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Episode 24: One and Done
Episode 22: Mad Q Party
Episode 21: The Chatters Go to Universal Studios
Episode 20: The WDW Honeymoon
Episode 18: Top 5 Disney Dark Rides
Episode 17: Disney World After Dark
Episode 16: Disney Urban Legends
Episode 15: 15 Reasons to Look Forward to 2015 at Walt Disney World

Episode 24: One and Done

Disney Attractions We Probably Will Never Experience Again

For more information about the Toy Story Midway Mania! and Soarin’ expansions, check out the official announcement on the Disney Parks Blog.

Here are the Disney offerings we will never voluntarily experience again:

Derek:

• The swinging gondolas on Mickey’s Fun Wheel (Disneyland)
• The front train on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Soarin’ without a FastPass
• Interactive games, such as Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure
• Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano
• A Dole Whip
• Home on the Range

Jeremy:

• Mad Tea Party
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
• Astro Orbiter
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Mission: SPACE
• Coral Reef Restaurant

Matt:

• Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage
• Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
• Enchanted Tales with Belle
• The Garden Grill Restaurant
• Yak & Yeti Restaurant

Here are the attractions we only thought we would never want to do again:

Derek:

• Jungle Cruise
• Impressions de France

Jeremy:

• Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
• Country Bear Jamboree
• Primeval Whirl

Matt:

• Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid
• Finding Nemo – The Musical

Episode 22: Mad Q Party

What is one Disney World ride, show, entertainment, or restaurant you would want to have nearby so you could experience it anytime?

Jeremy: The Enchanted Tiki Room pre-show

Derek: Victoria & Albert’s Chef’s Table

Matt: Pirates of the Caribbean

What band would you want to replace Aerosmith on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster if you had to choose?

Jeremy: Ricky Martin

Derek: Elvis Presley

Matt: KISS or Lynyrd Skynyrd

If you were forced to ride the same attraction for four straight hours, what attraction would you want to be stuck on?

Jeremy: Spaceship Earth

Derek: Haunted Mansion

Matt: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

If you were forced to ride the same attraction for four straight hours, what is the last attraction you would want to ride?

Jeremy: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Derek: Mission: SPACE

Matt: The Great Movie Ride

If you could own one piece of Disney movie memorabilia, what would you want?

Jeremy: A bobsled from Cool Runnings

Derek: The puppets from the opening sequence in The Parent Trap

Matt: The organ from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

If you could open any kind of restaurant on Disney property, where would you put it and what theme would it have?

Jeremy and Derek: Mongolian BBQ in Animal Kingdom’s Asia

Matt: A pirate-themed restaurant in Adventureland

If Disney had purchased DC Comics, what character and/or attraction would you add to the parks?

Jeremy: Wonder Woman

Derek: Superman

Matt: Batman, especially the villains

What piece of Disney World merchandise would you buy in a heartbeat if it weren’t so expensive?

Jeremy: Lighted shadowboxes

Derek: Space Mountain K’nex

Matt: Replicas of Disney park signs

If you could add a fifth themed area to the Art of Animation Resort, what movie would you choose as the theme?

Jeremy: Meet the Robinsons

Derek: Monsters, Inc.

Matt: Peter Pan

What is one experience from another Disney park that you would love to see come to Disney World?

Jeremy: Disneyland’s Alice in Wonderland

Derek: Tokyo Disneyland’s Pooh’s Hunny Hunt

Matt: Hong Kong Disneyland’s Mystic Manor

 

Episode 21: The Chatters Go to Universal Studios

Eating Around the World: Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant

At Raglan Road we caught some live entertainment…

 

We tried dishes like “It’s Not Bleedin’ Chowder”

And Derek got his first taste of school bread.

Delectable!

Over at Universal Studios we explored the new Diagon Alley and London waterfront . . .

 

Rode Escape From Gringotts . . .

 

 

Checked out the merchandise . . .

 

(Including this notebook outrageously priced at $38!)

 

 

Grabbed lunch at Leaky Cauldron . . .

 

Enjoyed some Hot Butterbeer . . .

 

Hopped aboard the Hogwarts Express . . .

 

 

And enjoyed Celestina Warbeck’s extremely entertaining show . . . Twice.

 

The actress recorded one of the songs in a studio for Pottermore.com to release. You can check it out below.

Episode 20: The WDW Honeymoon

In the segment “DIY Disney” we shared some of our favorite tips for bringing the Disney parks to you.

• Matt says you can bring the smells of Soarin’ to your home with Sparkling Icicles Wallflowers from Bath and Body Works.
• Derek found a recipe for the Sweet Pretzel With Almonds from Kringla Bakery in Epcot and made it at home. He blogged about the experience here.
• Jeremy enjoys watching on-ride videos on YouTube.

Guests David and Katie had several great tips for booking a honeymoon at Walt Disney World:

1. Plan, plan, plan!
2. Wear honeymoon buttons to let Cast Members know you’re on your honeymoon.
3. Build in time to relax and rest.
4. Consider purchasing Memory Maker before your trip, and then get the most use out of it while you’re in the parks.

Episode 18: Top 5 Disney Dark Rides

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Signs of Magic Kingdom

The Good

Jeremy: Pirates of the Caribbean

Matt: Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room

Derek: Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

The Bad

Jeremy: Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid

Matt: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Derek: The goodbye signs in It’s A Small World

The Ugly

Jeremy: Peter Pan’s Flight

Matt: Stitch’s Great Escape and Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor

Derek: Nikon Picture Spots

Top 5 Dark Rides

Jeremy

5. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

4. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

3. Spaceship Earth

2. Indiana Jones Adventure

1. Alice in Wonderland

Matt

5. Peter Pan’s Flight

4. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

3. Snow White’s Scary Adventures (If you haven’t read this account of one boy’s attachment to SWSA and his experience with the attraction on its final day, do so now, then thank us later . . . after you’ve wiped away the tears.)

2. Journey Into Imagination (original version)

1. Horizons and Haunted Mansion (tie)

Derek

5. Haunted Mansion

4. Alice in Wonderland

3. Spaceship Earth

2. Indiana Jones Adventure

1. Peter Pan’s Flight

 

Episode 17: Disney World After Dark

Jeremy attended the inaugural Magic City Comic Con and heard from voice-acting legend Jim Cummings.

 

Enjoy this photo tour of some of our favorite places in Disney World at night. (Click on the photos to be linked to their original sources.)

 

We got into a brief debate about the appropriateness of Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Here are the two photos Joe Rohde posted to Instagram, along with his thoughts on the subject.

Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures. Animal Kingdom. Sometimes good taste can get in the way of good fun. As a boy, I used to love road trips. Once we moved to California from Hawaii, we would regularly take off on drives across the west, sometime totally spontaneously. We’d be headed from Van Nuys to Big Bear and my dad would announce, “Let’s go visit my sister in Ely, Nevada!” And off we’d go. (Check a map for how crazy this is.) He abhorred chains, so we would eat, sleep, and shop with whatever meager funds we had “where the locals go.” Old roadside America was so wierd it was beyond a question of tastefulness or kitsch. It was actual, independent personality, expressed without a fleck of concern for what someone else might think. That’s what this is. C and H is for kids, who haven’t yet learned what’s tasteful, elegant, cool, or trendy. Joyous excess. Not for everyone, but I sort of grin every time I see it and remember my days poking through trays of arrowheads and fossil shark teeth, and posing with plaster dinos. #disney #design #dak #artdirectors #archivedisney #animalkingdom #atanimalkingdom #architecture #roadsideamarica #route66 #folkart #outsiderarchitecture #roadtrip #wdw #highway #fossil #dino #dinosaur

A photo posted by Joe Rohde (@joerohde) on Jan 13, 2015 at 7:22pm PST

Only the dove is real. This is not asphalt. No car ever drove here, wearing off the painted lines. No cracks were formed by the expansion and contraction of the surface. It’s one thing to create a convincing wall of a crumbling Indian fortress, in a place where almost no one has ever seen real crumbling Indian fortress. But to create a convincing abandoned parking lot for people who see parking lots every day? That’s actually really hard. This surface is so convincing that it is ignored completely. But there is no way this surface could stand up to the traffic it receives on a hot summer day if it were actually asphalt. It is sculpture. #art #artists #architecture #artdirectors #artofdisney #themeparks #wdw #atanimalkingdom #dinorama #animalkingdom #dinoland #disney #design #summer #dak #vacation #highway #holiday

A photo posted by Joe Rohde (@joerohde) on Jan 14, 2015 at 5:28am PST

Episode 16: Disney Urban Legends

Rumors, myths, and legends have always and will always swirl around Walt Disney World, Walt Disney himself, and the Walt Disney company. Here are a few we can confirm:

• There is a private club in Disneyland called Club 33.
• The other half of the prop plane in the Casablanca scene in The Great Movie Ride can be found over at Jungle Cruise.
• A basketball court can be found inside the Matterhorn at Disneyland.
• Disney released a short called “The Story of Menstruation.” (Here it is, for your viewing pleasure.)

• Beneath Magic Kingdom lie backstage corridors known as “utiladors.”
• The phrase “Flash Mountain” is a nod to the fact that women throughout the years have flashed the camera on Splash Mountain.
• Many of the scents on Main Street U.S.A. are chemically manufactured and piped out onto the street.

If someone presents to you one of the following stories as truth, feel free to do your civic Disney duty and set the record straight. All of these are nothing more than urban legends:

• There is a private club in Walt Disney World, and its entrance is near Pirates of the Caribbean.
• No one is declared dead at Walt Disney World. Coroners and medical teams have to wait until they have left property to declare a person dead.
• The plane in the Casablanca scene in The Great Movie Ride is from the actual film.
• One of the singing busts in Haunted Mansion was made in Walt Disney’s likeness.
• If you yell, “Andy’s coming!” in the presence of Toy Story characters, they are required to drop to the ground.
• The horse-drawn carriage in front of Haunted Mansion carried Brigham Young’s body.
• Cinderella Castle can be dismantled in 48 hours in the case of hurricanes.
• Walt Disney was dishonorably discharged from the military.
• Walt Disney was racist. (Here is an article by historian and Disney guru Jim Korkis debunking Meryl Streep’s comments about Walt’s supposed racism.)
• The Disney films are full of intentional sexual propaganda. (The word sex appears in The Lion King. The minister in The Little Mermaid appears to be aroused. Etc.)
• Walt’s body has been cryogenically preserved (frozen).
• Someone was once decapitated on Space Mountain.

Episode 15: 15 Reasons to Look Forward to 2015

Here’s why we’re hopeful for 2015 . . .

1. Pending announcements for what’s coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios

2. New Starbucks locations in Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, thereby concluding Starbucks’ original deal with the Disney parks

3. New merchandise

New attraction t-shirts

Orange Bird plush and tea towel set

4. Improvements to MyMagic+ and new interactive features

5. Downtown Disney’s conversion into Disney Springs

6. New posters, queue film, and finale montage in The Great Movie Ride, now sponsored by TCM

7. The completion of the new hub in Magic Kingdom

8. Refurbishment of the rooms at Caribbean Beach Resort

Photo by easywdw.com

9. Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto in Polynesian Village Resort

10. Disneyland’s 60th birthday and the addition of a new nighttime parade

11. Africa Marketplace in Disney’s Animal Kingdom

12. New Disney films, such as Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Cinderella, Tomorrowland, and The Jungle Book

13. A slow-down of Frozen hype

14. Constant updates and photos of the construction of Pandora (Avatar) in Animal Kingdom

15. The removal of the Sorcerer’s Hat in Hollywood Studios

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