M2: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Sister Sisters.

M1: Welcome back to another episode. We just got back from Disneyland and D23. And today we have a very special crossover episode with Carly Weisell from the Very Amusing podcast. So Carly is going to come on. She is a theme park journalist. If you don't know her, she was also at D23. And we're going to be focusing on all of the news that we received at the D23 expo that was specifically about the parks. And I'm not gonna lie, we have a lot to say. This is going to be a long episode.

M2: There is a lot

M1: So

M2: to talk about and you girls can chat. And so we're really g and and we're covering all the news. So that's what you missed on Glee and the main segment. Boom. Covered.

M1: In one.

M2: There's so much to talk about.

M1: So we're going to save our full Disneyland trip recap for our Patreon quarterly bonus episode. Peach Crew, we do a quarterly cone quarterly bonus episode for. We're not trying to leave the rest of you quarterly

M2: Quar quarterly cone. Quarterly cone. Quarterly cone.

M1: a quarterly bonus episode. We're not trying to leave the rest of you hanging. We just truly like don't have time to go over it. And so today we really want to focus on D23. We want to do a little bit up top about kind of what D23 was and sort of how it was set up, just so you understand exactly what we're talking about when we go into the segment with Carly. And then at the end, we'll do a couple other listener questions. But so D23.

M2: D twenty three, what is it? My friend from work said, What exactly is this? It's kind of like a Comic Con, if you know what that is. New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic Con, there's a million of them. It's a fan convention that has different exhibits, panels with iconic imagineers and celebrities. And then there's also a larger ticketed event. It happens every two years. This larger D twenty three event happens every two years in Anaheim. The 23 comes from the year 1923. And it is basically a Yeah, a gathering of of Disney fans, many cast members there just celebrating Disney. That's your

M1: And so

M2: high level summary.

M1: yeah, throughout like the day, what people are doing is visiting various booths on the show floor. If you follow us on Instagram, we shared so much about that there. There's booths from Imagineering, which we're gonna talk about a lot, booths from Disney volunteers, booths from companies like Spirit Jersey, etc. And then there's these like mini panels where you could see everything from like the creators of Phineas and Ferb to imagineers, whatever, talking about like kind of anything. But then each night there is a huge showcase that takes place at a different venue, like a s think like a stadium. Like it's I think it's literally a hockey arena.

M2: It's a hockey arena. It's a hockey arena. It's a special ticket. It's an additional ticket. You purchase a ticket to D23. You can choose or choose not to purchase a ticket to this thing called the Honda Center. If you hear Honda Center, they basically every there's three nights of D23, and all three nights they have a different experience. It's a show basically. The first night is focused on movies and television coming. The second night is focused on the parks. The third night is the Disney Legends ceremony. Our ticket covered all three. that being said, we skipped the legend ceremony because we were flying home. So we went to the first night, which was all of the news about new movies: Frozen 3, Cocoa 2, three different original films, Ahsoka season two, the new Star Wars film. And then the second night is focused on all things Disney parks worldwide. It provides updates, it breaks huge news, and there are so many, there's so much work that Disney puts into these events. There, it's such a high production value. There's show there's

M1: Yes.

M2: songs and there's so so many celebrities. Neil Patrick Harris hosted the experience panel. There is a huge screen in the back. There was a live band. There's so much that goes into it. It's incredibly impressive.

M1: Yes. And so the entertainment panel was the first night that was hosted by KA Kwan and Jennifer Goodwin. And it was like a star-studded event. I literally cannot even explain the number of celebrities who came out onto the stage. Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Gosling, 100,000 more that I can't think of right now. And they announced all these new movies and showed a lot of new trailers. And I'm I just want to give you like an honest opinion of what this was like because that first night, the energy in the room was electric. I mean

M2: No, it was.

M1: It was literally like bang, bang, bang, bang, like huge announcements. Coco 2, like, my god, Zootopia 3. my God, huge new scene for Frozen 3. Like all this stuff. And it was like thing after thing after thing after thing. So

M2: Bada bada bada bada bada. Yep. It was insane.

M1: and then in 2024 at the Parks panel, that is we were not there, but that is when they announced Monstropolis, Tropical Americas, Piston Peak. Another land at Disney World that I'm forgetting. Like a ton of things. It was like

M2: Elens Land.

M1: villains land. Yeah. It was like whatever. So going into the Saturday night parks panel, I would say expectations were like kind of like through the roof.

M2: It was almost like d Disney could never have met them, basically.

M1: Yes. And so they had already had an amazing imagineering booth on the Expo floor that had a ton of information about what was to come. There was like a giant section about Carousel of Progress showing costumes and concept art. There was mini models of the ride vehicles for Encanto

M2: Many mounds, bars.

M1: for Encanto and Stark Flight Coaster. Like we got a lot of information just by like looking around the imagineering booth. So then when we were in the parks panel. They kind of started off with a bang. And again, we're gonna run through everything they announced with Carly in the main segment. They kind of started off with a big bang. And then I'm not gonna lie, they sort of dipped into a really big.

M2: That and we we've been talking and we'll we will discuss more. But had they said this news and released it in it on Disney Park's Instagram, Disney Park's blog, it would have been exciting, but it was our expectations in the room could not have been higher. And so it did feel a little bit like a lull. But looking back and where we're about to reflect on it, we actually realized there was a lot of great nuggets of news here, a lot of really great stuff. Maybe the delivery didn't have as much hype, especially as the experience is one, but There is a lot of really exciting stuff and bef basically we'll leave you with this. There is a lot of really, really good stuff coming to the Disney parks worldwide, but Disney World and Disneyland. And I guess we'll just dive into it.

M1: Hello

M2: Hello.

carlye: I'm jealous I didn't get to see it in unison.

M2: You should have chimed in. This is a big moment for me, I have to say. My voice on the A Very Amusing podcast. I cannot believe it. Truly.

carlye: It the feeling is so mutual. I feel like cause you know when I'm driving in my car listening to your show, which I do every week and when it's not Thursday, I'm very sad. I listen to it and I'm like talking to myself, responding to you. And now I feel validated. Like I'm here, I get to do it for real.

M1: Now it's live. It's live.

M2: I talked I talked to you. It it that your podcast soothes me. Anytime I stress, I say,

M1: She always says this.

M2: and I'll go to find a random really old episode and I just I'm like, I need to be soothed. I need to be distracted. Brings me peace. Yeah. When I'm stressed.

carlye: I'm so honored because the way in which I'm like, teach me about the history of Toy Storyland, like, I just wanna I just wanna listen and be carried away.

M2: I'm so excited to join forces on this. Guys, we met for the first time at D twenty three in person. Although I was I was like, had we met in the past, but no, we hadn't. I don't think.

M1: I don't think we had.

carlye: I don't know. Cause I do remember, I mean, like I'm gonna fully show how much I listen to the podcast now. There was an episode I was listening to recently where you talked about being with Michael at the 50th at Disney World. And I was also with Michael at the 50th at Disney World.

M2: Yes, yes. That's what I said to Mouse at one. I said, In

M1: You did say this.

M2: Fantasyland by the carousel, I said, was Carly there? And it was like ringing a little bell, and then I said, Maybe not.

carlye: I have a faint memory, unfortunately not of you guys but eating nacho cheese there.

M2: Well, there was no food to eat, as you may or may not remember. So that was

M1: Yeah, you're lucky that you found food, so that's why it's in your memory.

carlye: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I it was the survival instinct.

M1: Yeah. But we met like for real, we can say, for the first time in the Imagineering Booth, which honestly was so apropos, I feel like, for this group of three that that's where we were. D twenty three Imagineering Booth.

carlye: It was perfect. It's where we belonged.

M2: And now we're gonna be talking about all the news,

M1: No, it was.

M2: everything that we learned, you'll learn and more. Carly has a very impressive document.

M1: Yeah, I just need to say this was gathered by Carly and she deserves all the props for all of the details that she got because

M2: She is a theme park journalist, so

M1: And it shows.

carlye: You guys are you guys are so kind to me. I am I am a theme perk journalist. I'm also a full-blown psychopath. So

M2: Ha ha.

carlye: I was like a squirrel hunting for nuts, trying to find all of these details. I found so many random things in the research, which I'm so glad. I'm so glad we're going we're gonna be discussing everything because there's so much more than what they presented on stage. And I'm glad that we like waited a minute until after D23, where we can finally recap everything.

M2: Yes.

M1: Agreed.

M2: All right, let's let's kick it off. You go ahead, Carly, you have a great quote in there and I think it's a beautiful one.

M1: It's yours

carlye: my gosh.

M1: to read.

carlye: Okay. So I wanted to just start by saying that this one thing that Imagineer Michael Hunjin, who if you listen to my podcast very amusing, you know I am a fan of. This is a man I believe in, a man that I trust to take these parks into the future. he said, This is the biggest slate of expansion projects in the history of Walt Disney World. And I know that like a lot of us know what's going on. A lot of us know the things are going to open, but when you really zoom out and think about that. I think it really frames just the sheer amount of stuff that we are going to experience in the next few years. Cause I always think of like when Mickey Minnie's Runaway Railway and Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opened as like, whoa, that was a huge paradigm shift. But the biggest change is yet to come.

M2: The investment being made right now is a ma is amazing, really. And they s tried to do something similar with Epcot in the two thousands Project Gemini, where they were going to do it and they didn't. But this is huge changes coming, transforming multiple par at the same time across the board, which is very different for Disney of late and very exciting. So

carlye: I'm thrilled about it. I would love to start with Disney Animal Kingdom if that works for you guys.

M2: Yeah, yeah.

M1: Let's do it.

carlye: I, in preparing for this episode, have fully become a freak for Tropical Americas. I am so excited for this. I don't know about you guys, but like on one hand, I was so disappointed that we only got one new image from the ride, the official name, Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto. But on the other hand, I'm like, I can't wait to be on that ride.

M2: Same.

M1: Can't wait. I like in the Imagineering Pavilion, I mean, we'll get into everything, but in the Imagineering Pavilion, even when they had the little models of the ride vehicles, I was like, and they talked about it being a quintessential attraction. I was just like, get me on that ride. Like literally get me on that ride, ASAP.

M2: Animal Kingdom needs that and that ride seems incredible, but the land itself is so Joe Rhody and so researched. It's incredible. It is

M1: We went to a you Carly, you went to a different version of this panel. So I'm curious when you talked about it yours. When we went to Joe Rohdy's panel about tropical Americas in the Imagineering Pavilion, the focus was on the Maya culture and bees specifically. Yes. And it it was very detailed, beekeeping

M2: Yeah. Be beekeeping, beekeeping.

M1: and how that ties in. It was so I was like the fact that this is what we're learning about shows like how much they're putting into the detail of this.

carlye: was a little too overwhelmed to to process information at that point. cause that was like I basically like walked right into D twenty three on Friday and was like, Joe's Rhodes in the imaginary compiling. And it like the most extreme version of being a D twenty three that you could have the moment I arrived. but he did I know w the part that I saw, or the part that I retained at least, was a lot about kind of like the research that they put into it to it and like Maya civilization and Mayan culture. And it's just really nice to know that this land is gonna be done in the right way. They

M1: Yes.

carlye: the Imagineers took research trips to places like Columbia and Honduras. it just seems like they are rooting this in a way where it's gonna fit so nicely in Disney's animal kingdom. And it's eleven acres bit.

M2: It's big

M1: It's

M2: and it's well thought out. And my biggest fear with Animal Kingdom has always been I'm an Animal Kingdom purist. I believe in the original ideas of Animal Kingdom. And people would say, bring in Zootopia. I'm like, no, no. And I agree with Joe Rhody. It's not the right story. And I've always feared the show is one thing. I mean, I loved it's tough to be a bug. I love flick as well. But Tropical Americas is exactly what they should be doing. And in fact, it's taking the storyline of Anandi Puranasia and Africa and it's making it it's even it's even better. It's even more accurate. The research they went into it, it's just incredible. I also thought it was very interesting that Joe Rhodey said that he'd been trying to get this off the ground for fifteen years as a replacement for Dino Land, which is amazing and shows how much he's been thinking about it and others as well. So

carlye: Isn't that wild? And if that dude wasn't so

M1: Yes.

carlye: honest, I'd be like, That's some PR stuff. But he like he he does not do that. He was out here, I saw him

M2: Yeah, no, he doesn't.

M1: No, no.

carlye: on a different stage be like, I never thought we could build Avatar and Animal Kingdom. So he like when he says that, he means it. And it's nice that like a new land I mean, not to be hyperbolic about it, but like a new land is gonna be blessed by Joe Rhody. It's very special.

M1: Yes.

M2: Yeah, no it is.

M1: Seriously, in Animal Kingdom. Carly, what do you think about the fact that four months ago they said the land was opening in 2027 and then when we were actually at the panel, there was not a a a thing mentioned about dates.

carlye: I think there there's not a chance. There's not a chance in the world this land is opening in 2027.

M1: Ha ha ha

carlye: I actually would gamble real money on the fact that by the time this episode comes out, that timeline will have shifted. the week after D23 is always a time when a lot of follow-up news happens because there was so much big news that happened in 2024. Those weeks after were like pretty treacherous for Disney fans. I don't know you guys remember, because we were waiting to find out where Monstropolis was gonna go. what the future

M1: Yes.

M2: Yeah.

carlye: of Muppets might be. Like there was a lot of, a lot of shoes that someone that I was talking to over the weekend said, like, we were waiting for the other boot to drop because it was just so big of an impact. And here I kinda I kinda I don't see a world where this where two e-ticket attractions and dining and the carousel and a play area are opening in 16 months or less. I I just I I don't believe that will happen.

M2: And if it was, they would have said it and have been celebrating

M1: They would have said it.

M2: it. And I just think based on what they showed, because so for the Antonio attraction, they showed one piece of concept art, which looked amazing. And it made me feel like, yes, this is great. But it also made me think, maybe this is a little bit further that they're really not ready to show all these things, although they're building the the building. So maybe they're not ready to dive into it. They might not have figured out everything. That we do have a storyline, but I thought it would be more concrete for that land specifically because. We knew it was coming. And and realistically, you know, say summer, right? Say summer of next year. I mean, that's less than a year away. There's no way. There's just no way it's happening. So

M1: It's just weird to me that they said it Yes.

carlye: I can barely get like emails sent on that schedule, let alone open an entire theme parkland.

M1: I'm like you guys announced this only four months ago. It's like interesting to me. It's not like they announced it a year ago that it'd be opening in twenty twenty seven. It was so recent and now it's like, never mind, probably.

carlye: And I have been checking back and that blog post has not been edited. I I keep trying

M1: Okay.

carlye: to see if they pull the 2027 out without saying anything and they haven't. I would assume that we will get an update in the future, but I think the sheer fact that they told us, and I'm jumping ahead, but I know we're gonna get to it, that Monstropolis will have a phased opening in 2027,

M1: Yes.

carlye: that feels like the hook to hang, and this one will have a different date on too.

M1: Yep, yep. Agreed.

M2: Yeah. Yep. I would agree. okay, let's talk Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto a little bit more because one thing I thought was very exciting about this that people didn't love this news. And I said, this is good news, is that it doesn't have a height requirement because Animal Kingdom needs kid-friendly rides and Dino Land, you know, served that sort of area. So people said, That's not really news. I said, Well, it is actually, because Animal Kingdom doesn't have too much for, you know, in terms of attractions. And so I think that's a great addition. So I was very pleased about that, but we should dive into what el what else is going on.

M1: And well, I love that they said that this is going to be like a quintessential classic Disney attraction. I think we sometimes get in the habit of expecting every attraction to be like e-ticket, and they can't and shouldn't all be these huge E-ticket attractions. And to have something coming that's like feels very classic Disney, maybe isn't necessarily going to be like, you know, flight of passage. We don't need that in Animal Kingdom. We need like a classic attraction, which I think is great.

M2: I still think

carlye: But I would argue to me this feels like my kind of e-ticket. Like this

M2: That's exactly what I was gonna say.

M1: Yes, yes.

carlye: like to me, even though also, just because it's all heights doesn't mean there's no thrills. I mean, the the Daisy Duck scene of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, I'm fighting for my life. Yeah,

M1: I was just about to say Mickey and Minnie's, yeah.

carlye: I I almost like I had to have multiple people like holding my baby's head so it didn't smack

M1: Ha ha ha.

carlye: against the ride vehicle. Like that thing's dangerous. I just I I love that they promised us this place to go to and they're not like, they're like in like continuing the Encanto story. They're giving us what we want, which Disney doesn't always do. They try to, you know, like the frozen ride isn't a trip through the plot of Frozen One. And we just want to, we want that. Sometimes we want that. And they're giving that giving us that with Encanto, which is so exciting. We get to go in Casita. We get to actually live the plot of the movie. And it I just I really think they're gonna deliver on it because it it seem from everything we've seen so far, it looks great.

M1: And it's so perfect because you're going through Casita and it's Anthony Antonio's gift giving day, which is what we see in the movie. And then there's that whole scene with, you know, the crazy amazing animal scene. And we're gonna get to live that. And they said there'd be like more than 50 animals throughout the attraction. It's perfect for Animal Kingdom. It's perfect for Encanto fans who just wanna be in the story. Like I love how they're bringing it to life.

M2: Because I like, I like Tiana's Bayou Adventure. I am personally am like a big fan of that. And I know not everyone is of the storyline. I like the storyline, but I think that they would have it would have been far more successful had they just done the movie. And instead they did this other storyline and they retrofitted it. And again, I really like it. But sometimes I do just want to go through the movie. Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, like all of these classic dark rides. I'm like, yeah, Ratatouille, which I I love as well at Epcot. I'm like, just just take me through the, take me through the movie. That's what I want to see. So

M1: Yeah.

M2: I think that's gonna be great.

carlye: I think so too. I mean Tiana's running a co-op in the backstory of Tiana's Bayo Adventure. Like there's the lore there is too deep. So I appreciate it's too much.

M2: It's too much. It's too much.

M1: There's a lot to un to understand. Yeah. There's a lot to understand why there's a mountain in New Orleans, the salt mine. Like you really have to dive in. This is like it's the movie.

carlye: This and it's I find that it's often with Disney, there's a lot of characters I want to see. There's not always a place I want to visit. And I appreciate that we're getting that in this attraction.

M1: Agreed, Casita.

M2: Me too. Yeah. And I I was worried how they

carlye: Cassita.

M2: would fit this with the animals again as an Animal Kingdom purist, but I like the fact that they're including the animals. Yes, is it a bit of a stretch in my opinion for the true Animal Kingdom sure? But I think they're doing it right. I think it's going to be great. It's going to expose you to different animals from, you know, tr sure all of tropical Americas. did we get many updates on the actual animals that will be in that land? Real animals, not animatronic animals, because I'm hoping that there are animals in tropical Americas like w a walkthrough or like a monkey exhibit or something. And I feel like no one has mentioned that.

carlye: I don't think I've heard anything like that. Did they mention that a long

M2: Yeah.

carlye: time ago?

M2: No, no, it's just been in my brain saying, Where are the animals? 'Cause every land other than Avatar,

carlye: Yeah, you're right.

M2: I guess Pandora, but Africa, Asia, Discovery Island all have these walkthroughs. I'm like, give me something. And e just a bird's in a cage. I'll take it.

carlye: No, you're you're so right.

M1: Yeah, they haven't said that. That is interesting.

M2: Yeah. So I'm I'm hoping that that happened. There's definitely gonna be a lot of a big animal presence because we have the Encanto ride. We also have the carousel, which they're gonna have twenty two car uniquely carved animals and some of them are IP, which I think is cool. so hey hey, I saw

M1: Okay, someone replied to us though, and I did not go back and count, but they said the image only showed twenty one. And they were like, what does that mean?

M2: Someone said the last one was a wheelchair vehicle that they didn't include or accessible

M1: Okay.

M2: that will have animals on it, but

carlye: Maybe they didn't have the design for.

M2: it didn't have like the same shape. That was what

M1: The actual one. Okay, interesting.

M2: the buzz was, so

carlye: who do you guys want to ride most?

M1: She wants Heimlich, I think. Yeah.

M2: Hymlich. Heimlich.

carlye: I'm on High Mike.

M2: No question.

carlye: I will ruin a child's vacation so that I can get on high mic. I'm very concerned about the person I'm gonna become when I board this ride.

M2: I'm gonna sprint a Heimlik if I don't get on him, I'll wait till the next one.

carlye: Like if if they're smart, they will offer Lightning Lane in a way where the Lightning Lane people get to go on first. Cause I

M1: Huh yeah, right. I'd pick the animal.

M2: No, literally.

carlye: would pay for that.

M2: It's it's there's a lot of good ones. Like I wouldn't mind writing the the Pelican from Finding Nemo after I ride Heimlich, Cusco, but like in my t list of, you know, tiers, Heimlich is it's iconic. I can't actually can't believe they're doing that. And I'm so happy about it. So

M1: Did we did we know the name for this one before already? Okay, this was

carlye: No, no we did not.

M1: a name reveal as well.

carlye: Yeah. And I love that these names are not in English. I love it.

M1: I know. El

M2: Yeah. Yeah.

M1: Carousal de los Animalitos, right? That was that was my best my best Spanish.

carlye: Yes. I think that's

M2: That's pretty good. That was pretty good.

carlye: I think that's such a deliberate choice because I imagine that was not easy to push through. like foreign parks around the world that are Disney parks have primarily English names.

M1: Yes.

carlye: So I think it's

M2: Yeah.

carlye: very cool for the placemaking that they chose to do that.

M1: Great.

M2: And and it's yeah, it's it's again, it is such a good fit. And I think that the imagineers working on this project care so much about having the an accurate representation of culture and they're doing it right, and it's different than what they're doing elsewhere. And so I'm so glad I don't know who Joe Rhodie must have, you know, have some power. There's others, but like that they're able to push these things through. So I'm very excited for the and I think again, a carousel in Animal Kingdom, that was one of the earliest concepts was a three-story carousel. And so I'm happy to see this is finally being realized. And again, We need kid friendly attractions. It's gonna fit well. It's gonna give other things to do. And so I think that's important.

carlye: Yeah. I also to add, I completely forgot that they were bringing back a play area. I thought the play area was dead and gone when they changed this over, but the play area is still in it.

M2: I completely forgot. I thought that that was I didn't even know they were considering bringing it back. Honestly, I had no idea until that

M1: Yeah, me neither.

M2: came out. So

carlye: Yeah, it's a plan area inspired by the Maya where young ex young explorers can unearth artifacts through hands-on play. And then I believe cause they talked about it in twenty twenty four and I had no memory of it. and they also just confirmed it again, but their kids can investigate the natural wonders of the rainforest through hands-on exploration and play. We love edutainment.

M1: No, I love that. And the boneyard was one of our favorites as kids. It was iconic. Again, Animal Kingdom needs those type of things. I love it.

M2: But I think that this isn't where the boneyard was. They're shifting it to where Chip and Dale used to meet, I believe.

carlye: Interesting.

M1: Interesting.

M2: That's what their someone pulled one of the, you know, their like permit filings for like a drainage and it showed it on the crustaceus trail. And I said, interesting. I'm surprised. I wonder what the boneyard would become then, because it's I feel like that that was well set up, but maybe the crustaceus

M1: That's kind of a big footprint, yeah.

M2: trail is where Chip and Dale used to meet, right?

M1: It must

carlye: Yeah.

M1: be. Yeah. Yeah.

M2: Yeah. So maybe, maybe, maybe not. We'll see if that's ends up being accurate. But I support a park, every park having a play area. We love the honey I trunk the kids play area when we were kids. so Animal Kingdom needs that. Dining. We got a a couple of updates about that, which I'm excited about. Restaurantsaurus was never my favorite place. When it was the McDonald's, it wasn't my favorite place. also when you sort of liked it, right?

M1: Well, so the theme of Restaurant Dessaurus, like if you knew the cause the di Dinoline backstory was so

M2: Yeah, the theme.

M1: immersive, the theme was amazing. You know, I love McDonald's. So I I liked me restaurant desaurus when it was McDonald's. But like it was never yeah, it was never

M2: No, I want authentic food in Animal Kingdom.

M1: one that we went to because Animal Kingdom does have really good quick service food. So like burger and fries was kind of like meh. The one bummer I am curious. Like right now they have burgers and fries at like Harambe market because they need a place for burgers and fries.

M2: Yeah, that's a boo. Boo.

M1: And I it does sound like they're try this is maybe not going to be a burger and fry restaurant, which I like for the theme. But I'm like, okay, but don't keep the burger and fries at Harambe. Like, I don't know. Put them in pizza fari, maybe.

M2: Move I was about to say pizza fari or flame tree. We're good.

M1: Yeah.

carlye: Yeah, agreed.

M2: yeah, we didn't get too many details, but a large hacienda, largest quick service. I There will be enjoy.

carlye: Yeah, they were just like, Don't worry, you'll eat. That was basically Yeah.

M1: Yeah, don't worry, it'll be there.

M2: one of the most exciting things, and we saw this in the panel at the Imagineering Pavilion, was more details about Indiana Jones and what that would look like because obviously they're keeping the dinosaur show building. But they are going all out with this Mayan temple. Mouse at one has actually seen a Mayan temple when you went to Mexico. and

M1: Yes.

M2: so she sort of had some insight as well, which was cool, or you were more familiar. But they there is so much that went into that. It is like accurate from all these research trips they did. It's very, very, very impressive. So

M1: So they gave us the name Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent. I think that this one was the hardest for me to understand how it was going to relate to animals being in Animal Kingdom. I do, you know, thinking back to the original days of Animal Kingdom where they wanted mythical creatures, they're clearly going for the mythical creature aspect, which I think makes sense with the Mayan culture. Mayan culture has so much about the various gods and various, you know, beings and stuff like that. So I think that's very interesting. And the whole temple, Joe Rhody was talking about that at one of the panels we were at about how Mayan temples that you see today are actually Mayan temples on top of older Mayan temples. And so they're much less ornate. And the Mayan temple they're building an animal kingdom is based off of the original Mayan temples. And literally every single symbol that they have on the temple is like consulted with from someone from Maya. Like it the detail. that they're choosing to put into this is so cool. I cannot wait to see it in person.

M2: It's gonna be really good. other details.

carlye: The trust I have in in people working on Disney's Animal Kingdom is so high.

M1: Yes.

carlye: And I don't always feel that way about projects, but I really, I really feel like they're not they're not gonna mess this up.

M2: Yeah, they have to do it right. Especially because they're replacing Dino Land, which the biggest issue was was that it was people didn't get it, it didn't seem to fit. It felt temporary slash cheaper in some people's eyes, although they did an incredible job with the story of it. all right, Carly, walk us through the rest of these Indiana Jones details 'cause we got a lot and it's it's cool.

carlye: Yeah, we this is one of the rides I think I feel like we got the most information for at the panel.

M1: Mm-hmm.

carlye: Harrison Ford will appear as Indiana Jones in ride for the first time ever. He is the model for the Indiana Jones audio animatronic within the attraction. And basically the backstory is that in Maya mythology, the entrance to the underworld is protected by a giant serpent. So we follow Indy as he I'm confused at what the artifact we're trying to look for is, but I'm sure we will know soon.

M1: Yes.

carlye: we follow Indy as he gets close to said artifact. And then when local folk folklore that there's a passageway inside this temple that like leads to the underworld, when that becomes true, that myth is real. We are sucked through a portal into the underworld in an all-out chase through bats, larger than life scorpions, fire, and of course, snakes. They said that this takes place in the 1950s before Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I'm not an indie girly, I don't know what that means, but I know that's very important for some of you.

M1: Me I agreed.

carlye: but I the thing that we gotta talk about with this attraction because like the arcle looks cool and like the story looks fun, but the serpent, the scale of the serpent compared to a person that they had on display, I believe it must have only been Sunday at D23 in the Imagineering Pavilion, is unhinged.

M1: It's insane. Yeah, they put it out after, so we didn't get to see it in person because we weren't there Sunday, but I saw pictures. It's literally a little tiny person and then picture a huge snake and a giant head coming way up over the person. I mean, it is massively large.

M2: Yeah, it's it looks incredibly impressive. Scary, I I think like for children. Like I think this is a dinos it's a true dinosaur replacement.

M1: Ha ha.

M2: I mean I hate snakes. I'll say I hate snakes, but it's giving like basilisk from for for the audio here, it's giving basilisk from Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets the movie. Like that's sort of like the size of it almost, but it has like looks more of like a dragon. it's huge. It's pretty crazy and it's it's pretty cool. I love a huge animatronic too. So that's a trend with Animal Kingdom. We're gonna find out. Momentarily.

carlye: I I just I still can't process how big it is. Like it the image, I don't know if you guys I'll put it in my show notes if I remember lol. and if you guys put it in yours, but it it it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any

M1: No.

carlye: sense how big it is.

M1: It's huge.

M2: It's I'm very curious to see how they how they do it and how yeah, it's huge. So

carlye: Imagine being scared of a boulder.

M1: No, serio seriously.

M2: Jokes on you. yeah, this is a Tropical Americas podcast now to everyone listening because we had a lot to talk about. But this is the land that I feel like we got so many details about, which makes me very excited because there's other things that were more vague, but this one we got a lot, which which made me excited because I'm very excited for this land. I think it's gonna really transform Animal Kingdom. I hope it carries Animal Kingdom into a longer sort of day period that it's open, leads to a nighttime show, higher crowds. Like I'm hoping that this is sort of like adding more fuel to the the fire that Pandora sort of, you know, reignited. So I'm very, very excited about this. I would love for it to be open next year. I think it's possible

carlye: Would love.

M2: that maybe the carousel and the children's play area opens, but I just I can't imagine the other two attractions have any chance of opening in twenty seven.

carlye: Yeah. And how do you guys feel about phased openings?

M1: Yeah.

M2: We went to Galaxy's Edge the first time, right s right pretty soon after it opened in Disneyland actually. And Smuggler's Run was open and Rise wasn't. We were like, okay. Like I kind of get it. But it was like I I don't love a phased opening other than the fact that I know that Disney wants to open things to get people to come. But if I was planning my vacation, I would wait for the whole thing to be open. Personally, why do I want to see a phased opening? So I don't know. It's tricky, but I get why they do it.

M1: Yeah, like not to jump the gun to Monstropolis, but Monstropolis will open without its only ride. And so it's like I'm very excited to see the land as a person who loves Monsters Inc., I think that's fun. I think it would have more of a wow factor if it just all opened together.

M2: Same thing with the new fantasyland, when they did the phase opening of that and Seven Dwarves Mine Train opened up so much so much later. On the other hand, if they just left walls up for no reason for an extra year, I'd probably be yelling at them too. So i they almost are losing both minds. But

M1: Yeah, like I get it. Yeah.

M2: yeah, what what do you feel? Like how's your thoughts, Carly, on that?

carlye: I don't tend to love them, but I want to I want to get inside Tropical Americas as quickly as possible.

M1: I know.

carlye: So I like it when it when it benefits

M2: They don't have to have anything open.

carlye: my interests. I do think it makes the I think it makes like the long tail narrative for people who aren't regular parkoers very confusing. I think

M1: Yes.

carlye: that if you're talking to like coworkers, family members, people who are like, wait, so when's the Monsters Inc. thing opened? Like it's very confusing for people who aren't tapped in, but selfishly, like, I'll take. More new over less, so I love it.

M1: And it's just nice to not have walls, like to have areas that you can walk

carlye: Knife.

M1: around, explore that take up crowds. Like it is better. It's just yeah, it's not as sensible for vacation.

M2: I wish that they could stick to a timeline that would just sort of open it all together. person like that would really be my wish. Like if they could just, it's like, it's open. I like my the project I work on for work, we would never like we wouldn't really be like, we're opening up part of this path, but not the rest. It's like sort of just like you build it all, like you don't like take a year off and you know, I'll do something like three years later or whatever. So timelines is gonna be a bit of a trend for me that that felt like a a bit of a miss that I wanted more concrete timelines. I am happy that we got some. I would I'm hoping for an update. Even if the update is like June of twenty twenty eight. I'm like, just tell me when it opens. I don't care at this point. I just want to know when. I want it to be next year. But

carlye: Yeah. I think it's really tricky when because we go to these parks a lot. We go to these parks, I would say an abnormal amount compared to most people who are going on vacation. And it's really hard to tease this stuff out over two, three, four, five, six years. So I mean, with a vendors campus, it feels like a hundred and not let people really be able to plan their trips around it. I think that that especially in this economy with budgeting and planning, like there are certain things you want to do on your next trip to Disney and you're gonna wait for when that happens. And it just it it's hard when we don't get enough information about when some of these things are happening, if kind of ever, because some of the news we

M1: Yes.

carlye: got is they said they're gonna do it, but it could happen anytime from now to 10 years from now.

M1: Yeah. And I recently did a video about like all the things announced at T twenty three that never came to be. Obviously, COVID was a huge part of that. Like we all know that. But there are also all these other things, the theater on Main Street USA and Magic Kingdom, that they just announce and then never, ever, ever discuss again. And like I do think with social media, that's going to be much harder and harder for them to do. Like I assume of course they're announcing these things because they want to actually do them. But yeah, we'll get to it. But well, I mean, I I I guess this next one is a good example. The the Yeti.

M2: I was gonna say one more thing about that, that we're people are booking twenty twenty-seven trips right now. If you're a Disney Vacation Club, you're booking eleven months out. So it's like, well, you said Tropical Americas is gonna open. People could I mean we didn't say when, but people are booking their trips. Twenty twenty seven dates are open right now. So that which is another reason I feel like this this is not happening because they would be trying to to do it to get people to book. So

carlye: They would want to be setting up summer 2027 now if they could. And I think that's maybe they haven't said summer, but I think that's what they were doing with Monstropolis.

M2: Yeah, I agree.

M1: Yes.

M2: okay, when the Yeti was announced, spoiler alert if you if you didn't hear, the Yeti is being fixed. The that was I think that might have been the loudest, other than maybe the end announcements, the loudest cheers in the the huge room, shock, like my jaw dropped. I was just like, because I didn't expect it at all. I didn't expect I just there wasn't even in my mind. I was just like, it's never happening and I wasn't even thinking about it. But it was crazy. It was crazy.

M1: It was it was a crazy announcement. I think a trend of the panel was that they want to show that they're listening to the fans, like the true fans. We people have been asking for the Yeti to be fixed. Lots of people. Josh's mom is one of them saying it needs to be fixed.

carlye: Josh's mom, a Quincy from All Ears with the exclusive that Josh's mom demanded that he fix the Yeti when he I think when he first got his perks position and then when he became CEO, he's like, my mom wants the yeti. I don't know if that's exactly how it happened, but I'll take it. Thank you, Josh's mom, because we all need it.

M2: So funny.

M1: We all need it. And it was like, it was a fun moment as like a super fan who knows the whole disco yeti like thing. Obviously, not every guest really even knows or cares, but it was it was it was cool validation, I thought, for to have them actually say they're gonna do it. However, Carly, you put a tweet in here, which I thought was true. Why didn't they let Joe Roadie say it? Why didn't

carlye: It's so strange because even the same day that they announced this, I was at a panel about Floating Mountains, Joe's new book, which I'm a thousand percent reading the day I can get my hands on

M2: Same.

carlye: it. And they put up some like imagery from, I believe, it within the book on as slides during the presentation. And there was one about the Yeti. And it was basically, I don't remember word for word what it was, but it's like, when are they gonna stop asking me about the Yeti? and then the Yeti the Yeti got announced! They got an like it. Even that day it didn't seem like it was gonna happen. I also think I just heard

M1: Yeah.

carlye: my screaming echo through each of your mics, which is pretty

M2: That's a

carlye: on brand for a crossover episode. Sorry.

M2: No, literally. The

M1: That's how we feel about the Yeti.

M2: Yeti to me, because we rode when Everest opened you know, we rode it, but like it that never stuck out. I go and watch videos. I'm like, that was very impressive. It's a very quick scene. You see it at the end, you do the big drop, you go through a couple spins and you see it. It's very impressive. But this is there's this urban explorer, trespasser, whatever you want to call him, this crazy guy who used to sneak into places at Disney. One of them was he climbed the Everest tracks and snuck up to where the Yeti was. I don't know if you ever saw that. Unhi I mean, dangerous for 25,000 reasons because he could have been hit by them testing a roller coaster. He snuck into

M1: Dangerous, illegal, a million things. Yeah.

M2: the park, whatever. But seeing that Yeti knowing it didn't work in the dark, like spooks me. And something about it, gearing up to see him every time I ride or her whatever split literally spooks me because of that person's video. And so I'm very happy that they will be fixing it. I assume it's gonna do the same movements, but they didn't say exactly if it will do the same like reach.

carlye: They said the exact language, because I know that there was discussion if it would be fully replaced or not, they said that it's gonna be refreshed and repaired and in the same location. But the conversation I've seen online, which I think we have to get into, is that we as Disney fans know the reason it hasn't been fixed is because it's gonna be a pain in the butt to fix. Like you have

M1: Yes.

carlye: to basically take everything apart. That's why it hasn't been done yet. So it's gonna be a big undertaking to get that done. on my podcast last week. I hypothesize that they are going to do this once Tropical America's is open because then they have two lightning lane, I assume, enabled attractions that can balance the load of people for closing Expedition Everest. Like that would be essentially the only time in the future that we know that they can handle closing that. So I I

M1: Yeah, they can't close it right now.

M2: I also

carlye: but that means the Yeti would happen sooner in like a handful of years, which is pretty promising. and and I hope, I hope comes to fruition.

M2: Likewise. And I I think that Everest must need some update at the same time. They they have to be pairing this with some larger the rides been open for over 20 years, just about 20. They have to be pairing this with something else, or they're just doing it out of the good of their hearts. Which I which you know what? I will take if that's what they're if that's what they're doing. Cause this is a thing niche Disney fans. Most regular parkoers do not know, do not care. This is a thing that's like we asked for it, many people did, and they're answering. So I'm excited. That Basically covers our Animal Kingdom news. That covers the big drops. It's a lot, though. I mean, it's a lot. And it's really going to not the Yeti per se, but Tropical Americas is gonna transform the park. So I'm very excited about the future of Animal Kingdom. And again, I can see this propelling into its next life. similar. literally.

carlye: If they add a nighttime show, Tropical America's open, Everest fixed, like

M2: Like chef's kiss. We are good. We're

M1: It would be amazing.

M2: good. It's gonna be so good. So all right. Mouse of one, you wanna kick it into magic?

M1: Yeah, moving on to Magic Kingdom. This to me was a really fun update. We already, we know Carousel of Progress is being updated and we got a few different like looks at it. They had a whole section in the Imagineering Pavilion that was showing us. Was it the 60s scene? I can't remember which there were two scenes on display. Was this

M2: It was the eighties Halloween seas scene.

M1: Okay, there was one on each side. And then we got to see, you know, Rover will be coming back, some of the costumes and everything. But then at the panel, we found out that Jamie Lee Curtis will voice Sarah, Brian Cranson will voice John. I thought it was funny that they called them mother and father at the panel. I was like, okay, John, are we changing but yeah, but I was like,

M2: Jamie Lee Curtis is she is mother, but I was like,

M1: are we changing their names from Sarah and John Progress? Like, I don't know. I thought that that was an interesting choice. Mother? Yeah. Yeah,

carlye: It felt very formal. It like, Mamma, may I have a snack? Like it was it was

M2: Ha ha

M1: I was like, okay. and then we got to see a scene during the panel as well. So I thought we got like a lot of good looks at what's to come. I'm super excited about this update in general.

M2: Like it's bittersweet because I carousel of progress, but I have to remind myself that was not the original iteration of Carousel of Progress that we were seeing. That end scene needed an update. And if Walt was here, he would want this to have progress. Like that's what they're showing. So it is, it is good. And it's gonna speak so much more to the people going to the parks, the baby boomers from fifties, sixties. Like it's gonna just speak more to the people who are visiting now, which I think is cool. So

carlye: Yeah. I I am apprehensive about the only thing I'm worried about is the fact that like my birth decade is the second scene in Carousel of Progress. Like, that's a read, okay? Like,

M1: No, that is hurtful. Yeah, that's hurt that's hurtful.

carlye: like give me,

M2: Ha ha.

carlye: like, give me an H2O eye cream sample on the way out. I'm upset about it. But beyond that, I my viewpoint, especially towards Walt Disney World right now, is that they're really on a tear. They are doing an incredible job. And I do not praise them if they don't deserve it. I really don't. And I At this point, they have gone through and updated so many attractions and they've pleased both diehard fans and people who have never been to the parks before. And I feel like they have this secret sauce where they've figured out exactly how to do it. Country Bear Musical Jamboree, I, in my opinion, great change. Buzz Light Your

M1: So good.

carlye: Space Ranger Spin, great change. Test track, great change. Like I have trust

M2: Amazing change, amazing change.

M1: So good.

carlye: and faith in them now because they've shown me they know how to do it. They've proven

M1: Yes.

carlye: to me with multiple attractions that this is exactly what they're excelling at right now. So things like carousel, things like Spaceship Earth, which we'll get to, I have faith in them because they've shown me that they know exactly how to do this correctly.

M2: And I people were blowing up, more so about spaceship earth, but saying this is terrible. I'm like, no, this is the worst. They're gonna ruin it. I said, no, actually, I think they're gonna do it completely right. Cause I think that if of late, I have been very happy with what has been done. And I'm not

M1: Yes.

M2: one to throw out false praise, too. So I I think they're gonna do it right. And so piston peak is the next huge announcement we got. I love Tom Sarah's Island. Love the the river boat, love the rivers of America, love Tom Sarah's Island. And was very nervous about them taking it away and the changing of what of what this area would look like without the river. And I was just like panicking, honestly, panicking, as this one does. And I looked at the model and I said, wow, actually, no, this looks like this is incredible. Like they know what they're doing. They're, it looks really

M1: The sheer scale of that model that they put in the pavilion, it's huge. Like you can't actually wrap your head without, I feel like looking at a picture of it. Just how big this area is. And something Maslatoo and I were have been talking about for ages is like the issue that they have with Frontierland, where back in the day when Vault thought of Frontierland, like the concept of the Wild West was like really a thing. And now less so, you know, and it's like, yeah, there's Woody from Toy Story. But we were always like, the area's kind of losing. Like there's not a lot over there. What are they gonna possibly do? And I think what they picked, well, originally I have to say I was a skeptic. I'm not a huge cars girl. I really think the details that we got make it feel like this area is going to feel right.

carlye: You were right to be skeptical because this was an insane thing that they proposed.

M1: Yes.

carlye: This was insane. Like they were out of their minds for being like, low-key, we're just gonna like wipe the whole thing. No water in the park. Hee hee ha ha, see you soon. Like it was so

M1: And put some cars in.

carlye: crazy. It was so crazy. And then at like since D23-2024, I've been like, okay, but if we really think about it, if this is the decision they made, it has to be for a good reason. Like. The imagineers working on this are Disney fans. They're Disney Parks fans. They wouldn't remove this if it wasn't because something better was coming. So I I feel like I've become a Carsland truther. I'm just out here being like, it's gonna be worth it. I believe in it. And the model for a moment gave me pause because there's you can't really show water in a model. Like it's hard to show flowing liquid

M2: Yes.

carlye: in a model. And then I went through the research and they promised breathtaking waterfalls, roaring rivers, plural. And impressive geysers a lot as well as waterways surrounding the area. So I'm kinda like, I I feel good now, knowing that there's multiple water sources here and we're not just gonna be like out in the desert like Mad Max style with cars.

M2: Cause when we were looking at the model, I was referencing one of the pieces of concept art that they showed that showed a river basically along where the rivers of America were. And I was like trying to understand it, but that is coming. And I think that's important. And it's gonna keep that the feeling that they had. You know, if I wanted to put anything other than this here, I would want the Western River Expedition. The original thing they were gonna put here. They're non-IP rides, it's just not gonna happen. It doesn't have the draw. This is Such a effective, almost like a subtle intellectual property ad that it's not in your face. I mean, yes, it is cars and cars lovers are gonna love it, but non-cars lovers are gonna love it too, because it's just gonna be fun. And I mean, Radiator Springs Racers at California Adventure is a great ride. Whether you're a cars fan or not, you're feel like you're driving through a real place. So I am very happy with this. And there is also, I saw someone had shared this. Executive creative director Jason Grant shared this map and explained an approach. I'll put the map in our No notes are stories, but if we're going to build in the middle of this, what is a place that can touch the visual look of all these places? The same frontierland story is there. Liberty Square is still there. We want to make sure we can be a good neighbor to these places as we start to design and invent this new environment. And they are. I do I don't think it's gonna be an eyesore that's like this is so out of place. It's really gonna fit. I mean, the Liberty Square piece, I we'll see how what that ends up looking like, but I do think it's gonna look like a beautiful place, which is what the rivers of America looked like. So. I'm happy about that.

M1: The main attraction

carlye: They're convincing me.

M1: in this, yeah, they are. The main attraction in this land, they announced the name is Cars Ridge Run Rally, which is a mouthful, I will say. and the whole theme is like of a rally, a rally race. And so we went to a panel where they talked about building the ride vehicle. And I I mean it looks so cool. Like it's the Radiator Springs racers vehicle, but like on steroids because it's on these huge, big wheels so that it can go off-roading and It fits like it's just up really high and it looks so cool. They said slightly bouncy ride to the top of a mountain, peat covered in snow. You're gonna race your bait back down camel camel back bumps. It's gonna be really bumpy. Go through geysers, sprint to the finish line, lightning queen and mater will be there. They showed these little frog frog cars. Did you see those? Or was that at the little panel we were at? No, they have these little frog cars that are gonna be in the lake. Yeah, I can't remember the

M2: They had a sort a name for too. I'm blinking on what it was, but it was really cute.

M1: name, but it was really cute. They're so small and they're in the like water at the end. and it looks really cool. Curly, you wouldn't know that it's designed to operate in the rain. I didn't even know that.

carlye: Yeah, that came from blog Mickey. There's all of these little bits of information that are coming out from follow-up questions after that Saturday panel. And I mean it's not designed to work in lightning, unfortunately. I wish everything there would be, but it's kind of like

M1: Well.

M2: If only, if only.

carlye: if it rains, cool, you're just going through the muck and mud anyway. Which again, to hear anybody at Imagineering reference the weather in Florida is rare. And so it's huge that they're already thinking that through because I've have heard critique about that of people worrying about that being an issue in this land.

M2: Yeah, I

M1: I think it's going to look amazing. I think like the whole just again, if you look at a picture of the model, 225 square foot model, it's gigantic. And the way they're building it out to look like a national park, I think is really going to fit. As long as they do the water right, as long as they have the water elements right, I really think it's gonna look awesome.

M2: I feel pretty good about it because I I yeah, I think that they know how important it is. That waterway is in the castle like the castle parks are grounded to me by that waterway is such a a key part that I think that they knew they need to keep it. so I

carlye: Like in 2024, could you imagine the three of us being like, we love that they removed rivers of America? Like, I never, never thought

M1: No, no, no.

M2: No, no.

carlye: I'd be praising this.

M2: I said I was gonna chain myself to the riverboat. I said they're done, they're

M1: Mm mm

M2: done. It's over. we did get a second ride announcement as well. Miss Fritter's Daredevil spin along. It reminds me of the ride at Disneyland Paris, which is called like Cot Cotre Rue Rally. I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it reminds me of something similar. But there will be a huge school bus-sized animatronic hosting her wildest demolition derby yet at a stampeding bash. I don't know too much about rallies, only from seeing I think Cars 3 is where it's featured, but It's fun. It's for, you know, younger it should have a lower height requirement. It probably will maybe still have a height requirement, I assume. But it it seems like a good fit. I'm glad there's two attractions coming to this land or this expansion.

carlye: Wait, I just had like a whole like a like what if they do like a like a walking taco type of snack? Like that would be s like a little like a bag of Fritos with meat. That would really fun

M2: It that would yeah.

M1: That would be so fun f for some of us. Yeah, for some of us.

carlye: for some of us. That would be for some of us we could have meat. there was that big building in the middle of the model that they didn't say a single thing about. So I'm curious what's going there, but so far pleased. Wish wish we could have more, but understand that this one is deeply under construction, so.

M2: Yes.

M1: This one is no no time soon. No time particularly soon.

M2: But here's an another no time soon. Carly, take us through villains land, speaking of

carlye: Villains Land. We got more than I actually thought we were gonna get. I I anticipated that we were gonna get so I thought we were gonna get like video or like not god what do they call it? It's not a maquette maquette, but it's like the the thing where it's like a video an animatic. I thought we're gonna get a lot of animatics for the Encanto ride, for the door coaster. instead we got a ton, a ton of information about Villains Land. the backstory is very heady. You enter a foreboding dark forest, which Them they had like little tree models in the Imagineering Pavilion at D23. And like, I'm sorry, they were kind of scary. They were like straight up scary to

M2: They were creepy.

M1: No, they were

carlye: me.

M1: they were scary. Like for a kid, they were scary.

M2: Yeah. They gave Snow White

carlye: Yeah f

M2: and the Hunter, which freaked me as a kid, so

carlye: Yeah, they had

M1: Mm-hmm.

carlye: like the boo scary face on the creepy tree, like it scary.

M1: Yes.

M2: Yeah. Yeah.

carlye: and so you go through this and you come across a broken, twisted wishing well. And basically the backstory or their inspiration is that they asked, What if a mysterious person made a wish so evil that it corrupted the well, broke it open, and infused the forest around it with the power of the well's poisoned magic? Again, a a bit of a long road to get to a bunch of villains are gonna be in the land.

M1: Yeah, this is yeah, this is this is interesting. We're really we're really layering it.

carlye: Yeah, but it if it gets if it gets all the baddies in one location, I'm totally fine with it. It's totally fine.

M2: Yep, same.

carlye: so apparently, and this wasn't really mentioned during the panel, I found this elsewhere, that the apparently this setting is so tempting for the Disney villains that one by one they have all come here to try and claim the last of the wishing well's power. That's how we get all of these different fortresses and palaces, and basically everywhere you look, the villains have taken over and they've kind of they they're calling it conjured architecture. And different spaces will reflect the style and humor and personalities of different villains. And they're saying that the size and scale is comparable to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge.

M1: Wow, that's crazy.

M2: That's huge.

carlye: That land is huge.

M1: That land is huge. Huge.

M2: Huge, huge, huge, huge. It makes me very excited for this land because there are a lot of directions they could take it. I think that this is one that peop they of anything they're doing, they have to do this, right? And they are. And I'm very, very happy. Cause this one, it's like they, it's in Magic Kingdom. It's this it's the first time they're doing this huge expansion. They're building this villain's land. I can't believe that I mean I can 'cause you can see it on a map, but that they can fit this. It's just crazy because of the footprint that took off plus that extra backstage area. It is crazy to think how much bigger. Magic Kingdom will truly be a two day park. I mean, no question, which is

M1: Yes.

M2: yeah, insane.

carlye: It's gonna be such a walk from the front.

M1: my god. Tero rope dropping whatever those are gonna be, that's gonna be fun.

M2: Train station.

carlye: Listen, I don't I don't know if this is happening, but Lord I hope they build a hotel on the other side because we like this feels very Tokyo Disney C at this point.

M1: Yes.

M2: They gotta get yeah, second entrance to magic, is that what we're wein yeah. They won't, but

carlye: I mean that would be s that'd be great.

M1: That'd be amazing. That would be amazing.

M2: well maybe.

M1: well, did you ever believe the the Emperor's new groove coaster rumors, Carly?

carlye: No. I I I'm at a I'm at a point in my

M1: I didn't de we didn't either.

carlye: life where I I believe that every idea that anyone is discussing has probably been discussed. But

M1: A hundred percent.

carlye: I don't believe anything is going to be built until they are like literally welcoming me in to go on the ride.

M1: Yes.

M2: I just was that to me was like someone said it. They're like, I'm I'm positive about it. I'm like, I I bet that was said at some point. Just like an Imagineer once told us that 100% no questions Utopia was being built in Animal Kingdom. They said, there's no doubt. And we said, and guess what? It wasn't.

M1: Maybe it wasn't.

M2: that that that ride, while it would be fun, does not have the same longevity or like timelessness that Maleficent and some of the villains that they're bringing does. Maleficent is a timeless villain. And so Yeah, she makes sense for the roller coaster, which is

M1: Yeah. And she's like the ultra,

carlye: Yeah.

M1: you know, Maleficent's one of the most like evil ones. She's like gonna ground the land. So they yeah, spoiler alert, it's not an emperor's new groove roller coaster. It is a Maleficent roller coaster. They said, encounter Maleficent as you race through the enchanted briar around her mountaintop fortress. And when they were talking about this during the panel, they showed some artwork, some interesting things. I thought it does show a lap bar instead of an overhead restraint, which typically indicates it'll be more of a family coaster, although I know there was chatter about how like that's not necessarily so much the case. Yeah. Yeah.

M2: 'Cause I said that and and ever I was annihilated and people said, No, that does not they said,

carlye: did did the coast did the coaster people come for you?

M2: That does not mean it's a family coaster. I said, wait

carlye: Which as somebody who doesn't listen, as somebody who doesn't know that

M1: Yeah.

carlye: much about coasters, I respect and love the coaster community. I appreciate because they've come for me before when I've been incorrect, and I appreciate the correction. They are pros. They know.

M1: Yep. They know, they know.

M2: Ha ha ha. Said, Yeah, you're right. You're right. I still think it will be more family friendly than Tron, which is all I said, but you never know.

carlye: I have so my thought is that, and the again, I don't, I don't speak on anything I actually know secrets about. So this is just my thought. I think that this coaster is going to be like Hagrid's because they have emphasized that there's gonna be an element they've never attempted on a Disney coaster, not just to the public, but to multiple reporters I know. That is a line that they have been repeating. And originally I was thinking, if it was a Magic Kingdom only Specific, it would be maybe an inversion, maybe something like that. But because we've now seen what the ride vehicle looks like and there's no overhead restraint, I think it's gonna be like Hagrid's, where there's spoiler alert if you haven't had Hagrid's, scroll ahead like 30 seconds, I think there's gonna be a drop.

M2: Mm.

carlye: Especially because we're talking about an enchanted Briar. Like whenever I read

M2: Yeah.

carlye: more and more about this ride, my brain goes straight to a Hagrid style coaster.

M1: That would be amazing. That

M2: I mean, Haggard's is an incredible roller coaster. Incredible. And I I did it after waiting in the line for hours and hours. But I'm glad I waited

carlye: Yeah, you finally got on.

M1: Mm-hmm.

M2: because it was that good. I love another roller coaster coming to Magic Kingdom because I hope that it means that Seven Doors Mind Train will become less popular. I am so sick

M1: Seriously.

M2: of the line for that ride. It does not deserve it. I want

M1: For that mediocre ride, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

carlye: No, it does not.

M2: to wait twenty five minutes for it and I would love it, but I will never wait seventy five minutes for it. So

M1: Seventy. No.

carlye: Yeah. And I just want to point this out, and I know that this is low-key me becoming like, I'm a journalist who thinks WTI is doing an incredible job. But like in the video, they released WTI released this video after the Parks panel on Saturday. So not everybody picked it up if you're not following accounts who posted about it. But they did this, what do they call it? Behind the pixie dust. They basically show everything they're working on and they did like a this follow-up video to all the news that came out. And in this video, they said that the coaster is inspired by the artwork of Ivan Earl. And like to hear. People building a coaster referencing original artists is like, the they know what they're doing. Like just hand them the keys, let them go, let them cook. Cause they if they are doing that, they are doing this right.

M2: It's giving like Mary Blair, it's like it's giving the era of like Mary Blair is inspiring this. It's just they're designing something like beautiful, which I am incredibly excited about. I love the, what is it? Pardon pixie dust, whatever that series is that they do. I love to

M1: Okay.

M2: get the little details. I am so excited about, I just think this land will be beautiful. And the the conjured architecture itself and the inspiration that they've shown, even the little things. They're like, here's a little piece of a fence that inspired us. I'm like, this is just gonna be good. This is gonna be good because you know what's not good? Our fantasyland. Ugly, ugly, ugly,

M1: Ha ha ha

M2: ugly, ugly fantasyland. Ugh, these medieval tents. So I'm like, yes, great. This is what we need. So I'm very excited about that.

M1: And they sh they showed concept art of some of the villains and how they're going for this elevated style of the villains. And yes, I think it really is going to be a beautiful look. They can go so many different directions with villains. You sometimes the villains are kind of like the butt of the joke. And this is not that. This is very like serious villain, which I like. Carly, explain to me the Cruella thing, because Cruella came out and did a little bit, and it was confusing. It was confusing.

M2: I missed it. I d we didn't get it. We couldn't follow.

carlye: Yes. I I am so I I was watching it. I literally cause I have so when I'm at these panels, I've been to D23 five times, always for work. So I've reported on D23 six times. I've reported from there five times. And when I'm in these panels, at this point my tech setup is that I have an earplug in one ear because of screaming and an AirPod in the other to hear the video that I'm editing while the presentation is going on. Yes. So I

M1: That's what we do too, yeah.

M2: It's not.

carlye: saw I saw that segment and I went. Scott Gustin's got it. I literally just like didn't

M2: Ha ha.

carlye: even watch. I was like, Scott, Scotty boy's got it. And he did because he clarified it after the fact. And according to him, Cruello will have a lair. So from that language, I'm kind of inferring that because they haven't, I thought we were gonna get more food, more spaces, more source. I thought we were gonna get more details just about theming. Even if you don't show me a visual, I just want, I just want an idea of what we're gonna get.

M2: Yeah.

carlye: But because Scott said layer. And they're talking about this conduit architecture. And like we know that some people have castles there. I think that you're probably gonna go in a store and it's gonna be like maybe each villain has a store. Like it seems like everybody's gonna have a location. And also Lair feels a little bit like a lounge.

M2: Ooh.

carlye: So t I mean, I don't know if that is, but the word lair feels quite specific to me.

M2: I would love a lounge.

M1: That's cool.

M2: I could see them building a second lounge. I could see them doing that.

carlye: Yeah. Especially 'cause the Cruella

M1: Yeah, the cr on dis

carlye: themed lounge at Disney Cruise Line is wonderful.

M1: I was just gonna say that, yeah, the destiny. Okay, well

M2: That would be exciting. Okay, second ride we got. This ride itself as well for me, the storyline of it was a little bit more vague. Carly, you probably have the best handle on this.

carlye: I mean, I I spent a lot of time being like, wait, so what? Wait, so so what? So what is it? So I I guess my understanding is that it takes you down into the catacombs beneath the evil queen's castle. Again, you're kind of like, so like everybody lives here? Like what's is this like a sorority? Like what's happening? So I guess everybody has different property there. TBD. and you go inside the magic mirror realm. Okay, to encounter countless, quote, countless Disney villains. They've said this is a mix of special effects and physical set pieces. in this, I linked to footage in our notes to footage not shown. no, that's in Bleves and Coaster. That's separate. We already talked about that. Anyway, the streets are saying that, because people were like, it's gonna be a boat ride. The streets are saying this is most comparable to the Peter Pan attraction at Tokyo Disney Sea. And that would make a lot of sense. Alicia Stella has said that, other people have echoed that. I that makes a lot of sense to me for what this ride would be. It's like a very I loved that attraction when I went on it. it's there's multimedia, but not in the way where you're like, Boo, I hate screens. it just it I I'm hop I'm hoping that this will deliver the best possible version of that technology.

M2: I I feel yeah, I feel very confused still about like what this

carlye: Yes.

M2: is and where it ranks in terms of like the technology of Rides of the Resistance or even like the Casitas and Kanto attraction, which I think is gonna have Mickey and Mini, you know, it's trackless. So that whole technology versus like a more basic ride. I I have a hard time picturing where this lands. I want more details. I'm happy we got what we got, but I want more, I want more details about this. also never forget when someone announced that. pretended to leak that there was gonna be an Ursula spinner ride built in this land. They would never, they would never put something like that in this

M1: Yeah. No.

M2: land, just for reference, if you saw that one of those many rumors that would not fit. These are all storyline driven

M1: Deeply immersive, yes.

M2: Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, Pandora, Radiator Springs. They're all fitting the theme. So I know they'll do it right, but I'm curious how.

carlye: It's so weird that that this that this doesn't exist. It's so weird. Like if you think about all

M2: Yeah, it's crazy.

M1: Yes.

carlye: of these hallmark Disney characters and also just the potential of your thinking financially, the fact that they can cordon this off and do a nighttime party and charge extra. Like, there's so much financial potential for the company for doing this that it's kind of like, how is how is this not something we can go to today? It's shocking.

M1: Yeah, it really is. It's been rumored

M2: Yeah, how have they not how have they not done it before? It's insane.

M1: for forever. And also, I in case you missed it, they did officially announce it will actually be called Villains Land, which they did use as a literal announcement during the panel, which I thought was funny. I my thing with Villains Land is I've said this before, I Malsa too doesn't agree with me on this, but I find that Disney has used some villains so much that I'm like, we get we get it with these few villains. And I this is only a me take. This is no, there's like

M2: Yeah, you this is a niche thing that only I don't think anyone no one listening has any relates

M1: A few and unfortunately

M2: to this at all.

M1: Maleficent and the Evil Queen are two of them. And so for me with this, I'm like, I would just love to have anything that's not like Cruella Maleficent, Evil Queen, Jafar, like the f Ursula. I'm like, I hate Jafar. He's everywhere. He's everywhere.

M2: You hate Jafar. You hate Jafar. Yeah, let's build a King Candy roller coaster in Villains Land. That makes sense. It's they would never they have to have those villains in there. It would be a a gap

M1: I know No, I know.

carlye: Wait, who do you think is

M2: Yeah, that's

carlye: underrepresented? Who's in the villains minority?

M2: I guarantee she can't name Scar.

M1: Like like no Queen of Hearts isn't used that much. Queen of Hearts, like and then we go more niche. Madam Mim would love Madame Mim something. Like

M2: Sure, but but sure, but a land with the Queen of Hearts and Madame Mim, people would say, You're kidding me.

M1: No, I un I understand obviously not a bit.

carlye: I'm just imagining like writing a story being like new at Disney World. Madam Mim.

M2: Ha ha ha. Madame Mim, Goob and Tomatoa coming to this new villain's land, like it's not

M1: no, I obviously know that these ones have to be in it, but I'm like, just give me a sprinkle of anyone that isn't those, please.

M2: All right.

carlye: I hope you at least get it like a an homage or like a corner of a store. Like I hope get something.

M1: When no, when Madam Lim has like a little, I don't know, some a little like yeah, corner, just think of me. They did that for me, okay? Exactly. Exactly. okay.

carlye: I can't wait to see the Madmin deep dive in like 2042.

M2: Literally. my God. My cl my closing thought with Villainsland is that

carlye: Yeah.

M2: I think the name Villains Land is the right name for this. Fantasyland,

M1: Yes.

M2: Tomorrowland, Frontier Land. I don't necessarily need a different name. I think the announcement was sort of funny, but Villains Land works for me. so I'm happy. Carly thoughts, did you were you pleased with that name?

carlye: It does not bother me, because the thing is like it's only annoying for the people who have to call this by the full name. I I I don't know how deep you are in Jenny Nicholson lore, but I so she

M2: Deep. Deep.

carlye: and I forgot about this bit, but I believe it was in that epic Starcruiser video. She talks about how the proper names versus what people actually call it makes everybody sound like they're being bought when they, you know, say things like.

M1: Yes, yes.

carlye: Like Guardians of the Galaxy, like colon dash mission, italics breakout exclamation. But like when you say it that way, you sound crazy. It's just the guardian's ride. And so I this does feel in the same thread of they're listen they're listening to us, that we don't want some

M1: Mm-hmm.

carlye: some goofy name. Like it it's villains land. There you go. I will be calling

M2: What we've had to say.

M1: Yeah.

carlye: pissed and peak Carsland, unfortunately, but

M1: Of course.

carlye: that's Disney's problem.

M2: Same. When we've had to use full names for various things, I'm like, it's just it's so clunky and we're stumble over it. We retake

M1: Yeah.

M2: it a million times. Even with certain resorts, when you have to I'm like, this is too much Saratoga Springs, resort and spy, Disney Vacation Club property. I'm like, my God. Can't. I can't. So

carlye: There's I've been asked to edit stories to add and spa and I'm like, no, no, no, no, I'm cutting it. No.

M1: No, no, no, no, no. Nope.

M2: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The spa's gone, baby. The spa's gone. Okay. so all right. Epcot. We I'm excited about this, everyone, because we got an update that Spaceship Earth is being reimagined. Currently, the focus is on the history of human communication. I think that theme is lost on many people. My partner, that theme that was lost on her up until very recently.

M1: Ha ha

M2: It tells a story of communication. They're changing that and it's going to focus on human connection.

M1: I

carlye: What does that mean?

M1: okay, my theory is that I would this is what I said to Maslett too. I think as we get into the now age, communication would be so heavily focused on phones that I don't think they want to do that. And so I think that they want to have to not really talk about cell phones. And so they're gonna be like, connection. Yes, yeah, like I think that they're like, no, but

carlye: It would be like fifty animatronics on their phone.

M2: Ha ha ha ha.

M1: we have to bring it into the modern age. So they're changing it to connection.

M2: But they're keeping, they've they're keeping some, because I was reading up about this a little more to see if I could find anything. For example, are they gonna take some of the previous concepts? Like I know the Egyptian scene I kept seeing. They're keeping some of the scenes because they're changing some of them, but they're keeping some of it as well. So they're not gutting this thing. I'm curious how they will turn this into connection. I guess like humans connected through like reading and words and FaceTime.

carlye: Phones.

M1: Well, they're gonna be li I swear they're gonna be like no phones. Like there's gonna be like

M2: Face timing

M1: one little phone. Yeah, I don't think they're gonna focus on phones.

M2: we got an announcement in twenty nineteen at D twenty three. I can't believe it was that long ago, that they were going to redo spaceship earth and they didn't. so, yeah, literally.

carlye: Thank God. Yeah, I went

M1: Yeah.

carlye: back and watched that video. I mean, I was at that panel. I reported on this. I went back and watched the video again and we dodged a bullet. I mean, we did have to lose your your hopeful festival tower for it, but I'm grateful that this got wiped as part of that because they they okay, I'm supposed to focus on storytelling, which I mean I mean that makes sense. We're Disney, it makes sense. literally like Leslie Iworks has a movie coming out right now about storytelling. but they were going to use a story light to work as a narrator, and it seems like they were gonna like like illuminate different scenes as you go on. And like, I don't know, like replacing the narrator on that ride with a flashlight does not does not pass the vibe check. and thankfully,

M2: Nope, nope.

carlye: right after the park reopened in 2020, they they cut it and they postponed it. And I I think this will definitely be better. This ride, e it doesn't matter how much you love spatial earth, you gotta know in your soul this ride needs the update.

M1: I mean please. I this is one of my favorites, and like the end is abysmally bad.

M2: I'll miss the woman that's painted over in the in the rocket chip on the wall, but this is the

M1: Yeah.

M2: flagship attraction of Epcot. This is in the park icon. I mean, we wrote it for the first time probably in like 2015. Never knew it was there, honestly. Very well on under advertised.

M1: Yeah. Thanks to our parents for that one. Yeah.

M2: but I'm very, very excited for this change. I think Disney is looking at what we call the crusty areas of Epcot and saying we need to give it a little zhuj because thank

carlye: You have been describing it perfectly, by the way. As a listener, call I now think of, I mean, like, I'm like, yeah, this crusty is the perfect word. Like, there's just like tumbleweeds of hair and dust passing through their crusty. Yeah.

M1: Yes. Literally at all times. And one

M2: No, literally. Yeah. Well

M1: of those is, of course, Figment. This

M2: The Imagination Pavilion.

M1: was such an interesting announcement. It was the very last announcement they gave us. In fact, Mouse

M2: I had already left.

M1: Lit 2 was sprinting out to get an Uber. Literally. And I had to call her. And I'm going, Dreamfinder,

M2: Come back in.

M1: Dream Finder. And she's like running back down. and basically all they said was like, Dreamfinder is is coming, right? Like they gave us basically nothing.

carlye: It was the go on girl give me nothing of announcements. I I believe they will do it. End of sentence. That's it.

M1: I mean, again, Figment has to be updated. It has to be updated. Like you can love Figment as a ride and understand that it has to be updated. So at some point they certainly will.

carlye: Yeah. And

M2: This feels so far away to me. So far away because there there's we didn't see anything about it. We haven't heard anything about it. It doesn't feel like a priority to them. Like I think it's great that it's happening, but I don't expect to see this unless it's a quick change. And I think they won't, I think it'll be a larger change. I feel like this is in the early stages. They just know they're doing that, but I that's my guess.

carlye: Yeah. And I I've talked about this extensively online, but there has been a lot of like follow-up conversation about it. And like this was an interesting D23 because a lot of the conversation was less about the news and more about the setup and presentation and expectation of news,

M1: Yeah.

carlye: which is a really meta situation for all of us to be in. and my takeaway was that it because D23 did not used to have a separately ticketed event for this panel. This was part of the event. Some people got in, some people didn't, but it was at the convention center. Now it's a nighttime, this bombastic event where people are really expecting a wow moment. And it's tricky now that the news of our future vacations is tied to like a Saturday night spectacle. Because this, in another way, would have been like, my they're re they're redoing Figment. Like this is gonna be incredible. But now I'm like, well. You kind of needed this for like the big wow moment of the show, but we also didn't get concrete

M1: Mm-hmm.

carlye: information about the other stuff. When in general, if they would have just told me on a regular Thursday, I would have been thrilled. So it's very the conversation is so bizarre now because I w I want to be happier about this, but the way it was done makes me unsure of when we will ever see this and what it'll be.

M2: People who have never been to D23 but have watched in the past. one, I didn't even know that the Honda Center, this large panel that last year was the first year of it. That was even that was news to me. I knew it was newer, but I didn't realize that last year was the first year. So much in or two years ago, the last D23, so much huge news in 2024. And so this one, it's it was so built up. And I think that they weren't gonna announce as many new things, but they could have given these more concrete updates and it would have like, yes, we're showing But that didn't quite happen. But I'm still like, I'm happy about all these things. I just my expectations could not have been higher. So it would be very hard to have met meet them.

carlye: Yes, and

M1: Yeah. I think it was hard to follow. It was hard to follow 2024. And I think the way that they also chose to present it, they chose to use this huge Saturday night hyped event to announce that the Antonio Encanto ride would be called Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto, like and have no height requirement. You know, that's it's cool, but is that the moment for that announcement and and like ten of those type of announcements in a row? It sort of was like a weird vibe. So yeah, at the end when they like threw this announcement and one other one that we'll talk about, it was kind of like, okay, you're trying to re I don't it was like, yeah, you have to take everything in the context in which it was given.

carlye: Yeah, I think there is I think there is a the issue is that I we don't know if we can fully trust the things that we hear at this panel. I think that that is the biggest issue because when Disney usually announces stuff in general, like we trust them that it's gonna happen. But because historically some things haven't happened, again, the pandemic was a huge part of that. But I I was you just you just never know. And as Disney fans, we know that like things can change all the time. And not getting a lot of detail. We got did get some detail about things, but not getting a ton of detail about things that are supposed to be opening very soon. And also not getting a ton of detail about things that are high in the sky makes you walk away and be like, what just happened?

M1: Yes. During a section of the panel called possibilities, which is kinda just like, okay, so for real? Like

M2: But then it's like they've said that the Epcot I'll call it future world, whatever, that is complete. But then I'm like, well, it's obviously not. And we talked about this. The land was crusty, the seas is crusty, imagine and even Mission Space is a little bit crusty. Like there's things they need to do. So I'm excited for this. But I'm like, I mean, what about the play pavilion? Hello? Like so

carlye: What about the play pavilion? I was

M1: Seriously.

carlye: waiting, I was ready.

M2: I thought they'd bring it back. I said they have these ideas. I they're gonna do it. It's sitting there empty and they need more things, but no, they didn't. So, one thing we did that get, moving on to Hollywood Studios, we did get something concrete, which is that Monstropolis will open with a phased opening in 2027. That will include a new show, which we'll talk about. It'll include a quick service pizza restaurant, Harry Housen's. It will not include the door roller coaster. That's further away. They were very honest about that. I'm happy that they didn't try to pretend everything would open and then not do it. I'm happy that we just know that it's going to. so the first thing I'll I'll take the show. I thought the laugh floor was moving over here. In fact, I was certain said there's no way they wouldn't move the laugh floor over here, but they're not. They're doing a show, Welcome to Monstropolis, hosted by Mike and Sully. It will have a Randy Newman song. I think it may be a 3D show with an animatronic. Is that the vibe we're getting about this? Or do we think that this is a something different?

carlye: Sure. The the most interesting thing I've seen about this was Scott Gustin's tweet that he during a visit to an off-site WDI facility earlier this year, which I think I was at the same facility. I didn't see this, so maybe I just wasn't looking.

M1: Ha ha ha.

carlye: he said

M2: Ha ha.

carlye: he saw the musician and camera operator up close. So I I guess there's gonna be some sort of animatronic one monster band, which they should have said out loud at the panel, because that would have been a huge round of applause. You say the

M2: Yeah.

carlye: word audio animatronic, you're getting 13,000 people clapping

M1: Yes.

carlye: for you in that room. But he Scott said to quote his tweet or his I'm not saying X, I think there's a still a lot Disney hasn't revealed about the show itself, particularly the technology being used, which makes me wonder if it's one of those things where it feels 3D but there's no glasses. Who I'm not sure.

M2: Mm, okay. Yeah.

M1: This this excites me. I I think that this is going to be a a fun, a fun show. Will they include the song Put That Thing Right Back Where It Came From Rissa Halt Me? I assume yes, and I certainly hope so. speaking of things that I like. Yes.

carlye: It does feel a little like an ancient burial ground as a Muppets fan, but I'm I'm I'm forging ahead.

M1: Well, people said the con in one of the concepts are like there are the monsters up in the box that Settler and Waldorf were in, and they were like,

M2: So yeah. That's why I think it might be three.

M1: Yeah, and they were sad.

M2: Right P.

carlye: Not be okay.

M1: Speaking things that we personally love, I'm I do not think Carly is on the same page as us. Pizza Rizzo stands, you know that we love Pizza Rizzo so much. It's obviously

carlye: Wait, like the food or the vibe?

M1: the food, the vibe, and the vibe. We love pizza rizzo.

M2: The food and the vibe. The food and the vibe. We in fact we love the food so much that when we go there we order three pizzas. We have an extra to share.

M1: Ha ha.

M2: Gagging. Carly's gagging. No, we love it. And we might be the only two people.

carlye: You can't be serious. Though

M1: No, we are. I think we're the only ones, but we love it. And I'm from New and I live in New York.

carlye: I You can't be serious. You're joking.

M1: So I mean, much too no, we love it. So I

M2: No, we're not. We're not.

M1: am thrilled that a third iteration of this pizza restaurant is returning. Archie's

M2: Likewise same.

M1: Scare Pig Pizza. I'm sure others wish that it would be anything else, but no, what was originally Pizza Planet was then Pizza Rizzo is now once again going to be a giant pizza restaurant. So good.

M2: Best quick service in Hollywood Studios will return. I assume the food will remain the same and we will continue to order three pizzas and

M1: Three pizzas.

M2: go there. It is our number one spot. And in fact, when it closed, we would just look around head on a swivel and say, Where on earth do we eat?

M1: Where do we eat?

M2: We tried Fairfax Fair. It was just gar everything, garbage, the only place to go.

M1: It's pizza wrist. RT scared pig pizza.

carlye: I you're like i it's people like you filling out the surveys that are ruining it for the rest of us.

M1: That's true.

M2: That's

M1: That's true.

M2: When they said Archie ScarePig Pizza, I because they didn't put that name on the screen, I thought they said, Aren't you scared pizza? And I said, I guess I kind of get it. but who is Archie Scare Pig?

M1: He's f he's the mascot for Monsters University of one of the fraternities. Yes.

M2: is he's a pig. Okay, see, I haven't seen him that in

carlye: Yeah, it's

M2: a while. Well

carlye: Monsters University is my favorite Pixar film and I'm still like, Okay, that was that was a swing.

M1: That was a stretch. Yep. Wait, Carly,

M2: A deep cut.

M1: take the Monsters University Alumni Club, because this was another one that confused me in the moment.

carlye: Yeah, so they said a lot of this stuff out loud and it was pretty because it was while they were doing kind of a flyover of the land under construction. So was really confusing in the room on Saturday. I'm not sure what it was like at the live stream, but afterwards I looked into it and Monsters University Alumni Club sounded to me like it was gonna be some sort of bar or lounge, but it seems like if I'm guessing, it's going to be where the Pizza Rizzo wedding banquet room was. Because they're calling it

M1: Okay.

carlye: a who's who of all the student clubs, fraternities, sororities at MU, honors legendary scares from years past, and This is a direct quote, has opened its doors to human visitors eating at Archie's. That sounds

M1: Okay.

carlye: almost exactly

M2: Okay.

carlye: like that.

M2: I feel so much peace knowing that Pizza Rizzo will look so similar to the way it did before with just a new overlay. So I'm happy about that. Although I did love the the wedding banquet room. We had a lot of good times in there. Even more fun times because I love Monsters Inc.

carlye: I mean, I went to Pizzeriso Prom. I put my child on an airplane and flew her to Orlando to attend Pizza Rizzo Prom.

M1: That's iconic.

M2: I mean, that is an iconic move. okay, we

carlye: Had to do it.

M2: did get a couple of store updates. s the scareporium. You know, they are changing the layout a little bit of this area. Generally speaking, if you walked around with your eyes closed and you knew where the fountain was and you knew where Muppet Vision 3D was and things, you'd find your way around because they're keeping a lot of it the same. I d they are removing the studio store, right?

carlye: It seems like that's where Harry Hausens is going.

M1: in the center, right?

M2: in that okay, I thought it was going over to the left.

carlye: Because I I'm not like a I'm not like staring down a map usually, but I watched that partner Pixie Dust video and it like the the square like shape of it and the placement looked like it's where the store was.

M1: Interesting. That's not that big.

M2: Interesting. I thought that it was taking the old state of like Mama Melrose sort of, but no, you might be right.

carlye: That's what I thought. But maybe I mean, maybe you walk in that way and then it connects. Like maybe

M1: And I was gonna say

M2: Yeah.

M1: maybe they just like connect it all.

M2: That's true. That would make sense.

carlye: Yeah.

M1: Harry Housens was announced that it will be a menu unlike anything else we offer at Disney World. And they I did see somewhere that it's not gonna be just sushi, which for someone who doesn't eat sushi made me very happy. but they will have an animatronic of the hair of Harry Hausen, which I thought was so cool.

M2: I think they might take the one from California Adventure, but I I guess maybe not at this point. He looks more advanced. He looks like he was a more advanced version.

M1: He looks a lot more advanced.

M2: I also

carlye: Well, you know that you know that Monsters Inc. California Venture is no longer closing.

M2: Is it officially

M1: What?

M2: no longer closing?

carlye: I believe so. I mean it was put out, I forget who tweeted it, but it was put out by someone who was definitely like they confirmed it before they said it.

M2: Yeah.

carlye: Apparently because of the timeline, which I I think we're gonna get to Disneyland

M2: Mm.

carlye: if in the next seven hours, but which I

M1: Yeah.

M2: That's good.

carlye: love, but I I know you guys have real lives. I apparently Monsters Inc. has been more safe because the Avatar timeline is so far out.

M2: Okay, I actually love that 'cause I love that attraction. So

M1: And I hate

carlye: Love it.

M1: and I hate Avatar, sorry. so yeah.

carlye: Same.

M2: We'll get our own Harry Housin. so empty about that.

M1: Okay, and then we didn't get a ton of door coaster updates. Basically what they said is you'll be lifted 40 feet in the air in four seconds and then launched.

carlye: Who

M2: Launch. It looks high and tall. They showed a video.

M1: So yeah.

M2: I love that they showed a video of that. they showed a whole kind of area walkthrough of the land. I love that there's progress. I love that we know that it's opening 2027. I wish the door coaster could be done. I feel like that, you know, Universal seems to have faster timelines and things, but it is a very complex coaster. They're gonna do it right. It is what it is. I I hope it opens in 2028. not 2029. Like

M1: Yes.

M2: that if it was two years out, that would be bad. I think it'll just open. About a year later is my guess. A true pure guess.

carlye: I would have loved to have seen just more imagery, more artwork, more cue of that attraction, more hairy like just more things of what's to come, more even like imagery of the disgusting pizza. Like and just anything that I is like something I could look at and visually know what

M1: Yeah.

carlye: more

M1: For a land that's opening next year, for the most part, they're building

carlye: Yeah.

M1: it right now. Like they know what this stuff is gonna be. It's they it's inter they could throw so much at us, which would like make people so happy. It's interesting that they chose not to.

carlye: I agree.

M2: Our final piece of Walt Disney World News, some who wrote okay, I was gonna say who wrote this?

carlye: Had to put it in there, had to put it in there. This is me.

M1: I didn't even see this. Not me.

carlye: This is all me. Okay. Airport

M2: Read it. Let's hear it. People are gonna cheer.

carlye: luggage transfer service expands to Caribbean Beach Resort. And if you have not been following this saga, if you listen to Very Amusing, you know about this all too well. But essentially, they, ever since the pandemic, they have pulled back a lot of the perks of staying on property with Walt Disney World, RIP Magical Express, RIP checking your suitcases and having them appear in your room, RIP many other things, but they have. Slowly and quietly been bringing back airport luggage transfer. So now at all of the values, and as of this week, one of the moderates, you can do the old school thing where you check your bags and it goes through, and you can do it the other end. It only works for three airlines. I believe it is United, American, and Southwest, I think is the trio, but they are growing this, it keeps expanding. And to me, it seems like they're just going to keep expanding until it is at all of the hotels, I hope and pray.

M2: That is a win. Never

M1: Fingers crossed.

M2: used it before. Couldn't tell you what that is, how that works. But I know that many that has many fans,

M1: Yeah, by the time that we started s

M2: so

M1: by the time we

carlye: I

M1: started staying on site, this was gone. So

carlye: Yeah. And this I didn't realize because I I never went with young children. I didn't realize how huge this would have been.

M1: Yeah.

carlye: To not have to carry a hundred suits. I have like a whole carabiner setup that I use to carry my daughter's bags and all my stuff and the diapers and the snacks. This to have it appear in my room a miracle.

M1: Yeah, that would be amazing. Okay, one day. Well, stay at Caribbean Beach next time. okay, let's move over to the other coast. Let's move over to Disneyland, California Adventure, Cocoa Ride. Again, this is one where I wish that they had showed us a little bit more artwork. They showed us one, which I believe was of the queue. They said that we were going to be entering a museum dedicated to Hector Rivera. and I believe that that's what we were seeing in the artwork. Is that right? It was the Q.

M2: A voza taki

carlye: Yep, that's basically all we got.

M1: Yeah. And then we got like a little nugget that the story will be about a year after Coco. They did talk about trying to bridge like original Coco and Coco 2, which will be coming out like when this is happening, and that it's gonna be a boat ride through his like memories of his time in the land of the dead. There won't be a height requirement.

carlye: Which is great.

M2: When they announced when they were talking about this, I was nudging Mouse of One and I said, It's it's a boat ride. They're gonna do up it at Epcot too. No. I didn't know it was a boat ride before. I said it's

M1: Yeah, she th she thought that that was coming.

M2: coming to Epcot. No, it's not, it's not coming to Epcot FYI. but there was a there was more details we got in the Imagineering Pavilion as well. that you could basically fill out this whole there's this whole area dedicated to like memories. And they're going to bury those memories in the roots of the attraction or something. We didn't do it, but it seemed like a a cool, fun thing for Disney fans. We didn't really hear about it enough until the parks panel. We said, that's what that was. But it was a cute thing that they're doing. So I'm excited about that.

M1: And then Carly, I didn't see this tidbit about the Pirates Animatronic. If you didn't know, they're testing a new Pirates Animatronic at the Disneyland Pirates, which is doesn't really fit with all the other Pirates Animatronics. It's like a very high-tech animatronic.

carlye: Yeah, it basically went over with local fans like a brick through a window. there

M1: Yes, yes.

carlye: are very very few people are excited about this change that was added to Pirates. everybody basically guessed that this was going to be this AA figure was likely a test for Ernesto de la Cruz or for other characters in the Cocoa Attraction because Disney was utilizing epic games and Unreal Engine technology. It's something that they're investing in, and so they are they're using it now in the parks. But Disney just came out and said it. I was reading a post and was like, the rumors are true. Like the the source who told me was correct because it's official now that they confirmed essentially the language is basically, I'm I feel, I feel safe saying the language basically, essentially confirms that that pirate figure in Pirates of the Caribbean was a test or is the technology that will be used in Coco.

M2: It makes sense because it was truly doing that exact transformation that they would do. I'm excited for this attraction. You Carly, you had it in the notes. You think that this will this likely could be opening close to the Coco Two debut in twenty twenty nine?

carlye: Yeah, that movie opens November. I would see them wanting this open for summer, maybe like a mid to late summer opening. and then it ties right into the movie. I just think like promotionally that works really well. But if it's

M2: Yeah.

carlye: ready early, I could I I could see them going early, but personally, I do not know. I also want to pull the language just because I'm paranoid

M2: Based on Yeah.

carlye: of what it actually was. it w I tweeted it out but I can't find it. I'm gonna look for it

M1: Ha ha ha.

carlye: now. Sorry guys, it's loading. Okay.

M2: Do do do do.

carlye: Okay.

M2: It's the Jeopardy music we always end up playing.

carlye: All right, here's what they said. Walt Disney Imagineering is also continuing to draw inspiration from classic attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion for the development of this attraction, bringing the skeletal cast of characters to life through the latest audio animatronics technology.

M2: Hotbox goes to Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah. Yep.

M1: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense.

M2: You're spot on about that. I'm excited for this. This is a great, great ad, I think, to DCA. it's a ways out, but I think it's gonna be good and it's gonna really tie these two areas together. okay, next up is Avengers Campus. I don't know anything about Marvel or the Avengers, so I'm also one, feel free to run through or or Carly as well, but I can't provide much.

M1: Yeah, I'm I'm gonna say this was one of the ones during the panel that I had the hardest trouble following. Like what is being announced right now? Like I was really struggling to discern like, didn't we know this? Or like maybe this is a nude little nugget. I don't know. the expansion is gonna double the size of the land. There's two new attractions. If if you don't know Avengers Infinity Avengers, my god, Avengers Infinity

M2: Whoa.

M1: Defense and Stark Flight Lab. In the Imagineering Pavilion, we got to see the ride vehicles for Stark Flight Lab. And we had like a model setup of things. I guess starting with Infinity Defense. Carly, why don't you run through it? Because honestly, I was like, what is new? What is new?

carlye: So the language, so basically what this ride is, is that you are navigating through big physical sets blended with media scenes. It sounds like, again, it it's the easiest thing I can compare it to, and from what I'm hearing is that it's it this ride is not beating the Transformers allegations. That's kind of what I

M1: Okay.

carlye: the easiest comparison from what I've heard it could be. That's not official, that's just me saying. But basically, you're moving through these huge sets, there's large pieces of media, and your job Is to reassemble the Avengers and beat King Thanos. I don't know who King Thanos is.

M1: Okay. I know who g do you not watch Marvel? No?

carlye: I I have clocked years of my life watching Marvel and I could not tell you who King Thanos is. Who's King Th who's King Thanos? How is Robert Downey

M1: King Thanos. Okay, King Thanos. Yeah, yeah, okay.

carlye: Jr. two characters? I don't understand.

M2: Robert Downey Jr. is

M1: me, I mean, I don't

M2: Thanos.

carlye: No, he's also Doctor Doom, but he's also

M1: no, no, Dr. Doom.

carlye: it's

M1: Also, okay, like a quick little aside, we'll get to this, but they they called out a couple characters who are gonna be like in it, in this and the other one. And like, I guess we don't care about MCU timelines because Robert Donnie Jr., Iron Man is with Anthony Mackey, Captain America, who don't exist in the same timeline. One is dead before the other.

carlye: Yeah, what was that?

M1: I I

M2: Well alert.

M1: spoiler alert, guys, someone dies. But in both in both rides that they're doing that. I thought that was interesting that they just like don't care.

M2: this right in my mind as someone who doesn't follow Avengers campus things super closely. I'm like, wh why are we still getting these details? How how is this not known? When is this thing opening? I'm like, whoa, crank this baby along. Like it just has felt forever to me.

M1: I it's been

M2: But I mean I also don't know anything about it and I don't really so

carlye: Been a while. I've spent a it's been a while. Avengers Campus opened 2021. to set the scene for you, I was masked outdoors at the media preview. So it was this is a long time ago in California. Like this is a long time ago, and it that itself was delayed. basically, my approach to this ride is like the celebrities are gonna be there. I don't understand the story. We're just gonna be bopping around. And it looks like there's these huge set pieces. it seems like From the video footage that has been released, that there's like a very big Thor's hammer. There is a scene where it looks like I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a pin particle happening and you are tiny and things are big because you see, you see

M1: I would not be surprised at all, yeah.

carlye: Captain America and he's gigantic. Like he's just above you in humongo. So I think that's probably a little bit of what is happening and how we're moving around. I don't understand the story, and I feel like it's not gonna matter because it's just gonna be fun. And I I

M1: Yeah.

carlye: that's all I can hope.

M1: I don't know how much they care about the story again, with the whole

carlye: Yeah.

M1: Robert Downey, Anthony Mackey thing. We'll see.

carlye: Yeah.

M1: we did find out that I was gonna

M2: Well the next one I are you still covering the first one?

M1: say we found out that the pre mission briefing was gonna be done by Miss Marvel. I thought that was so interesting. To me, she's such a random character in the MCU to have amongst these like real staple characters, but I'm sure they'll they'll tie it together.

carlye: I'm I'm happy to to put a woman in front. Just g

M1: me too.

carlye: ha so happy. So happy. I don't know if it made well it doesn't make sense in the story. I don't know. Robert Tong Jr.'s Iron Man, but I'll take it.

M1: Me too. If I Yeah, to me it makes

M2: Give us a gal.

M1: no sense because again, I don't think Kamala Khan existed when Iron Man was alive, but like, you know what? It's okay. Whatever. Maybe

carlye: Sure.

M1: he's gonna come back in this Victor Von Doom thing. We'll see. Stark Flight Lab, it's to me giving some of all thrills. It's giving the roller coaster.

M2: I was gonna say they said this is the first time they've done it. And I said Cyberspace Mountain at Disney Quest by Bill Nye, Sum of All Thrills and Interventions. Hello. You're flying in a pod

M1: That's like all I can picture.

M2: as an Avenger. Basically, you're on a roller coaster. Those things, I'm shocked that they're bringing this back because they obviously had it before. Okay. Obviously, it's a little bit different, but I'm shocked that they're

M1: Ha ha ha.

M2: bringing this back because these things had the worst capacity ever. They had insane lines at all times, specifically at interventions at Epcot. That we would be cueing for that thing because it doesn't ha like two people can be on at a time and there's not that many. I'm intrigued by this. They definitely said it's something new and in my mind it is identical.

M1: Yeah, in my mind it's some of all thrills, but

carlye: Check out the video. There's a video because they released footage. I think it was South by Southwest. It might have been 2025. I don't know if it was 2026. Might have been 2026. They released footage of it that, like, when we had no idea, when I just didn't clock it when it came out, I was like, okay, more stuff about that weird puke machine. but now that I've seen it, there's like the way that they're loading it, because your capacity

M1: interesting. Yes.

carlye: concerns are absolutely valid. which I think is why they built it this way. There's people on the ride while other people are loading their two person pods and then they brrr travel to the robot

M1: The pods switch out.

carlye: arm.

M2: All right, I rescind my roasts. I rescind my roasts. They looks like they're f figuring this out.

M1: This they clearly they clearly learned from some of all thrills.

carlye: But you were right. I think yeah, you were absolutely right. I originally I was like, cool, I'm never gonna go on this. But now I'm now that I'm kind of like seeing it, I'm watching that, I know the characters that are gonna be involved. It feels to me like a very interesting application of the technology and also a really good

M1: Yes.

carlye: use of space in that area in this park. I wouldn't eat a swarma before it. I'm a little worried about the tom. But it it seems pretty cool because from the first time you get lifted, you're like flat. You're like kind of upside down. So we'll see.

M2: It's very right for DCA and Disneyland. It would be very wrong for them to try to do something like this at Disney World. But for for who goes there and the space that they have and like the technology, it's it is like a good it is a good fit of anywhere.

carlye: Yeah, I think it's gonna work. Even if it's not my favorite, I think it's gonna work.

M2: I think people will like it.

M1: I think so too. And I it's like so Iron Man focused. Like it makes sense. Again, it actually doesn't make sense because Anthony Mackey is gonna be there, but let's not focus on that.

M2: Flight instructors, it's what you

carlye: Two I I know.

M2: feel like to train as an Avenger. That's the premise of it. I think anyone can enjoy it, even non Marvel fans like me. So I'm excited.

M1: Okay, Disneyland Resort. Yeah, this little entertainment news. you're a Disneylander. That's

carlye: I don't I mean, I'm kinda like, why talk about magic happens when we can be talking about Avatar

M1: I mean, big heart for Avatar. So

M2: Magic happens, returns. I'm happy. I'm happy. Like, good, yay. I don't know if it needed

carlye: Yeah, yay.

M2: to be made in done in the the this big park pan. I think they could've just popped that little news outno said, fun but

carlye: Agreed. There was a

M1: And like and

carlye: moment,

M1: then

carlye: I thought they were gonna say Main Street Electrical Parade. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. The way they were setting it up, because when they talked about Remembered Dreams Come True, which is the nighttime spectacular coming back in February, I guess we are talking about it. I thought they were, I thought they were gonna do Main Street Electrical Parade. And I was like, no way, no way. Yeah, they were like, an old

M1: 'Cause it was night 'cause it was nighttime stuff. Yes. They did rem

carlye: classic that you love is coming back. And I'm like, they cannot be that turtle cannot be spinning down Main Street in 2027. Like, no, it can't.

M1: And they said, just kidding, it's magic happens. okay.

carlye: Yeah, kidding.

M1: So do you want to talk about Tomorrowland?

M2: W talk about what? Talk about what?

carlye: I I would if there was something to discuss.

M1: This like, yeah, if there's anything to talk about, this is honestly that feels

carlye: I accidentally left that empty in the outline, and that feels pretty fitting.

M1: right because here's what they said. Second to last announcement, which they faked as the last announcement, they said, We heard you, we're redoing Tomorrowland. They popped up a graphic of Space Mountain that said, yesterday's tomorrow, today, and that was it.

M2: And this is something people have been asking for. If you're a Disney World or people have been begging for a Disneyland Tomorrowland refurbishment, it is a mismash of them trying to make it a mini discovery land. There's gold. They repainted Space Mountain back to white, but it's just like it needs a lot of help. But we literally got zero information. I believe that they followed up or someone said that they're trying to prioritize this before the 75th anniversary, which is five years away. That's what I've been seeing people talk about. Five years is a pretty quick timeline for something that they basically said they showed us nothing, not a thing. So I don't know, maybe though. It depends what they do.

carlye: It is necessary. I'm glad they're finally confirming it. Even if this is far

M1: Yes.

carlye: off, I'm very glad they at least said it out loud on the record, because like that area needs fixing. And I'm glad that they're like, we know, we and we agree. I think it's I think it's odd, I think it's weird, and I think it's worth questioning that we had an entire avatar model in the Imagineering Pavilion, full avatar model, wasn't discussed in the panel. And yet they have come out and said that the A order of things that will be opening at Disneyland Resort is going to be Avengers Campus First, which is 2028 confirmed, Coco, no year, but I would guess 2029, then Tomorrowland, then Avatar. And if Tomorrowland is behind Coco, we should know more than the quote, whatever they've been saying, which is something like open space and new attractions. Like we should, we should have at least like five more words than that.

M2: A any even a color scheme. Show me and show me literally a singular thing. Are you bringing back the Mary Blair murals? Are you restoring the people mover? I please. I mean no,

carlye: Yes. Gimme a mood board! We didn't even get that.

M1: I mean, yes.

M2: anything. So I found it interesting the way they announced it. I think they had to. It is like if they didn't, it would have been bad. But I do wish that they had even if it was like fake, even if they hadn't been like, here's some of our inspiration, even anything, I would have taken it as a win. So

M1: Do I mean, do you think Avatar is still happening? For real?

carlye: I mean, I have a crazy idea that I shouldn't even be saying on the record, but my idea, so Disneyland Forward is like the big project of them

M1: Yes.

carlye: reimagining the basically the structure. me talking about civil engineering. Are you kidding me? To the expert.

M1: Ha ha ha.

carlye: Feel like an idiot. do you want to talk about Disneyland Forward? But basically,

M2: You can take it. You're I love what you're saying. Keep going.

carlye: like this stuff kicks off right now. They are breaking ground on the new parking garage. they just filed permits like two hours before we recorded this, that they're going to demo some of the ticket booths, like Dirt is moving literally in an unsexy way at the parking garage and things like that. But my, my weird idea, this is like the weird hunch that I have. And I did listen, I'm gonna brag. I knew they were gonna announce Tomorrowland that way. I guessed it. I guessed that they were gonna do it and they did it exactly that way. So I'm feeling lucky. And I think that the Avatar plans exist. I think that they could build it, but I think that it's so far off in the future, which we do know. That it's very likely a different, newer idea will emerge by the time it is built. So I think it is absolutely feasible that Avatar could go in there. I'm sure the ride they have designed looks fun. Like the boat is huge and cool question mark. But like I think that it is feasible it would happen. But I think by the time we get what, maybe eight, 10 years down the line, there might be a new property that's emerged that needs to fill that need in a theme park more.

M2: I agree. Yeah.

M1: I hope that that's true because I am s the world's I do not care for Avatar and I would love to not have Avatar on both coasts and have something else and save Monsters Inc.

M2: I I think that there's f far better things that they could do, but I also think that space isn't right and it will feel clunky and it yeah. I th them not giving concrete information. I'm actually surprised that they even displayed it in the imagineering booth, to be honest, because we didn't we didn't hear about it. There wasn't a peep.

M1: Yes. And then didn't hear about it during panel.

M2: So

carlye: Yeah. I think that also, and I I it's hard to not veer into commentary on the event versus the announcements,

M1: Yes.

carlye: but they're very averse to announcing anything that could elicit booze. I was shocked in the room when they said Avatar one time, and people I've listened back on my transcript of it because I recorded it. People were

M2: Cheered. People cheered.

carlye: hootin and hollering. My my whole my office just echoed. I just heard hootin' and hollering five times.

M2: People were cheering around us and I said

M1: Why?

carlye: like it. I was shocked. Who are these people? Can I interview them? Because the the the feeling on the ground here in California is like, get this out of here. Cool in Florida, but not for us.

M1: Yes.

M2: That's why but people around us cheered and we said, Like, huh, James, what who's

M1: We were like, who what was that? Yeah.

M2: who is excited like question mark? No, no, no, no, no, no. We don't want like

carlye: Yeah. It's like when you think you know someone and then they say they love the garbage pizza at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

M2: I can't imagine. They

M1: And you say, my gosh, yes, you're right, you're

M2: say, you're right, actually. I will give it another chance. the Tomorrowland announcement, this which was the second to last, was exciting. I needed to hear it to leave feeling satisfied. We can say that with like a, you know, satisfied ish, but I needed to hear that. And if I hadn't felt it, heard that, I would have left and been like, my God. And thank God they said it. And I'm happy they threw the Dreamfinder thing. Both of those felt like the very earliest, or that they're just not ready to give any details, whichever it is. But in general, I'm happy that they gave us things that we wanted and those are things that people are asking. And that was sort of the theme for the night. They're giving fans what they want, which I'm pleased with. So yeah.

M1: Great.

carlye: Yeah, and they've they've proven to us that they know how to update these rides. I believe in them doing it. I just would love and I look forward to when we know when this stuff will happen, which I feel like makes when fans crave that it seems like other fans were accusing them of being greedy or not being happy for what they've gotten. But I think that we've heard about some of these projects for a long, long, long time. And when the expectation is so high that we're gonna get all this news and then we don't get the specifics, it's easy to be happy about what we're getting, but still disappointed. by the way through which it's being messaged.

M1: Yes.

M2: There was a lull in the middle at this big presentation. But again, had they put this all on Disney Park's blog? Said, my God, huge news day. Yes. It was just the weight, the event that it was at, and what they did in 2024 and what they did now. And the way it was, there's so many different factors that made it like more challenging. So, and honestly, the the previous night was so exciting and the energy in the room was just so different that I think that was part of it too. So,

M1: Yeah.

M2: yep. The

M1: Before we close out, is there anything we want to talk about from international?

carlye: that Space Mountain in Paris seems dope.

M2: I I was about to say, okay, La Terre

M1: That seems amazing.

M2: a la Lun is one of my favorite attractions ever at Disneyland Paris. Now let me say, I have not written that version, but I've watched many POVs. Discoveryland is my favorite land of all Disneylands ever. this soundtrack is literally incredible. I have it uploaded as a local file on my Spotify so I can listen to it. Okay. It is that good. And I'm serious. Everyone.

carlye: We could do that on Spotify.

M2: Yeah, you can, and I do. with various things, just like one of the Disneyland Paris fireworks songs that I love so much. it is incredible. Again, I never experienced it myself, but I but I basically have and it's the right fit and it thank God. Because Disneyland Paris hasn't had a new ride, everybody, since like two thousand three when Buzz Lightyear opened. That main park is getting a little crusty. And so they have to be judging it up. So

M1: Hyperspace Mountain, like I'm sorry, with all the new Star Wars stuff that exists, Hyperspace Mountain needs to go. And this is such a better fit.

M2: So I'm excited about that. And I'm excited about the Lion we got some more details about the Lion King water watered ride. it's you know, I love Disneyland Paris. We haven't been to the other international parks, so I feel like a big pull towards it. I'm excited about that. Yes, they should have built it in Disneyland Park a hundred percent, but it's happening in Adventure World. It's gonna be exciting, and I think eventually it will come to Animal Kingdom. Calling it now twenty twenty eight D twenty three. Maybe twenty thirty.

M1: What a prediction. Yeah. Okay.

M2: Yep. All right. Anything else from overseas? I mean, there's other stuff, but really this covers the this covers the big things that impact most people listening. it was exciting. There's I think my closing thought is there's a lot of stuff happening and I'm happy that we're seeing changes across the board at every single park and that Disney is, you know, taking their areas and investing in their parks, which we knew they were doing with their huge, you know, dollar amount. But it's actually happening. So I I feel very hopeful for the future of Disney Parks. That's my final thought.

carlye: Yeah. And it also feels like none of these attractions are a fart. You know, like it's like none of them are like, we're really putting our resources into these three lands. And then this one, I guess we're just gonna throw a spinner at it. Like it there's I don't

M2: Yeah.

carlye: really don't see many weak links here, which is kind of shocking for them building four lands at one theme park resort at the same time.

M1: I mean, it's un unprecedented for lands, and we're not only getting new lands, they're still going through and making these updates to places that need it, like Carousel Progress and stuff like that. Like we're literally getting fed from both sides. I we're very lucky to be living in this time as theme park fans, given what other eras have brought. So it's gonna be great.

M2: Couldn't be happier. And thanks for chatting

carlye: I agree.

M2: with us about it because we had a lot to say. And I g I'm sorry, everyone, there was too much to talk about. We needed to be more concise, but we couldn't. We talked about tropical Americas for like thirty minutes. And and if that shows the excitement, yeah. If that shows

M1: We couldn't be. Exactly.

carlye: How could you not?

M2: the excitement, then, you know, I don't know what does. very hopeful. And then we will be getting more detail soon. And obviously the person who releases the news the best is Carly. So Everyone check

carlye: My god.

M2: her out. Carly Weisell, theme park journalist, as well as a podcaster. And I listen to her podcast. Half of you do as well, 'cause you're listening every single week.

M1: Ha ha ha.

M2: So if you're not a listener, become one.

carlye: my God. And I listen to Sister Sisters. if I if I remember it's Thursday, I'm like, a gift from heaven.

M1: Yeah.

carlye: definitely check out Sister Sisters if you haven't. I think our podcasts are like, they feel like cousins. Like they're there's they're similar vibes, but they're different. And so

M1: Yes.

carlye: if you're like, I already got a theme park podcast, Chica, I don't need another one, trust me, you need to listen.

M2: Thank you. And thanks for chatting.

M1: Okay, bye.

M2: Bye.

carlye: Bye.

M2: For a special segment, we're gonna be answering a couple of questions that people had about D twenty three. We talked about it a little bit at the top of the episode. We just talked about everything you can do there. The first one that someone asked, a lot of people asked us, is who can go? How can I go?

M1: Think, I think people were under the perception that perhaps we were able to go because we are creators. That is true for some creators, but for us and for 99% of attendees there,

M2: Thousands and thousands of other people there.

M1: yeah, people go because they're huge fans. Like this is open to the public. This is not an event for creators. This is not an event just for certain people. This is a thing that any Disney fan could go to, just like any Comic-Con or type thing. And so tickets, I will say, are very competitive. You have to look up

M2: Yes.

M1: when they go on sale. It's like months before the event. And you need to know what type of

M2: You have to be a gold member.

M1: Yeah, you need to be a D twenty three gold member, which whatever.

M2: Cost like sixty or eighty bucks or something. I I did it because I needed to get tickets. So just a just for reference. It comes with other parks though.

M1: Just kind of, yeah, just kind of factor that into the cost of your ticket. You could, yeah. And you can buy tickets for multiple people. So only mouse lit two. I had to become a gold member. I didn't. And there's different types of tickets. So you could try to go to you could go to the event for all three days at the expo hall and all three days at the Honda Center. That's what we did, the full package. But you could also get tickets for just the expo hall on one day. You could get tickets, they're just afternoon tickets if you want to go. Into the expo hall. That has some downsides because if you're like a merch person, there's virtual cues for the merch. And so like you can't really get into the virtual cues that way. But there's a lot of options. The tickets can get extremely expensive. I will be honest, Mouselit 2 and I had to pay a thousand dollars each for our tickets. We had really

M2: for the Honda Center alone.

M1: no, that was the whole thing. That was

M2: Was it

M1: it was, yeah, it was a thousand dollars for our three day pass, including Honda Center. We had good seats in the Honda Center.

M2: Okay. It was and we wanted we wanted bad seats. We said we want the worst seats in the house. We just want to be in the room and they

M1: They were not available.

M2: were not available. It's very, very competitive, but anyone can go. Getting the single days is very feasible and it's a lot of fun. And if you're a big Disney fan who likes an environment like that, it's it's really exciting. It's fun. You can go to Disneyland before they do a D23 day, which is just a lot of fun. it is really exciting. We also specifically tried to make our content really showing every single thing. Cause when we've watched in the past, we're like, which which creator should we watch to like see what's going on? Yeah. We paid our own way. We were there on our own and we were showing what we were up to. and I think it was good. Like we got to do everything aside from maybe a couple of the virtual cues for merch that we would have wanted that we wanted. And we didn't have any special access or anything. So

M1: The next question, which sort of relates, is what are the panels at D23 like? Listen, we didn't go to any panels. They did have these sort of miniature panels happening inside of the Imagineering Pavilion. And as parks people, that was kind of like the most exciting spot for us to be. So each day they would release the schedule of what was happening inside the Imagineering Pavilion. There was nothing to reserve for that. There were no seats. You just showed up when it was happening and you stood there and watched it. We got to see Jill Brody sit there and talk about tropical Americas.

M2: We got to see the Olaf robot. We got to learn about special things coming to cars that have been the cars area unannounced. It was we said in stories. And also if you didn't see our stories, highlights are up. So go ahead and watch. It was we lived in the imaginary pavilion. I basically pot had a tent in there and was sleeping on an air mattress.

M1: Like that's where we wanted to be. However, they also have like specific panels happening on different stages about a ton of different things. There was a Bob's Burger panel. There was a panel about like celebrating 65 years of Spider-Man. There was a panel by

M2: There's a Simpsons panel. There's a panel by Joe Rhodey. There's a panel about

M1: Joe Roadie.

M2: Alan Menkin, who sings who's King Candy, amongst many like 25 other Disney characters.

M1: I think you're confusing Alan's. I think you're confusing Alan's. You're thinking of Alan something with a T. Alan Mencken is a music person who played a bunch of songs. There was like a Disney Legends.

M2: Alan Menkin. Wow, I thought that that was the same person. Alan Menkin did not play King Candy.

M1: No, no, you're spreading misinformation. Alan Menkin does not play King Candy. But there's like a panel for basically everyone. However, some of the panels are really competitive to get into. So they do this process beforehand where you can like rank and pick panels that you'd like to go to and then they'll give you an assignee. Most people we know got one, maybe two. We got, yeah.

M2: Some people got zero. We got one and it wasn't our highest ranked at all.

M1: So we actually ended up skipping it. It was again, it was more valuable for us to spend time on the show floor than to sit in a panel. But they are there. Just know you may have to wait in lines for a long time to get into

M2: Yeah.

M1: some of the more popular ones. Like we wanted to go to Joe Rhody, but it wasn't worth us to wait for like two hours. Joe Rhody's an imaginary if you don't know that is. Yes.

M2: And we saw Joe Rhody at the Imaginary Pavilion. anyway. So there's panels, there's the show floor, there's the Honda Center. We'll talk briefly just about the show floor, which was the final question is just like, are those f things free to do? Can you go into every single one? How does a virtual cue work? The virtual cue applies to the stores for Disney. Disney has specific stores. Mickey of Glendale's one. There's a D23 show. There's Pin Store. Those virtual cues you book at 6 a.m. That's why when we woke up at 6 02 on the first day, we said, oops. they released different merchandise for certain some of these stores on different days, different collections come out, and it is incredibly competitive. We did not get the ones we wanted. The pins

M1: Particularly for pit particularly for pins.

M2: are crazy. We ended up waiting standby by chance for the pin store and got what we wanted. They sold out of almost everything except what we wanted. They're sitting behind me. They're sitting behind me. We did. But

M1: The other sitting next to me. We got so lucky with that, truly. Don't bet on merch. Like if it don't go because you just want a merch item. Like

M2: Cause I know a lot of people were talking on threads and on Twitter after that they were really disappointed in that. And while the merch is ex excellent, it's really hard to get in. A lot of people didn't. So you might find yourself disappointed. But there's a lot of other vendors there. We talked about Spirit Jersey, where our friend Taryn works, Loungefly was there, Cake Worthy was there, Blackwing was there. There's a lot of like

M1: Like little words project, like tons of people that sell Disney collabs that you would know.

M2: Like vendors and and those, while they might have had like short lines, those were really fun. We got a bunch of stuff from those. They also have different like they had a booth from Marceline, Missouri that was showcasing very cool things. They had a full Walt Disney archives. It's be it was beyond a booth. A big area

M1: That yeah.

M2: that had all of these props, flubber props, enchanted props, Star Wars, Tron, Hinton Montana, Devil Wars Prada, Cruella.

M1: Hannah Mont Hannah Montana, it was so like I think we're underselling how cool it was. Like it was so cool to see all of these random props on display, stuff from Muppet Vision 3D, like that we could go up and look at and like in some cases touch. It was literally so cool. There was like a giant, a lot of the big Disney brands each have a booth. Like there was a giant Star Wars booth. Not even booth. Booth isn't the right word. Like activation area, a giant

M2: Yeah, yeah.

M1: Marvel one. There was a giant Hulu one

M2: Pixar.

M1: Pixar with like tons of photo ops or things to ex

M2: Avatar

M1: things to experience. Like in some cases, you could get a free patch or a free pin if you did certain things. There were things like the imagineering one honestly felt like a little museum with like models and concept

M2: It was incredible.

M1: art. It was crazy to see in person.

M2: There is history sections. There was these huge Lego models. Another thing we didn't even touch on is there's certain like meet and greets you can do with certain people who do signings and things. It's huge. The show floor. I've I don't know if I've I can't even think of a building that big to even give you anything comparable. It's the biggest building I've ever been in

M1: It's massive.

M2: in my entire life, I guess. I mean, it's like a giant convention center. It's huge. There is so much to do. And so, yes, every single person who went had a vastly different experience because truly there is that much to do. people also get dressed up. We did a Princess Diaries costume and we did a Country Bear Jamboree one. That was really fun as well.

M1: Yeah, there's like a huge cosplay element. If you're a cosplayer, like there's cosplay in meetups, like there's this whole cosplaying element, which we, despite dressing up, didn't even fully lean into, which is also really cool.

M2: It was incredibly fun. Again, we're gonna be talking a full, full dive into our entire trip on our quarterly bonus episode for our Patreon. If you've been considering, you know, joining the Peach Crew or the Pit Crew, you get close friends access on Instagram of which it's a sort of an unfiltered look, I guess, at us. You get a quarterly bonus episode and you also get an extended cut of the podcast every single week. It's twenty to twenty-five minutes.

M1: We just talked for twenty five we just talked for twenty five minutes today about some sort of like random, sort of more juicy behind the scenes moments from our trip.

M2: So if you like the podcast, if you want close friends quarterly, we also do giveaways periodically. it's a lot of fun. It's so, so, so fun. Thank you so much to all of our Peach and Pit crew members, also. It is amazing. But anyway, we're gonna be diving into that in our quarterly bonus episode. So feel free to take a look with that. We'll be sprinkling things in as well. But I wanted to end with a a pit and a peach about D twenty three specifically, because I think that people will have a lot of questions and I think we have some good answers. So pit and peach about D twenty three.

M1: Okay, let's start with our pits of D23. I would say I'll like throw out a few. I am sad that we didn't go to a panel. Like I think it would have been really cool.

M2: I'm not I'm okay with it.

M1: I'm very happy with how we spent our time. However, I think it would have been cool to go to a panel. The only other thing I would say about D23 is the pit is like their the food isn't very good. It it's convention food, like.

M2: There were food trucks though, which I enjoyed. my pit for sure, no question, was trying to Uber home when they

M1: What? yes.

M2: said that the sign said Uber's one way, we walked there, it wasn't right. It was not supposed to be on the other side. That was in the end, that wasn't even right. And we had like snake through a neighborhood like sneak into an R Uber so the police didn't yell at him.

M1: Yes, that was stressful.

M2: It was very stressful and very confusing. That was my pit. My peach, I can't even begin to say it.

M1: No, I cannot even begin.

M2: The energy, the connections that I feel like we made. Obviously getting to see our friends, seeing Terrence, seeing Michael, St. Carly, seeing so many, so many people that we haven't seen in so long. Nick, like everybody was so fun. I'm gonna throw a peach that just sticks out to me. This is one of many peaches, which was that, and we talked about this on on stories, or at least on close friend stories. We there's someone from with from Disney that we worked with for many years, the nicest person. Haven't seen them in a while, happened to bump into them just at the right time when we were like frezzled, just and I was just, it was the best time and it just brought so much like joy and it was so fun to just connect with everybody. And I think that was my biggest speech was just connecting with everybody.

M1: Yeah, if you it's called the Ultimate Fan Expo. And it is so true. Like Mouse Lit 2 talked recently about being at a Carrie Underwood concert surrounded by Carrie Underwood fans.

M2: Yes, yes, I did.

M1: And this has that energy. Like you are surrounded by people who are obsessed with Disney. They might be obsessed with Marvel or Star Wars or parks or movies. Like it depends. But everyone's there for the same reason. And that is so cool and so much fun to be with people who have like the same really niche fandom as you.

M2: like celebratory. Everyone's like, I love your outfit. I love this. You're all excited to be in these booths. Like everyone is just like kind of on the same team. And like there's no two cool people. Like you can be as wacky as you want. It yeah. It's just like a special, a special experience.

M1: I would say like one of my peaches is just yeah, the connection, but also the level of stardom. Like for me, seeing Bob Gurr, Joe Roadie, Tony Baxter, like iconic imagineers is alone like starstruck. But then literally at the entertainment panel, the number of celebrities that they brought out, I was like, I can't believe I'm seeing all of these really cool celebrities with my own

M2: Do you

M1: eyes.

M2: do you like I don't do you like celebrities a lot? You've been t okay, because I was like, this is funny. I don't think I I've known you for 30 years, all my life,

M1: I do, I I do.

M2: actually. I don't think I knew this about you. You've mentioned it a lot, and I was starting to realize I said, I think that she actually really see that didn't stick out to me.

M1: I love celebrities.

M2: I don't really love celebrities. I did love the Imagineers. Interesting. It was very cool.

M1: It's so cool. We saw Joe Brody so many times, like just in passing. Like it was crazy. He was just like so accessible. Joe Brody was just like amongst the fans.

M2: Literally. So if you missed our experience, be sure to check out RT twenty three highlights on Instagram 'cause we have everything covered there. We'll be doing more recaps, but we'll end with our fact. We'll each do a Disneyland fact specifically. That seems to make sense.

M1: Mouselatoo has loves to like throw throw this into the mix. okay, mine will be Mr. Toad's Wild Rat is a ride at Disneyland that Mouselatu absolutely loves. And

M2: Yes, I do.

M1: the hell scene that they have at the end is not part of the movie. They just decided to add that to the ride.

M2: Is this a fact?

M1: Absolutely.

M2: Okay, I'll do so many to think about. We filmed a bunch, but okay. A fun one is that Disneyland and Disney World used to have ticket books, which is where the term e-ticket comes from. It was the highest ticket that had the individual tickets per attraction that had the most popular rides. And they had ticket booths that sold those ticket books. And some of them are still at Disneyland today. There's one over by Small World. there's one the giant mushroom over by Alice in Wonderland, which is the best dark ride, literally. And there's

M1: So good.

M2: one over by the storybook canal boats. So Very, very fun. So many more.

M1: This was officially our longest episode ever, I believe. And I hope that you guys ate it all up because having Carly getting to a collab with Very Amusing Podcast is so exciting for us as huge listeners of Very Amusing Podcast.

M2: As as a massive fan of the Very Amusing podcast, this is a full circle moment of like, wow.

M1: The ultimate crossover event, honestly.

M2: Yes, was this definitely about two hours? Yeah, it was potentially more. And you know what? If they won't always

M1: Yes. And you know what guys? You're welcome.

M2: be, maybe next week we'll do a shorter one. Maybe not. But thank you all

M1: We'll see.

M2: for listening. We always appreciate it. We've had so much fun with this. We'll be having a little celebracion next week about something exciting that happened that we couldn't even get into because we had so much else to talk about. If you liked this episode, well, one, be sure to check out Carly Weisell and Very Amusing to listen to that. I am a listener every single week. but also be sure to give us a five star rating on Spotify and Apple. And if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you subscribe to our channel. And we will see you all next week. Bye.