]: met at a common place, Todd, who went to Baba Gump, which I think, and had everything we needed and had items for you, and had items for me in my broken stomach.
43:43
[SPEAKER_04]: It was great.
43:44
[SPEAKER_04]: I did.
43:45
[SPEAKER_04]: What did I just order like a whole steamed head of broccoli?
43:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You did.
43:49
[SPEAKER_00]: How old?
43:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And then like brain chicken.
43:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Well my my late I need lately as someone who is filling out every Disney land survey when they're like What would you like more of and I'm like how they food?
43:57
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, I can't get a plane chicken breast and you wear it these parks usually and so to go to go to To go to public up you able to get some plane chicken enough to sustain me if I wanted a treat then I'd have enough protein as a layer to survive Just say it.
44:13
[SPEAKER_04]: Just say it.
44:13
[SPEAKER_04]: It's nice.
44:13
[SPEAKER_04]: So if they had a festival booth that was like
44:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Green juice, a Bob Plain Chicken, and like Air One's finest energy bites like I'd be 10 out of 10 food best.
44:26
[SPEAKER_04]: There's never, there's never healthy options and it's frustrating because you know some of
44:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I don't just agree with that.
44:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't I don't go in.
44:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a churro or circulate person.
44:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So I come to wait.
44:43
[SPEAKER_04]: What is your, what is your like theme parks snack?
44:45
[SPEAKER_04]: What do you?
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm having like a theme parks snack like on the level of like a churro or circulate.
44:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I would gravitate toward the corn dog.
44:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't land.
44:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, hell.
44:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
44:54
[SPEAKER_04]: That's a man of taste people.
44:57
[SPEAKER_04]: Are you willing to get a corn dog anywhere, but the little red wagon?
45:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I always want to go to a little red wagon.
45:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I did get a corn dog once in DCA, and I don't know, I don't, to me it was, it was, I didn't really taste big difference.
45:17
[SPEAKER_04]: So like, but it's just the branding of the wagon feels so.
45:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the branding of the wagon and it's that sort of off-mainstream.
45:23
[SPEAKER_04]: And yeah, it's nice.
45:25
[SPEAKER_04]: It's nice.
45:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I haven't had one a long time.
45:27
[SPEAKER_04]: Ooh, that would be good.
45:28
[SPEAKER_04]: That would be good.
45:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, okay.
45:30
[SPEAKER_04]: Those are all my topics.
45:31
[SPEAKER_04]: I think we have just one left from you.
45:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if there is, this is off the top of my head.
45:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't a one I wrote down.
45:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So if there is something that we could import from Walt Disney World, which you prefer over Disneyland for reasons, I don't probably understand.
45:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But if there is something we could import from Walt Disney World, you know, attraction wise to Disneyland, what would you want that to be?
45:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, here I realize the problem because I feel like even though I am somewhat newer to the Disney game than people who really grew up and fell in love with it as a child, I feel like there is so much baked in nostalgia at Disney World, like these old, like the old buildings, the ride smell, like I feel like anything you transferred would be newer and it just wouldn't feel the same.
46:17
[SPEAKER_04]: It wouldn't feel as like special and old, but if I had to bring something,
46:24
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, my brain's going straight to f-caught.
46:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think just like, yeah, that's the correct part.
46:29
[SPEAKER_04]: I guess just, you know what, I'm going to take it back, but you're not going to be mad.
46:32
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to say if we could get a people mover back, if we could get a functioning people mover and tomorrow land, I think I would be, I could die happy.
46:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So that can actually frustrated with that answer because you went to classic Disney attraction and I can't argue with a people mover because like we would love to function people mover and I want like I want retro I want something retro, but like I love living with the land if you brought that here would be like.
47:00
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, I like it just wouldn't make sense.
47:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Spaceship Earth, where would they put it?
47:04
[SPEAKER_04]: How many Howard Johnson's would they have to bulldoze to bulldoze spaceship Earth here?
47:07
[SPEAKER_04]: You know what I mean?
47:08
[SPEAKER_04]: So I would love, I would love a transportation.
47:11
[SPEAKER_04]: I would also love something.
47:14
[SPEAKER_04]: This is what like my, I mean, when I was like, really just blue sky thinking.
47:18
[SPEAKER_04]: When they were like changing, you know, it was like Star Wars Galaxy's Edge was opening.
47:21
[SPEAKER_04]: What are they going to do about search words?
47:23
[SPEAKER_04]: I was like, oh, but if they built a DCA, then there's like a tunnel underground.
47:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I would love something that transports you from Disneyland to DCA because a Montréal does not do that, for people who are not, well, with Disneyland, the Montréal does not, it goes through DCA, but I don't stop.
47:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I would love some sort of underground attraction that brings you between parks.
47:41
[SPEAKER_04]: So if a people mover in tomorrow land could do that, that would give me a little of that dark spaceship earth energy, it would be special, but also be transportation which I want.
47:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I want like a people mover, a casual transportation that is in attraction.
47:56
[SPEAKER_04]: I would love that.
47:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I can't argue with that, because I was going toward, like, I just want a mini-air endo.
48:04
[SPEAKER_04]: A mini-air endo?
48:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
48:09
[SPEAKER_04]: You really?
48:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I mean, I love that attraction in upcot.
48:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's one of upcot's stronger attractions.
48:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to say best, of course, because there's so many classic attractions in upcot, space of birth, living with land.
48:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I love both those, and journey into imagination, which is a shell of its former
48:32
[SPEAKER_00]: but I'm not going to, I can't criticize anything with figment, but I do love that frozen attraction and I would just love, it's an attraction that Disney has been improving upon and it's international parks.
48:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't been and the most recent additions, but I watched all the ride through videos.
48:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's an attraction Disney has been making improvements upon that I just feel like it deserves to be at Disneyland.
48:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of Disney's most popular franchises.
48:55
[SPEAKER_00]: There's two movies on the way.
48:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, there are.
48:59
[SPEAKER_04]: I forgot about that.
49:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So is there an attraction at the Disneyland Resort that you think should be removed and people would get mad at you for oh my god.
49:16
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's like a lot of times which I wonder if you've also felt this with ranking anything, there's like your brain and then professional your brain.
49:24
[SPEAKER_04]: So like there's this stuff that the ranking that I like I did ride rankings for travel leisure a million years ago and I got roasted.
49:31
[SPEAKER_04]: But it wasn't my personal perspective.
49:33
[SPEAKER_04]: It was like the professional I professionally thought were the actual rankings like that.
49:37
[SPEAKER_04]: So professionally my answer would be different.
49:41
[SPEAKER_04]: But if I could
49:45
[SPEAKER_04]: I can't believe I'm saying this, Todd, I'm going to remove Tiana's body would venture.
49:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no.
49:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I just hate people I've been saying it all the time, because I, while I do think that moments were like, you know, the drop, everyone can see it, it's kinetic, I love that.
50:06
[SPEAKER_04]: First of all, when they reintroduce when they introduce the new version of the ride, I reported on it favorably, I liked it, but the truth is, I haven't gone back on it because I don't wanna get wet.
50:18
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't like being wet at a theme park.
50:20
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't like having a soggy diaper, but I don't want it.
50:23
[SPEAKER_04]: So for me personally, I'm not really going on this ride.
50:27
[SPEAKER_04]: And so much of the ride is just hidden, you know, it's indoors, you don't really see it.
50:33
[SPEAKER_04]: And if that space could be reimagined
50:35
[SPEAKER_04]: outdoors because like you see I'm not cutting a water ride from DCA because I feel like even though that ride is a pretty standard rath ride.
50:43
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to keep calling it called a river wrap it is not called a river wrap-ins.
50:46
[SPEAKER_04]: What is what am I flanking on?
50:47
[SPEAKER_04]: What is it?
50:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, grizzly river run.
50:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
50:52
[SPEAKER_04]: Like grizzly river run adds to the land.
50:55
[SPEAKER_04]: It has the same kinetic energy, but there's places that you can walk past it and like it's gleeful to see people on it.
51:00
[SPEAKER_04]: I think that's nice.
51:02
[SPEAKER_04]: Tina does buy you adventure.
51:03
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like that whole land feels a little that whole area feels a little like a hallway because you're boxed in by the attraction that again, you only get to see if you're willing to be have your sneakers completely soaked at the end of the day.
51:15
[SPEAKER_04]: So for me, like if that instead of that, it was more of an outdoor ride that all of us could like I feel like it breath so much life into that land like maybe you can see it from hungry bear like look over a perch and see the right like that is what I would remove just to provide something more visual.
51:31
[SPEAKER_04]: for the rest of the park because also a lot of stuff on that side of the park is in.
51:36
[SPEAKER_04]: You see a little bit of Winnie the Pooh, I'll give them that.
51:38
[SPEAKER_04]: But, you know, Haunted Mansion is inside.
51:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Like Pirates is inside of us, you're in the queue, like it's in.
51:44
[SPEAKER_04]: Whereas, like a fantasy land, you're seeing Dumbo, like you're seeing a mad tea party, you're seeing all these things happen.
51:51
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's really fun to be involved even if you're not on the ride.
51:54
[SPEAKER_04]: But in that part of the park, and I know someone's going to be like, but the canoes move.
51:57
[SPEAKER_04]: But you can't see the canoes move.
51:59
[SPEAKER_04]: In that part of the park, it just kind of feels like there's a wall.
52:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Like once you leave Haunted Mansion, it's like there's not much until you get to the fork in the road.
52:08
[SPEAKER_04]: So I would sadly remove it.
52:10
[SPEAKER_04]: What would you remove the people would be mad at you about?
52:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I would only have John is, but do you want to specify like some part of your, you party or frustration with the attraction is the wetness like it's not the characters is not the IP.
52:21
[SPEAKER_04]: It's always exclusively the wetness and again, I have not been on it.
52:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not doing my job because I haven't been on it, but I have heard that there have been animatronic issues and if I am walking around with soggy sneakers,
52:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I best be seeing Tiana in her full form.
52:39
[SPEAKER_04]: If Tiana is not moving, and I am soaking wet.
52:42
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, oh, if I have wet underwear and Tiana is not like truly presenting to me at the end of the ride, it's a game over.
52:47
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I understand the witness.
52:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a friend who came up with me and ran into it just landed we went on that.
52:54
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't go on that attack.
52:55
[SPEAKER_00]: She went on parts of the Caribbean and she got a little wet on that.
52:57
[SPEAKER_00]: She was like my days over.
52:59
[SPEAKER_04]: I think I should be friends with your friend.
53:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Same right.
53:04
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, but I think I loved the honours.
53:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think it's an improvement.
53:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the Princess and Frog being in the park.
53:12
[SPEAKER_00]: But if I were to remove something, and I don't know if this would be super controversial, although they just improved it a while this new world just a couple weeks ago, I would remove the buzz light
53:26
[SPEAKER_04]: That is not even like top 10 of what I thought you were going to say.
53:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm curious what you thought I was going to say.
53:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But so I think that is one of my least favorite attractions after Disneyland Resort.
53:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's outdated.
53:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think as a person who plays a lot of video games, there's nothing I can do on that attraction that I can't do on, you know, my iPhone in 2026.
53:46
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm sure you're not wrong.
53:50
[SPEAKER_04]: I've never thought of it this way.
53:51
[SPEAKER_04]: You're not wrong.
53:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's like a misguided theme park design.
53:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's sort of like we're going to build a video game attraction and we're just going to put you in a video as opposed to actually like using interactivity in a creative or useful way.
54:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
54:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I just feel like dark ride.
54:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You could put a little dark ride in there.
54:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got new IPs to play with.
54:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Or they could just improve it.
54:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard good things about the Walt Disney World changes.
54:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't been on it.
54:21
[SPEAKER_00]: It just opened a couple weeks ago.
54:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard good things.
54:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe that improvement does quote unquote fix my issues.
54:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But having not run on it, I can't say that it has.
54:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would say that would be the ride.
54:33
[SPEAKER_04]: I would give it a. Wow.
54:35
[SPEAKER_04]: I always forget it's there.
54:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I truly forget it like haven't thought about it in months.
54:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I never go on and I haven't been on it since I had to do ride rankings for the paper.
54:45
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the last time I went on it and I'll be won't go on it ever again and let's like a friend wanted to do it.
54:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And then like I would do it with that person, but you know, and I would keep my mouth shut until after we wrote it.
54:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I would be like, I'll let me do this.
54:58
[SPEAKER_04]: I'll let you were there with me and you'd be like absolutely not for the star.
55:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Ugh, I love Disneyland.
55:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, we have to wrap up.
55:08
[SPEAKER_04]: We've been talking for so long, but I am one final question for you that just popped in my head that I feel like is the perfect, I'll do it quick.
55:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
55:14
[SPEAKER_04]: Perquestion to end this interview with.
55:17
[SPEAKER_04]: What single announcement are you hoping for most at D23 this year?
55:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.
55:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, everybody, I think the first in the jumps in to most Disney Disneyland, the mind, I think the first jumps into the like mind of Disneyland fans would be Marlon, but I've given up on that and that's just not, I don't think it's priority.
55:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And.
55:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it's priority because smiling does have a fair number of rejections, you know, Star-Thorus face mountain and, uh, you know, uh, the submarine and Buzz Lightyear and Autopia, that still draw people.
55:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's not like a huge incentive to quote and quote fix it.
55:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I would want is
56:03
[SPEAKER_00]: The pipe dream would be an original attraction.
56:06
[SPEAKER_00]: What I've always wanted is like a fun house, dark ride in Pixar Pier.
56:11
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh my god, that would be so good.
56:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Like something that sort of plays off like mystic manner.
56:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can even make it like IP.
56:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you can make like the toy story.
56:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you could just take that monkey from mystic manner and make it like the toy story monkey or something.
56:29
[SPEAKER_04]: That would be so fun.
56:31
[SPEAKER_00]: just sort of like, so my pipe dream would be like a original attraction, but sort of like a fun house, sort of dark ride, the sort of like a haunted mansion, but silly and goofy and fun, not the haunted mansion isn't silly and goofy and fun, so that was a bad thing to say.
56:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But just isn't trying to be like spooky and scary, something that is just like silly and fun housey and mirrors and craziness.
56:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would be like my pipe dream on a smaller scale, more reality would be something with Disneyland fallward.
56:58
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to use those expansions spaces next to the Pixar Pier hotel.
57:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for the place hotel.
57:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Great answers.
57:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, do you have one?
57:10
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I have a few, I'm going to do an episode on it, so I'm holding back.
57:13
[SPEAKER_04]: But besides Hyperion Fear, which is always top of mind, I would love to see something happen to the carousel of progress building in Tomorrowland, it doesn't even last.
57:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course.
57:22
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not asking for a whole land redo.
57:24
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm not being greedy, but that does feel like such wasted space.
57:28
[SPEAKER_04]: I know it's currently, it's currently being used for imagination campus, I believe, to the point where I tried to go in there, just because there's a bunch of stuff to look at, and they were like, you got to get out.
57:37
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's not even like, even when it was being used as a kind of Star Wars museum, it's not even that anymore.
57:42
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's just the DVC launch upstairs.
57:43
[SPEAKER_04]: So it is the same on channel.
57:44
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's like this non-public space that I think could be really, really utilized much better.
57:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, 100% I agree with you on that.
57:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it could be a huge money maker if there was some sort of fun bar or like, like non-alcoholic, like some sort of like they were only doing like, you know, like an anti-gravity style tomorrow land here, ice cream with a pop rock in it, something.
58:03
[SPEAKER_04]: Like if that was there, I think it would really, it would be beneficial for everyone.
58:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect one disagree.
58:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you so much.
58:09
[SPEAKER_04]: This is amazing and I'm going to text you me to the after this about Buffalo Wilds.
58:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
58:31
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, let's do it.
58:37
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think if I were to summarize my question, it would be, how would you recommend for a team park enthusiast, located in Southern California, to make the most out of an annual trip to Disneyland?
58:57
[SPEAKER_03]: And obviously within that question, there's some context that, you know, I'm trying to kind of reel it in and be a little bit more financially responsible
59:07
[SPEAKER_03]: And my own family, I have a five-year-old son.
59:10
[SPEAKER_03]: And if we could, if we had the means to be to the land every single day, all the time I'm sure we would, but the reality in that is obviously we live an hour away and become the whole of that.
59:22
[SPEAKER_03]: So what is the right way to balance and create a really meaningful experience that will shape and satisfy my family for an entire year?
59:38
[SPEAKER_03]: what's the right freaking frequency to make it to Walt Disney World and how to balance that because of course, you know, in the world of trying to plan, we wanted to really let in last year and ended up as Disneyland six times and spent a whole week in Walt Disney World.
59:56
[SPEAKER_03]: So maybe that's a realistic, but realistically, how would you recommend
1:00:01
[SPEAKER_03]: if cheating that, if that's something I wanted to achieve.
1:00:04
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, thank you for the call.
1:00:05
[SPEAKER_03]: One, goodbye.
1:00:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Hello, and thank you so much for your call.
1:00:09
[SPEAKER_04]: Now there were two big questions, just to reiterate for anyone listening.
1:00:12
[SPEAKER_04]: They came out of this.
1:00:14
[SPEAKER_04]: One, how would you recommend a theme park enthusiast in Southern California makes the most out of an annual trip to Disneyland?
1:00:19
[SPEAKER_04]: And two, what is the right frequency to make it to Walt Disney World?
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_04]: I phrased that wrong, but I think you know what I mean.
1:00:25
[SPEAKER_04]: I, after listening to this call, I think this is actually one question and I'm going to answer both of these together because if we're seemingly committed to spending money on a theme park vacation or multiple, it sounds like whether it's near or far, I just want to make sure we're making the right choice in conjunction with both.
1:00:44
[SPEAKER_04]: First, I would sus out which theme park resort is more exciting to you because Disneyland is local, but it kind of is sounding like a chore.
1:00:54
[SPEAKER_04]: It sounds a little bit like when I talk to parents who also live in Los Angeles who are like, oh yeah, I gotta get around to taking them to Disneyland.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_04]: I haven't done that yet.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_04]: It's
1:01:02
[SPEAKER_04]: something that like no one's really excited about.
1:01:04
[SPEAKER_04]: They know they would have fun.
1:01:05
[SPEAKER_04]: This is the same person who like, you know, doesn't go to Disney at all.
1:01:08
[SPEAKER_04]: They know that they would have fun, but they're like, oh, I got a plan that I got to do it.
1:01:11
[SPEAKER_04]: It's something that feels more to do list than something they're dreaming of.
1:01:15
[SPEAKER_04]: And I am getting a little bit of that from your call.
1:01:18
[SPEAKER_04]: So I'm wondering, like, Disney land not really feel special.
1:01:22
[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like it might not because you went in a few times last year.
1:01:25
[SPEAKER_04]: And if Disney land feels a little like, you know, just kind of like something you do because you live here.
1:01:30
[SPEAKER_04]: But you're currently at home dreaming up a Disney world vacation.
1:01:34
[SPEAKER_04]: That's what I'm talking about when I say feel good money.
1:01:38
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's what we want to prioritize.
1:01:40
[SPEAKER_04]: because if you can yield more joy from anticipating and planning and dreaming and executing a Disney World vacation, that's going to give you more to look forward to over a longer period of time than just being like, alright, let's do it, let's go to Disneyland and June and getting in and getting out.
1:01:56
[SPEAKER_04]: And again, this only applies to a situation like this.
1:01:59
[SPEAKER_04]: When you're trying to figure out which park you want to go to, a lot of people are so excited to go to Disneyland.
1:02:05
[SPEAKER_04]: So this would kind of be the reverse.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't want to seem like I'm like, I'm draggin' Disneyland.
1:02:09
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just, I'm just trying to suck out from the situation as someone who lives in Southern California.
1:02:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And I do feel like Disneyland to me is not as heightened as Walt Disney World.
1:02:17
[SPEAKER_04]: I do want to add.
1:02:18
[SPEAKER_04]: There isn't really great Disneyland ticket deal this summer.
1:02:21
[SPEAKER_04]: $50 kids tickets that are also parkhoppers, which is amazing.
1:02:25
[SPEAKER_04]: But visiting Disneyland for one or two days, especially depending on the size of your group, it can can add up.
1:02:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Even if you live locally, if you're going for more than one day, you're probably going to get a hotel, which means that you're probably going to stay longer and eat more meals out.
1:02:39
[SPEAKER_04]: And if you'd be happier spending a few days on a
1:02:43
[SPEAKER_04]: even if you have to fly to it with flights being expensive.
1:02:45
[SPEAKER_04]: Even if you fly, even if you travel, like that is a vacation that you would plan and look forward to.
1:02:50
[SPEAKER_04]: You might be better off just doing a day at Disneyland a different time in the year to balance it out and actually going whole hog on a real trip.
1:02:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Because let's discuss financials.
1:03:00
[SPEAKER_04]: Like I said, there's a huge summer ticket discount for kids at Disneyland, but in your case, I would maybe hold out for the next so-called resident discount ticket, which it sounds like you would be eligible for.
1:03:11
[SPEAKER_04]: Because you may need to utilize summer for a longer Disney world trip, despite the weather.
1:03:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'll be there too.
1:03:18
[SPEAKER_04]: We're all going to suffer together.
1:03:19
[SPEAKER_04]: It's hot everywhere, and that, that is my platform.
1:03:23
[SPEAKER_04]: Disney world promotions are currently through the roof,
1:03:25
[SPEAKER_04]: through summer and through the end of the year, so I would try to price out which one would be best for you.
1:03:30
[SPEAKER_04]: Again, shameless blog, M.E.I.
1:03:31
[SPEAKER_04]: Mouse fan travel.
1:03:32
[SPEAKER_04]: They are so good at helping us out the different deals and what prices best for you.
1:03:36
[SPEAKER_04]: So I would hit them up because I wouldn't want to do that work.
1:03:39
[SPEAKER_04]: And someone else doing it for you for free is something that I would do myself.
1:03:42
[SPEAKER_04]: So if I was you, I would take a look at Disney World pricing hold on Disneyland and then pound on that next so-cal ticket.
1:03:50
[SPEAKER_04]: The reason I'm emphasizing that is because I was in a similar situation recently.
1:03:54
[SPEAKER_04]: My husband wanted to go with our daughter to Disneyland.
1:03:56
[SPEAKER_04]: He wanted to just want to do a little bit of Disneyland, he felt like it was time to go back again.
1:04:01
[SPEAKER_04]: The three day, so Cal Resident Ticket, was cheaper than buying him a one day par copper.
1:04:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Three days at Disneyland Resort, spread across however long we wanted, was cheaper than a one day park hopper.
1:04:17
[SPEAKER_04]: If that math works out for you, you can squeeze so much more joy out of that single ticket purchase.
1:04:22
[SPEAKER_04]: And you won't have to worry about hotel probably.
1:04:25
[SPEAKER_04]: You could, if you want to stay multiple days, you don't really have to worry about parking.
1:04:28
[SPEAKER_04]: And the only thing is, those tickets might not come back until early, 2027.
1:04:33
[SPEAKER_04]: So it might be worth rolling the dice if you are okay with that.
1:04:38
[SPEAKER_04]: You didn't ask about frequency in visiting Disney World and I'm afraid I cannot answer that because I have the opposite problem.
1:04:46
[SPEAKER_04]: Last year, I had an annual pass to both theme park resorts and I didn't use it enough to justify them.
1:04:52
[SPEAKER_04]: So we're gonna Disney Land resort a lot lately, just simply because I already paid for it and we bring a lot of our own snacks and I may as well go.
1:05:00
[SPEAKER_04]: But I can help you with your goal of making the most out of an annual trip to Disneyland, especially if anyone listening is kind of thinking about what in Disneyland, but once you're like, what could I do to make this really, really special?
1:05:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately, Lightning Lane does help you do more, spending money on that will make it easier to get on rides.
1:05:17
[SPEAKER_04]: And if you are trying to do as much as possible, I lately go and I vibe, but if you really want to do rides, you want to do Disneyland, Lightning Lane is the way to do it.
1:05:25
[SPEAKER_04]: Arriving early is always a huge benefit, both for that and for Disneyland Resort itself, getting there early, it's going to be quieter, and you can enjoy more right at the beginning of the day before everyone also shows up.
1:05:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I would consider splurging on something special, like blue bio, maybe a single, like a lightning lane, single pass.
1:05:42
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh my god, I'm realizing I don't remember the names of these offhand, because my brain just goes, J-D-Poss, J-D-Poss, J-D-Poss, J-D-Poss, J-D-Poss, oh my gosh, of course it's lightning lane, single pass.
1:05:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Every time I doubt myself, y'all know, every time I doubt myself, and ends up being right.
1:05:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Journalist brain.
1:05:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Journalist brain.
1:05:58
[SPEAKER_04]: Anyway, I would maybe like surprise the people you're with with a single ride If you like, oh, we're on a wrestling resistance yay like that would be a really fun way to do something special That's also pretty easy to accomplish Always getting something on Etsy for your trip.
1:06:11
[SPEAKER_04]: Always a little special
1:06:12
[SPEAKER_04]: That's like money you'd spend outside the park and I think it does boost your day and if you want to cover all of the ground while still being priced conscious I would stick to one park is tempting as park hopping can be just to make sure you can do it all because you sounds like you want to get like a lot of a lot of bang for your buck you want to get a lot out of that trip and sticking to one park is going to save a little money but also make that easier to do I hope that was helpful.
1:06:34
[SPEAKER_04]: Let me know what you end up doing and hopefully I'll see you at Disneyland or Disney World
1:06:46
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you all so much for listening, and thank you to our very special guest Todd Martin's of the LA Times.
1:06:53
[SPEAKER_04]: You can subscribe to his perfectly named newsletter, Mr. Todd's wild ride, on the LA Times website, or more easily just by clicking the link in the show notes.
1:07:02
[SPEAKER_04]: I couldn't be a bigger fan of Todd, and I'm so honored that he came on the podcast to truly have like a sibling rivalry in real-time about all things being fun.
1:07:12
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1:07:22
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1:07:23
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[SPEAKER_04]: When I was at overnight, I went to overnight camp for many years, and I getting mail at overnight camp was like, ah, the highest high-level experience, and that's why I feel whenever anyone calls the show's hotline.
1:07:34
[SPEAKER_04]: So I love it, please, just keep calling me.
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1:07:37
[SPEAKER_04]: I shouldn't be telling people to call call call, but,
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1:07:42
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1:07:45
[SPEAKER_04]: If you're planning a trip on Disney World, Disneyland Universal, Disney Cruise Line, whatever, if you don't wanna do any of the work, head to mouseman travel, their hopslash, and using, they're gonna plan your trip for free.
1:07:54
[SPEAKER_04]: They're gonna make it easy.
1:07:55
[SPEAKER_04]: It's truly like, do you ever hear people talk about digital assistance?
1:07:59
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't understand how that works, so I've never done it.
1:08:00
[SPEAKER_04]: But that's kinda what this is.
1:08:02
[SPEAKER_04]: You just like send an email, or like go on the website and you're like, I'm kinda thinking about what a Disney World, but it cost.
1:08:07
[SPEAKER_04]: and then boom, boom, boom, boom, they will break everything down for you.
1:08:10
[SPEAKER_04]: They're amazing, and I think that you should plan on your trips with them because it costs you nothing and helps you plenty.
1:08:15
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1:08:17
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[SPEAKER_04]: 799 worth of content, but I'm not gonna raise the prices that this seems cursed.
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1:08:58
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1:08:59
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1:09:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Hi, honey, it's Mom.
1:09:13
[SPEAKER_02]: So my new microphone didn't work out too well.
1:09:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I sounded like last week that I was in a tunnel.
1:09:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So anyway, I'm back to me.
1:09:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Brandon was so much fun.
1:09:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh my god, the best stories.
1:09:23
[SPEAKER_02]: He sat next to Martha Stewart and she asked me to help him with her phone.
1:09:26
[SPEAKER_02]: This is epic.
1:09:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I looked at stuff.
1:09:29
[SPEAKER_02]: OK, the Macy's Day parade.
1:09:30
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why we're here.
1:09:32
[SPEAKER_02]: So much work went into every detail that I even thought, oh my god, a balloon or a self-driving balloon.
1:09:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I never thought anything like that.
1:09:41
[SPEAKER_02]: love learning new things and very amusing.
1:09:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I also went on Brandon's Instagram and oh my god, he missed the most fabulous letters.
1:09:49
[SPEAKER_02]: He has won such a smart.
1:09:51
[SPEAKER_02]: It is so good.
1:09:52
[SPEAKER_02]: He's very talented.
1:09:55
[SPEAKER_02]: If you remember like seven or eight years ago, you and I were in New York together and we were watching TV in the Macy's Day parade run and the giant green dinosaur started heading down the street
1:10:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, I've never been to one.
1:10:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Have you?
1:10:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And you said, me, that we both stood up.
1:10:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And we ran a little branch.
1:10:13
[SPEAKER_02]: We were like, what about other people?
1:10:15
[SPEAKER_02]: We stood up.
1:10:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And we said, we got to go.
1:10:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's go.
1:10:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And we left immediately for the train.
1:10:20
[SPEAKER_02]: We ran.
1:10:21
[SPEAKER_02]: We got off.
1:10:22
[SPEAKER_02]: We probably hustled.
1:10:23
[SPEAKER_02]: We found a spot in the crowd.
1:10:24
[SPEAKER_02]: There was a million people.
1:10:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And we looked down the road.
1:10:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And here comes the green dinosaur.
1:10:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So we had to pretty fast or the dinosaur was really, really slow.
1:10:33
[SPEAKER_02]: To the college, we called up about a special occasion for a day.
1:10:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Our friend Mark from Google Bakery, BUBOBAKER.com, makes the most outstanding cakes and I even said one to Disney, he only does it like he can send them, but he can deliver them in Disney World Hotel.
1:10:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And I had him deliver one for Carly's birthday and the friends were blown away.
1:10:54
[SPEAKER_02]: It was amazing.
1:10:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, this was a great episode.
1:10:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I loved every second of it, and I can't wait for next week.
1:11:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you, Carly.
1:11:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you, Carly.
1:11:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Bye.