Mickeyphile Podcast Episode 185 - News and Talk with Jason S.
H20 Glow Nights are returning this summer to Typhoon Lagoon. New arrivals are coming to Disney+ and there’s a new character breakfast at a DVC resort.
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Music: “Cân thema (Mickeyphile Podcast Theme)” copyright Scott Daves 2023
Mickeyphile Podcast Episode 185 - News and Talk with Jason S.
H20 Glow Nights are returning this summer to Typhoon Lagoon. New arrivals are coming to Disney+ and there’s a new character breakfast at a DVC resort.
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/946434275769168/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickeyphile_podcast/
Music: “Cân thema (Mickeyphile Podcast Theme)” copyright Scott Daves 2023
H2O Glow Knights are coming back to Typhoon Lagoon this summer. There are new arrivals coming to Disney Plus and a new character breakfast at a DVC resort. I am joined this week by my friend, our friend Jason's Fiboda, who's another local. Say hi, jason.
Speaker 2:Hi, good to be here.
Speaker 1:I don't have pre-recorded sound effects, so I'll just yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't do a good Kermit, unfortunately, so.
Speaker 1:I don't have that stuff pre-recorded, but Jason's here. We don't have a topic. We're going to talk about whatever comes to mind. Oh boy, yeah. So this will be episode 185 of the Mickey File Podcast. So welcome back everyone. Episode 185. I'm Scott. With me, as we've already talked about, is my friend Jason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hello, getting close to coming up to a milestone episode here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, another whatever four months or whatever. It is 15 weeks, whatever, that takes three and a half months.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right in the middle of summer, at that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the problem with starting this September 1st. All the milestones are right in the middle of summer when I'm not home and trying to go to bed at six o'clock at night. Yeah, If had I known I would have started January.
Speaker 2:But Well, hindsight always being 2020 is, and I'm pretty infallible for sure.
Speaker 1:So Karen is not able to be with us this week. We had, we'll say, some family issues that have popped up, so she's kind of tied up right now. But Jason was kind enough to step in for me and help me out so we can get an episode out this week. Appreciate it, man.
Speaker 2:Always a pleasure. I always enjoy listening to you guys, so I've come in, was in here for the Christmas episode and I enjoyed that, so no problem, we didn't get to see each other this weekend, but we do hang out quite a bit, especially around Disney Springs.
Speaker 1:We're becoming experts at Disney Springs, if I say so myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when we were, I was a stay with family last night and I'm looking all around going yeah, this place has great drinks, but don't expect to get served very quickly. And this place here is, you know. Wow, I can almost be a tour guide at this point.
Speaker 1:You know, we have found. We've found some of the cool places to go, that's for sure. Oh.
Speaker 2:And I warn everybody to stay away from a certain place. I serve the stale holiday treats.
Speaker 1:Can't believe it's going to possibly win.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:Without saying names. There are places at Disney that are still living on their reputation from four or five years ago, and part of that, when you're in a Facebook group, is that there are people who only come once a year, so they don't see the changes as quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Interestingly enough, the property that is based off of also tanked into the ground over this summer, so there seems to be some correspondence there that could be true.
Speaker 1:I hope it's not, because they're allegedly going to be spending a lot of money to put them in the parts. So, speaking of which, I didn't put this in the news, but we can start the news. Apparently, they filed a patent, a permit, for I can't remember what they call it like a lay down area. I think is what they're calling it Lay down field, something like that. Basically, a field where they put construction, trailers and, you know, parking and just a staging area. Basically.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what would be the purpose?
Speaker 1:It is off Western Road just north of the Kali River Rapids. We find it here. I actually was just looking at it. It is a very big field off Western Way. It is behind Kali River Rapids and the Maharaja Jungle Trek, in an area that's obviously backstage but it's so easy access to toll road and I-4. There is a road from there that apparently leads to Dino Land, usa. Oh, so maybe the blue sky stuff is not so much Now. It's also apparently has access to a conservation station, and this is all rumor and speculation based on a permit that was filed, but so it's possible it could have something to do with that, but it also could have something to do with changes to Dino Land that have been announced twice. Blue Sky version by Josh Damara.
Speaker 2:Well, that would be smart, I think, on their part, because with Epic Universe coming out, disney's not going to be able to match that level of what they're doing. So they really need to look at what can we do quickly, you know, to kind of shore up some areas, and sprucing up what is unfortunately becoming kind of a sad little section of Animal Kingdom would be great. And I say that as somebody I actually liked the original version of Dino Rama. I kind of like the kitschy roadside tourist attraction feel to it, just because it felt like a little bit of like a pallet cleanser in between all the other lands. I kind of liked that you could step back and not, you know, take everything very seriously, but it's not even. You know, they've lost an attraction there and it's gotten stale. It really needs a freshening up.
Speaker 1:Friends who have kids always talk about how great the boneyard dig site is, you know, for the kids, and obviously that's something that can stay, with an ancient Indian Jones reefing to the area, as speculated. So it would be interesting to see if that's what any of this has to do with. But you know, when you've talked about it for a year and a half and now all of a sudden you're putting a permit in. Now this is not permits for anything in the park. This is a permit to set aside an area backstage for right. But the plan for it does show like four or five construction trailers, I think. I think it said there's four, or yeah, four Walt Disney Imagineering trailers and an additional contractor trailer, along with 363 parking spaces.
Speaker 2:Wow Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah so.
Speaker 2:Well, if I'm the Imagineers, like I said, with with the universe opening up a new park, I'd be looking at what can we do for right now. That would be quick and have an impact. You know, I think it would be smart to redo. It's tough to be above. That'd be very easy to swap that out with something else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which they're doing, and that's right. That would require five trailers to change the the movie and some decorations inside the Tree of Light.
Speaker 2:I mean that's, and they and they already have the layout for Indiana Jones at Disney.
Speaker 1:Land. That's just decoration at this point, yeah, which is a shame. I mean you know you won't hear it anymore.
Speaker 2:But, and it would be easy to swap out the the little T-Rexes for the biplane from Indiana Jones. You know that wouldn't be difficult either, and really it's not like anybody has a deep sentimental attack, but you know, attachment to flying triceratops, no, I don't think so. I don't think anyone's going to cry and go.
Speaker 1:that's not my Disney anymore, Although I think my friend Tony and may have written that this weekend based on a picture as well.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I read and I wrote it when, my when, you know, with the younger ones, you know, because it's a good beginner's ride, but it's also the exact same thing that you can ride at every spin and pew carnival across America.
Speaker 1:It's just dinosaur Dumbo, yeah, or dinosaur Latin, or dinosaur, or I can't remember, astro Orbiter. There we go. That may have just went right ahead.
Speaker 2:What are they going to do, then, with the spot where Primeval World was?
Speaker 1:So you know, I was at Animal Kingdom a week ago, two weeks ago, a couple weeks ago for oh, I guess maybe three weeks ago now for Moonlight Magic. You don't even miss that ride, like I don't even know where it is Right.
Speaker 2:Well, I never wrote it because I wrote a carnival version of it in Sleveland and it gave me a concussion, Literally gave me a concussion. We were spinning around so fast on it that we and we slammed at the end of it so hard that they actually had to get out one of those giant spud bars and turn our vehicle back around.
Speaker 1:so we could get out.
Speaker 2:So that was a case of you guys. Have fun. I'm going to sit over here where the big bad meme machine can't get me.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah, I know, the nickname was always Primeval Hurl. I wrote it. I wrote it once a million years ago. It just wasn't fun, so I never wrote it again.
Speaker 2:Had a cool look to it. I mean, I love that Again. I love that kitschy roadside attraction. Look to it. But no, I'm not giving myself a second concussion on purpose.
Speaker 1:Right, so okay. So that's the first thing that wouldn't even on our list of things to talk about, but cool yeah decided though. Yeah, maybe I hope it's exciting.
Speaker 2:They need a win?
Speaker 1:I hope it's not, you know oh, we're repaving the you know, the service roads or something like that. But HTO glow nights are returning to Typhoon Lagoon this summer. There'll be 18 select evenings, starting May 25th and running through August 31st, so we were talking about it before we started. It's a cool night event because it's, first of all, it's a night. You're not getting roasted there. I know it's a water park, but you know no sunburn when it's in the dark, right, and it's because it's a separate ticket. It's not crowded. At least when we went it was not crowded, so it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think that's a good way If you want to try out one of those after hours. You know it's going to be probably a little less crowded and a little less expensive than doing one at one of the regular parks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the article doesn't have a price list yet, at least the one we picked. So the official press release from Disney does not have a price schedule listed yet, but if I remember correctly, the last time we went it was around 50 bucks.
Speaker 2:Right For Well, considering that they're using the water parks right now as an incentive to get you to come to your hotel room early. You know, I don't think that it would put a high price tag no On it.
Speaker 1:You know. I mean, if you're an annual pass holder, you can get full access to the water parks for 100 bucks a year. So it can't be that much.
Speaker 2:Right and honestly, most people go to the after hour parties not really for the attractions. Anyway, you're going there for all the little extras. You know. If you do some attractions that's great. But there's the meeting greeds, there's the usually special souvenirs that they put out, special treats that they put out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these. They have the DJs you know dance parties around. There's characters around like this. One specifically mentions Goofy will be there. It doesn't mention anyone else but it does mention Goofy. This year they're doing Cabanas available to rent online for groups looking for a private, reserved area during the event. So I think these might be like the covered picnic table areas that they're calling Cabanas and that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:All right, you know what that means. Yeah, party.
Speaker 1:You know, when we went, there were I don't know 10 of us I think I want to say somewhere around 10 of us it's been a while, so I don't remember exactly and we did get some food and sit under one of those and eat, so hopefully they're not going to sell them all out, but they were cool. Then you'll include because it's an after hours event. You'll get ice cream, popcorn and soda, complimentary towel rental, obviously, surprise character appearances, exclusive cloth themed food and beverage items for purchase. There was a hot dog that was had some very fluorescent colors on the catch. Oh boy, yeah, it was a little weird, but it tasted like a hot dog.
Speaker 1:Tickets go on sale March 22nd, which is Friday, right, yeah, friday the 22nd. So jump on it If you're into that. It was a very cool event. I walked out of there and if we weren't about six months into our annual passes, we would have bought the annual pass upgrade. I wasn't going to do it for like half the year. We were like, oh well, we'll do it, we'll do it in April, and then, of course, we right the same situation I'm with my photo pass right now.
Speaker 2:I've been dying to have photo pass but my pass renews in July and I'm like no wait till you get the full year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly yeah, especially now. I mean three and a half months away from your renewal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it has been killing me lately. We've had some good pictures with our groups, so I'm like I wish I had my photo pass.
Speaker 1:So the next thing I've got here wish will be available to stream on Disney Plus beginning April 3rd.
Speaker 2:Our long national nightmare is finally over.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't realize, didn't realize it wasn't already on there.
Speaker 2:I know of me too. When I saw the coming up on Disney Plus for you, I'm like, oh, this hasn't been out.
Speaker 1:Disney does not currently have a movie in theaters. First of all, yes, I deep dove the box office mojo website this afternoon this morning. Wish has made 63 million domestic, 254 million worldwide.
Speaker 2:You know, and it's said to be their opening weekends for animated movies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's a shame it's a short movie. It's an hour and 35 minutes, Like it's barely I don't know, like I feel like the Christmas in the parks thing is an hour and 35 minutes you know, yeah, and as I went and saw it the week it opened, I actually went and saw that movie.
Speaker 2:It's very frustrating as a lifelong Disney fan because the bones of a great movie is there the idea of Disney animation, the story is great and you can tell that the DNA of a great movie is in it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's what Disney has had this year in the box office. Okay, what is what they have sold a ticket for at the box office to share? And this is Disney studios, not Fox, not searchlight, not, you know, just Disney so wish. This year has been 3.36 million dollars, like you said, 254 million worldwide, going back to November 22nd when it opened. One on the list and 50th overall, is turning red, which made $1.4 million, and at 56, soul made $946,000. Turning red and soul are movies that have already been out. We're released originally at on Disney plus, and while I appreciate that the theaters, you know, or the studios Disney did it, warner Brothers did it on HBO, max or whatever it was called when it first came out, but it's Max now I appreciate that they were giving us content while everybody was locked in their houses, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it also got us used to just watching movies at home. It did.
Speaker 1:So you know, even if you go, take Disney out of the equation. So 2020, 2023 box office right, because that gives us full numbers the top box office movie was Barbie $636 million $1.4 million worldwide. Now, remember, endgame made 2.1 million, a 2.1 billion, so you know, three quarters of a million more than Barbie made. And ticket prices were 15% lower when Endgame came out than what they are today. Right, so it's, it made two thirds of the money and the ticket prices were 15% more for every ticket they sold. So it was a lot fewer people that went to see Barbie.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:Super Mario Brothers was second. It made 1.3 billion. Spider-man Across the Spiderverse was third at 690 million. So Box Office is way down and I wonder how much of that is because I'll just wait for it to come on Disney Plus I'm already paying for that. I can watch it in my house and I got used to it because I saw Soul and I saw Turning Red and I saw Black Widow and Cruella and the Jungle Book and you know, movie after movie, some of which we actually, karen and I, actually did pay $40 for Jungle Book and Cruella, and I don't think we paid for Mulan, I think our friends did, because we watched it on a blow-up theater.
Speaker 2:You watched it well, like 20 times, I think. We ended up buying it.
Speaker 1:It has a fantastic soundtrack.
Speaker 2:Oh, awesome.
Speaker 1:But the other thing I paid $40 for Cruella and if I ever cancel my Disney Plus subscription and then I don't have access to the movie, I paid $40. I should have just waited and bought it on Amazon. I really enjoyed Onward because I'll watch anything with Chris Pratt in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've only watched it the one time. It's not something. I'm going to go back and watch my name. I eventually will go back and watch it again, but I haven't and it's not anything. I looked at and said, ooh, I should have seen that in the theater. That said, I'm planning on going to see Phantom Menace on May 5th. Yeah, which, and I hate that movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean even during that time, right before they started streaming, I mean we would still go and see movies here and there. But right before all of this, disney and Pixar were banging out good original material. I mean during a five-year period, you were hitting hit with like Zootopia, moana, cocoa. I mean just banger after banger after banger, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then there hasn't been a Star Wars movie in five years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's almost like everyone's so afraid now that all they will put out is Seagulls now, and that's going to be, you know, diminishing returns. Even Universal, for all the talk about Universal is, you know, doing everything better. Right now, most of their stuff that I'm hearing about is Seagulls. You know they ran the Fast and the Furious into the ground Super Mario Brothers 2, despicable Meets 4. They're doing a live action remake of Out of Train your Dragon. You know we get on Disney for making too many how many live action remakes. And now they're getting into that game as well. So right now, this seems like everyone is playing the safe side, which means to me that the first company that comes out with something really great and original, they're just going to rake it in.
Speaker 1:So Universal right now? Right, what they have in theaters? Not even Universal. Let's just look at the whole, like what's in theaters right now? Right, this is for 2024. Let's look at this week Okay, kung Fu Panda 4.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Dune, part 2. Madam Webb, that's a kind of a Spider-Man movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they would not have been made without Spider-Man Right.
Speaker 1:The third version of Willy Wonka.
Speaker 2:Yep, which was good. I did enjoy that movie, right, I mean. But you're yeah, you're just using what Dull already put out as a blueprint.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and these are just, these are movies that are obviously sequels or remakes or you know. So it's not just them, it's everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which then begs the question who's going to make the next Zootopia? Who's going to make the next Despicable Me in actual, maybe original movie, maybe, hopefully.
Speaker 1:It's whatever this dude one is that Disney's doing, that I can't remember Pixar is doing.
Speaker 2:There's one that's coming out. Where it's, a boy gets abducted and has to like speak in front of a bunch of aliens. It looks huge yeah 2025.
Speaker 1:So, maybe, maybe that's the next one. It's not going to be inside out too, you know the alio would be the next original story. Anyway, we've gone on about it a while but yeah, basically there's nothing new under the sun, right?
Speaker 2:You know the thing is, though, what gives me hope is right before Wish came out, they put up that awesome 100 year tribute short film, you know with the animated Disney Geo-Rotaves. Yeah, that was awesome. I'm crying watching that.
Speaker 1:That was also a animation thing, apparently.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the sparks are still there. There's obviously still people who want to make good original stuff. I think it's just a matter of somebody has to get the right idea and somebody has to approve it.
Speaker 1:I think that is 100 percent what is going on, and I think one of the issues is that you have two co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment. You know, and I'm not sure that, what was the phrase I heard the other day? Art by committee? Yeah, it's not usually great.
Speaker 2:No, that almost never works.
Speaker 1:However, both of those people are on the short list to be CEOs, so that probably will probably resolve itself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, all right, what's the next thing we got? Oh, another Disney Plus release. The Acolyte is coming out on June 4th and today, which is the 19th, the official trailer has been released. I have not watched it yet.
Speaker 2:I have not either.
Speaker 1:The series is set during the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe, over 100 years before the events of Star Wars films. The High Republic era has been covered pretty well in I guess we call it legends. It's not really canon, but it's all the books that have been written. There's like a whole series of Republic era stuff, so there is a lot of material there to mine for this series. Yeah, I'm excited about this. I like the High Republic era, so it'll be interesting to see how they handle it. The one really successful franchise they have going right now within Star Wars there's going to be a movie next year and then it's done.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we'll see, I liked Rebels. You know the animated show Clone Wars. I think that's the only thing I've really been able to sink my teeth into in recent years.
Speaker 1:Bad batch is pretty cool. Clone Wars now we're talking all this animated stuff. Clone Wars was really cool.
Speaker 2:It's also like 20 years old, but yeah, yeah, they can buy liquor at this point practically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so anyway that's coming up. Disney's Typhoon Lagoon, which we talked about already because of the after hour stuff, reopened last Thursday and Blizzard Beach closed on Wednesday, so now we're at the time when Typhoon Lagoon is open for the summer.
Speaker 2:Never been to either of them. I did go to Rupert Country twice, but I've never been to either Typhoon Lagoon or the Blizzard.
Speaker 1:I haven't been to Blizzard Beach because they only open it during the winter and I'm from Florida, I'm not going to a water park in the winter Right. When it's in the 60s, overnight that water is going to be cold.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:No matter, even if it gets to 88, like it did this weekend, that water is still going to be cold, so, but Typhoon Lagoon is reopened, so it's cool.
Speaker 2:Hopefully I'm hoping that allowing people to go for free and then these after hour events maybe will re-spark some more interest in the water parks, because even though I don't really get to go to them very often, I like the fact that they're there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly In DVC news, Wended Waves Grill at Disney's Varro Beach Resort is going to begin offering a character breakfast again starting on April 20th. So the meal will have a brand new menu, which I looked at it. It consists of a lot of Mickey shaped waffles and shocking pretty typical Disney breakfast buffet. But it's cool. Disney and Pluto, dressed in their beach best, will visit each table for hugs and high fives. So that's cool. Because I don't know, I've done a lot to do in Bureau Beach.
Speaker 2:I know that's what that was always the big strike against us when we looked at it a couple of times. Going out to Bureau Beach was, yeah, just not as much things to do out that way.
Speaker 1:No right, we have some customers out there so I've spent some time, and especially in the summer it's hard to even find restaurants there.
Speaker 2:But I'll be honest if I'm staying at a Disney resort on the beach and they have a character, breakfast Mickey Waffles is what I want. You know what I'm not looking? I'm not looking for exotic, I'm not looking for weird. Give me Mickey Waffles, give me scrambled eggs, give me sausage, biscuits and gravy, and then bring a couple of characters you know to take a picture with me while I'm eating my Mickey Waffles. That's what I want.
Speaker 1:I really don't want exotic for breakfast.
Speaker 2:Like I just don't Very rarely, you know no.
Speaker 1:So it has blueberry pancakes, the treasure omelette with ham, peppers, onions and cheddar cheese, and bananas, foster French toast. Those are among the offerings.
Speaker 2:I would for it. I would then need a nap.
Speaker 1:If this is the banana foster's French toast, it's shaped like Mickey Wow, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 2:They used to have a really good Mickey shaped French toast. That's the pepper market.
Speaker 1:Sorry, that's the pastry boat. That is a bunch of pastry shaped like Mickey.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. But yeah, these have a Mickey shaped waffle out of pepper market at Coronado and it was good we're mean really good, but it was also practically a meal by itself. I mean one of those. Okay, now I'm eating this waffle, let me go sit down and snooze for five minutes.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, have you had the Tonga toasted Hanna?
Speaker 2:No, I have never been to Hanna. Four inches thick yeah, I get sleepy just hearing about it.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, right, she is heavy dude Like I had it once. I had it the day that Travis Eatrick and I went and rode Small World all day and thank God we were not walking the park, we were just there because it is heavy in your stomach, dude, like it's heavy.
Speaker 2:And heavy is great if you're not planning on eating for a while. I remember I was at a game tournament in Baltimore and we were at a breakfast place and my friend was like, hey, eat the pancakes, because we may not be able to eat until four or five. You know, clocks later and it'll sit in your stomach better than the other stuff, and it did. You know it kept me full longer. That's good, so it'd be good for that. But the negative part is, yeah, it'll make you sluggered and tired.
Speaker 1:That's how Karen and I do when we go over, for, like, our anniversary or, you know, we're there for multiple days and we're celebrating is usually we get breakfast at, you know, 9.30 and then have dinner at 6.30, 7 o'clock, you know, and that's it, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know from our times at the resort. You know what a Disney breakfast is. To me is unfrosted strawberry pop tarts while watching Mickey cartoons.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go.
Speaker 2:I want to get nostalgic, buy some pop tarts and turn on Mickey cartoons and be like hey, I feel like I'm getting ready to go to animal kingdom, Right.
Speaker 1:So that's all I got for news this week, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's good news week. Yeah, like everything we saw so far. Yeah, cool stuff.
Speaker 1:We had lots of thoughts on it, didn't we? Yes, we did. I think that is going to do it for episode 185. Jason, thanks man. I appreciate you stepping in on pretty short notice here last night. Not a problem, Always a pleasure. So it was a big help because I didn't want to do this on my own.
Speaker 2:Well, anytime you need somebody to give you opinion, here I am with my mouth open.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that, so that is going to do it. Thanks again everyone for listening. Check us out. It's at Mickey file underscore podcast. Join our Facebook group at the Mickey file improvement district and like, subscribe. Follow the podcast. Subscribe to it on whatever podcatcher you use. We're on almost all of them, including YouTube now. So that is very cool and a lot of people are listening on YouTube, which is a little surprising to me. Apparently, a lot more people subscribe to YouTube than YouTube music or whatever than I thought it's been pretty cool. So again, thanks a lot, everybody. Hit us up on email if you'd like to get in touch. It's Mickey file podcast. All one word at gmailcom Goodbye, Say goodbye, Jason, Goodbye, Thank you.