Ever found yourself chuckling over the quirks of adulting, like the triumph of buying that stylish new couch you've been eyeing? Well, we're right there with you! In our latest podcast episode, we not only celebrate these personal milestones but also take you through the thrilling twists and turns of our recent theme park adventures. From the heartfelt laughs amidst health scares to the shared nostalgia over closing attractions, we cover ground on what makes life, with all its ups and downs, a ride worth taking.
Strap in for a candid chat about our encounters with hospital stays, where the food isn't half bad and the humor is a must. As we tip our hats to the incredible staff at Universal Studios, we also lament the loss of the Legacy Store and speculate wildly on what Universal has up its sleeve for the future. Our conversations take you from the practical (how to stay dry on those deceptively splashy rides) to the downright magical (hello, Diagon Alley!). We even throw in a few handy theme park tips, so you'll be navigating those queues like a pro.
Join us as we sit back, espresso martini and ginger ale in hand, reminiscing about the wonder of rides that pair technological marvels with good old-fashioned storytelling. We're talking about the belly laughs in Men in Black Alien Attack, the awe of the Gringotts dragon, and yes, even the hilarious mishaps involving lockers and lost cups. So whether you're looking for the insider scoop on the hottest rides or simply want to share in our escapades, grab your headphones and let's revel in the vibrant colors of life together.
Ever found yourself chuckling over the quirks of adulting, like the triumph of buying that stylish new couch you've been eyeing? Well, we're right there with you! In our latest podcast episode, we not only celebrate these personal milestones but also take you through the thrilling twists and turns of our recent theme park adventures. From the heartfelt laughs amidst health scares to the shared nostalgia over closing attractions, we cover ground on what makes life, with all its ups and downs, a ride worth taking.
Strap in for a candid chat about our encounters with hospital stays, where the food isn't half bad and the humor is a must. As we tip our hats to the incredible staff at Universal Studios, we also lament the loss of the Legacy Store and speculate wildly on what Universal has up its sleeve for the future. Our conversations take you from the practical (how to stay dry on those deceptively splashy rides) to the downright magical (hello, Diagon Alley!). We even throw in a few handy theme park tips, so you'll be navigating those queues like a pro.
Join us as we sit back, espresso martini and ginger ale in hand, reminiscing about the wonder of rides that pair technological marvels with good old-fashioned storytelling. We're talking about the belly laughs in Men in Black Alien Attack, the awe of the Gringotts dragon, and yes, even the hilarious mishaps involving lockers and lost cups. So whether you're looking for the insider scoop on the hottest rides or simply want to share in our escapades, grab your headphones and let's revel in the vibrant colors of life together.
like this watch my glasses, she gets what, what. So when I do this sometimes, do you see, like my glasses we are, my eyes will get like my glasses will get fucking foggy and I hate it. That's what you missed, ugly what are you drinking today? I'm spicing it up a tad bit, I'm changing it up and I'm I'm going with the ollie pop ginger ale pop, if that's not their slogan. I don't know what their slogan is.
Ashley:I'm gonna be upset, I feel like we should find out what their slogan do you see the fog that happens mm-hmm like boops up on the bottom do you know what I'm drinking today?
Dustin:I?
Ashley:do want to know what you're drinking. Today I'm drinking an espresso martini look at your bougie booty.
Dustin:Yeah, you've been got like espresso beans floating in there for some garnish she looks real good.
Ashley:She looks real good, she waking you up we'll see yeah, I'm tired. We've had a long day. We've had a very long day today but hey, you know what? What.
Dustin:I think that our listeners should grab a mocktail oh, you take, you taking my word, you're taking oh, I did, yeah, you did. Oh, I screwed it up already listen it's episode two.
Ashley:I think this might just become a thing. So do you want to? Do you want me to start it for?
Dustin:you? Why don't we grab a cocktail or a? Mocktail while we unplug Orlando in living color, and it was better much better. Hey, welcome back.
Ashley:Can we wait? Let's take a minute. I need to thank all the people that have been listening in all the different places. I thought we were just going to be popular in some small places but, do you realize? We have people in Europe that are listening to us.
Dustin:We have two downloads in the UK.
Ashley:We do.
Dustin:One in Nashville, a couple back in my hometown, back in East Tennessee.
Ashley:We've got some here in Florida and an entire community it feels like, of people of Michigan. I know you all are listening, so I just want to say thank you. We appreciate all the support Very much. And that was just in the first 24 hours of the episode being live on the streaming platforms that it's on. She's doing great.
Dustin:Which that's absolutely crazy. We have some great news. Some of you might have seen this go live. On January 8th we announced that, excuse me. We announced that we are going to be producing our podcast for YouTube as well. So the podcast will come out every Monday and then every Tuesday it will go live on YouTube under Orlando Unplugged, and as of for now it's just going to be the podcast audio to a photograph of our logo and then occasionally we may drop some video clips in there or some photographs in there. But we are planning on soon getting the equipment that we need so we can actually set up and film the podcast and then we'll have actual footage of the podcast.
Ashley:You can watch us as we sit in a theme park and talk about what we're doing.
Dustin:Can you?
Ashley:imagine we could just get to sit in front of MIB and be like, hi, we're coming at you.
Dustin:I'm not going to lie, I'm just excited for the comfy couch, the big comfy couch, the big comfy couch?
Ashley:yes, in the personal world. I guess we excuse you over there. Oh sorry, I forget. He needs to be the center of attention. I'm so sorry I talked over you. We are getting a new couch, so the podcast will have an official comfy seat.
Dustin:I know, and it's going to look so nice.
Ashley:I feel like I'm officially adulting because I'm now buying a couch. Is that like how you know? You've made it because you're buying a couch.
Dustin:Yeah, yeah, when you start adding furniture, after you get the off the box, spring off the floor and you start adding more furniture. That's how you know you're officially adult.
Ashley:What was your first piece of furniture you bought when you moved down here? Have you bought one yet?
Dustin:Oh, when I moved down here, yeah Well, I inherited my grandparents' furniture from the 19, they got married in 1961. So I have their chest of drawers, or as we call it in East Tennessee, chest of drawers.
Ashley:You know, we were literally talking about that today. We'll get into that, but we were talking about the difference between all of us up north versus all of them down south, and they're verbiage.
Dustin:And then I also have a dresser, and then I have their bed frame. So I had all that stuff to move down here, but I needed somewhere to put my playstation. I didn't have room for it on top of the dresser or the chest of drawers where the TV sits. So I went to the wonderful Ikea of Orlando and got me some Swedish meatballs and we went through and I found a really nice cabinet, so a white cabinet with a glass front door. So I've got all my chachkies in there. Chachkies, my chachkies.
Ashley:Is this another one of them? Southern words that I'm not going to know what it means.
Dustin:No Chachkies, you don't know what chachkies mean no. Okay, you're not completely adulting yet. You need to pick up a dictionary, but it's like you know what it is.
Ashley:I think it's because you're closer to a hundred than I am, so maybe it's just my generation is a little younger than yours.
Dustin:Your keepsakes my keepsakes.
Ashley:See, that's the word I do know.
Dustin:I've got. Somebody's going to give me a psorias here for Christmas, I can feel it, yeah well, so I've got my old souvenirs from Dollywood, the times that I had opened attractions. I've got a hard hat from Oddwood Grove. I've got an oil can from.
Ashley:Lightning.
Dustin:Rod, I've got an oil can from Fire Chaser.
Ashley:He also has an oil can from the first time he changed his oil, just to let you all know I can change my oil, thank you, and he's got a can of memories to prove it.
Dustin:Can you change your oil?
Ashley:No, and I don't think I need to. You know why? Because there's somebody's job is to change my oil, so I don't want to take away from, you know, someone's hard working money, job security. Exactly it's like the same concept that I absolutely refuse to order my food from a fast food one of those fast food kiosks. I like them face to face people and I will hunt you down. I know you're in the back.
Dustin:No, I don't want to talk to you in a McDonald's, just let me use the kiosk.
Ashley:No, absolutely not.
Dustin:Oh my god, this arm that I'm doing is killing me. You know what? Why don't we actually take a moment before we jump in and talk about the fun, unplanned trip we took to Universal Studios today?
Ashley:We did.
Dustin:And let's tell everyone about how we both died for.
Ashley:Christmas.
Dustin:Died for Christmas.
Ashley:Merry Christmas to us. Here's your death.
Dustin:No, it's Merry Christmas. Here's your hospital bill, correct, we're both going to get one.
Ashley:Yeah, no see, one of us has insurance and one of us clearly didn't. So one of us got a bill and one gets to laugh at the other one while they have to pay for it for the rest of their life.
Dustin:Yeah, for the record, that's me. I get the fun bill, so you got sick first, so you got sick technically before Christmas.
Ashley:I did.
Dustin:And then I got sick on Christmas Eve.
Ashley:Correct.
Dustin:So why don't you go ahead and tell everyone and share the fact?
Ashley:that my kidney now hates me.
Dustin:Yeah, so tell us about what happened.
Ashley:I need somebody to come up with a name for her because she's spicy dude. So I got one of those because I have. Here's my problem, guys. Here's the real T. I love Diet Coke, I love it. I love it more than water and I think I might love her more than air. But you know what happens when you drink Diet Coke a lot. Do you know what happens?
Dustin:You get the formaldehyde that they put in dead bodies and your body becomes petrified.
Ashley:No, you get kidney stones. Oh yeah, so that's what I got. I got a really nasty case of them and you know, I found out those things are hereditary. Did you know that?
Dustin:Yeah, and oddly enough both of my parents had kidney stones and I've never had one.
Ashley:Oh, she's coming for you. So I got them and then I got hospitalized by it, because you know why. Do you know what happened when I got a kidney stone? What'd you? Do I got E coli.
Dustin:Because of the kidney stones. Because of the kidney stones. How does that happen?
Ashley:I have, because what happened is they all clumped together and they created one massive thing. So I had to have surgery so they could remove that kidney stone. And then they found out that I had a pretty nasty infection and that E coli it started to eat. It has eaten my kidney.
Dustin:So what I'm hearing from this is you were patient zero.
Ashley:I'm patient, zero, guys. I am patient zero.
Dustin:So how long were you in the hospital?
Ashley:Four and a half days, and it was horrible. By the way, you know what has evolved, though, for hospitals Hospital food, hospital food. Like I'm not kidding, I could probably eat hospital food every day. Like that was not that hateful, like it was not that bad.
Dustin:Did you get a hospital cup? I did, I did and I have it. It's literally used, I use it I didn't get the hospital cup, that's because you're not in your school as me.
Ashley:See, maybe it's because I had insurance and you don't Wow Coming for you Calling me out.
Dustin:Yes, I am. Hey, I'm smelling cookies.
Ashley:We are, we are. Listen, if I'm not going to drink this year, I'm still going to get my sweet intake in somehow.
Dustin:No, but I'm just saying this because we're both wearing headphones and I'm starting to smell them. So like do you have a timer set on your phone to?
Ashley:know. No, they're already out. Oh Correct.
Dustin:Okay, correct, okay, I was like, wait a minute, are we going to burn cookies here?
Ashley:No, we're not burning any cookies, but you know what? Probably did get burned your sense of like everything when you were sick.
Dustin:I woke up on Christmas Eve and is this my turn? Is it my turn to?
Ashley:tell them this Correct.
Dustin:So I woke up on Christmas Eve that morning and I felt not great but I was like, oh man, it's probably allergies, because I had gotten like really bad allergies a couple weeks prior.
Ashley:You had a little Florida allergy season. It is the worst.
Dustin:As the day went on, my body began to hurt. It started at my knees, and then it was like my shins and my calves, and then my ankles hurt and then my shoulders hurt. All of my joints and muscles just started to get sore.
Ashley:And in case anybody was curious, he did not run any marathons. No, I had before any of those.
Dustin:I'm too lazy for that.
Ashley:I got winded walking from my couch to the fridge guys. Yeah.
Dustin:So I got to work and suddenly out of nowhere I just got this really bad cough and my boss finally looked at me. I was at work for about two and a half hours and she was like why don't you just go home?
Dustin:And this was Christmas Eve, I had just been off for two days, and so I went home and I stopped on my way home and I got a heating pad to like put on my legs. Are they the best? Well, not necessarily, because it made my situation much worse. So I went home and I turned the heating pad on and I put it on the bed and then I laid, like my legs on it. I was asleep by 8 30. I woke up at one o'clock in the morning and I felt like my skin was peeling off of my body and so like I got myself out of my bed. I was super lightheaded, I was super dizzy. Make it to the bathroom. My temperature was 104 degrees.
Ashley:And can we, can we just go over the fact that you just called me patient zero? This sounds like you are patient zero.
Dustin:I know.
Ashley:Somebody should lock you up, quarantine you.
Dustin:So at that point I started taking like ibuprofen and Tylenol and trying to bring my temperature down, and nothing worked. So by about eight o'clock I hadn't slept all night long. I felt absolutely horrible and I woke up. My roommates woke up and about noon I was like guys, I can you just like drive me down to the hospital because I still had a fever, it it's. It fluctuated between one o'clock two and one o'clock four, but I couldn't get it to go down, I couldn't get it to break and I was super dizzy anytime I stood up. I didn't want to eat anything, but my body just ached. So I went to the hospital and I had already taken an at home covid test. So two and so it wasn't covid, so I got to the hospital.
Ashley:I absolutely hate those things. You know, they gave me one of those when I was in the emergency room. They're like hey so we're gonna poke your left arm with a whole bunch of needles, but then we're also gonna shove a stick up your nose and go hey, you don't have the vid. Good job.
Dustin:So I do this test for covid RSV and the flu, and about what an hour in like, the nurse came in at one point my heart rate was really low and so the doctor was like we got to get your heart rate up or it's gonna be a different conversation. And I was like, oh, jesus Christ, what are we talking about here? So, turns out, I just I had the flu and tested positive for the flu, and that was probably. I've had flu several times in my life. That was the worst flu I have ever experienced in my life and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
Ashley:I wish we could have traded, because I definitely would have rather had the flu than have to have all of the issues that I have now.
Dustin:Well, I now have an over $1000 emergency room bill because my insurance did not kick in until December 28th. I missed five days of work and I had no sick leave because I had just started. Work was within my 30 day period of starting my new job, so I am really broke right now.
Ashley:We're doing great. And listen we're doing things on a budget, we, I think, but I, you know, I think that's something that we need to acknowledge. I think, when you, when the perception is that when we move anywhere, is that everything is going to we, you don't have to, you can't do anything because you don't have any money. You know you can't go anywhere because you just spent all kinds of money everywhere.
Ashley:So I think you know, trying to figure out what you're doing and understanding that it's okay. You're good to be poor, you're good to be broke. We just accept the fact that we're broke and now we get to do fun things inside the house. Except today, except today.
Dustin:Today we did fun things we did we did a lot of fun things and we took an unplanned trip very unplanned to Universal Studios Florida very unplanned and probably the most unplanned thing I have ever done in my entire life. Like I'm not a spur of the moment decision person, things that I decide to do, they they are processed but see here, here was also a thing now, because this kind of goes off what you said we didn't drop money for tickets no, we did not. We received complimentary admission from a friend.
Ashley:Thank, you so much, friend, we really appreciate you yeah, we do.
Dustin:They're totally not sitting across from us in the room listening to us record this right now, because they wanted to be our test studio audience.
Ashley:But can we say it now? Do we get to be like? This is production was filmed in front of one member of an audience what two if you count Bruce? Oh, I okay. I'm so sorry, bruce.
Dustin:Well, she's taking an amp, so she's like mom, I'm over you okay well, yeah, so one member of studio recorded in front of a live studio audience thanks live studio. Remember we appreciate you but yeah, so we went to Universal Studios. It was super spur of the moment. We actually we were going to do an episode where we were just gonna resort hop and we were gonna go visit all of the Universal Resorts which is coming. So, yeah, we're gonna get there but then we were able to do this, so we just decided why not? So?
Dustin:we jumped in the car we drove over. We left. What was it three was about? Was it three o'clock when we headed over there?
Ashley:think like 330. I think let's go three 330 somewhere. I remember, I remember, we know we know it was after 330 because that brother of mine had to go to work, so it was about 330 ish because he had to work about 445 and you know, we all know that Rob gets there six hours before he has to. So, yes, it is so.
Dustin:Yeah, I think it was about 330 that we popped over there yeah, and this was an interesting experience today because when we pulled in so Universal has, is it the north and south garages, so they've got two garages yes, these things are massive, huge they hold every single guest that comes to Universal's vehicle, with the exception of park resort guests who get complimentary transportation from their resorts to the park so annual pass holders. Single day pass holders team members.
Ashley:Anybody going to volcano bay?
Dustin:yeah, volcano bay as well. So three theme parks parking these two garages correct that's a lot of cars, and the weird thing today is we went through the plaza and, instead of going to the left, to the north garage, which is where I'm used to going correct they had us do like a sharp u-turn and go back right to the south south garage yeah, they were like hey, you're not going to be be, but like go park over by VB.
Ashley:You know what it also? Again, it gave me. It kind of gave me Halloween horror night vibes, because that parking garage on the north side gets so busy that they defer you over there to south because they're like hi fill it.
Dustin:I wonder if so we're. We are entering this time of the year where Universal are opening certain sections of the park later, or there are like the horror movie makeup show which, as we saw, is going to be closing for a few days while they do some refurbishments to it.
Ashley:So I wonder if, like the attendance, maybe maybe it's because the attendance is lower and the volcano bay base for transportation is in the south garage well, and I think what kind of base been closed a couple days because it's been cold here. Well it's, I know all of you people up north, do not come for us for the fact that we are saying it is cold down here, okay, our blood is like paper is?
Dustin:was volcano bay open today, today's Monday?
Ashley:Yeah, we're getting confirmation from our single audience member that it was open today, but I believe last week there was two days, I think, that VV was closed, for I'm getting a four. We are getting a four from our live audience member.
Dustin:This is a year. Volcano bays usually closed two days a week.
Ashley:Yeah.
Dustin:Monday, tuesday, I believe yeah so I'm kind of surprised they were open today with attendance draw, but the wait times weren't too bad. But I think you know what.
Ashley:I think it's not bad. It also kind of gives all of those cat, of those team members that have worked so hard during the holiday season a well dessert break. You know, they kind of get to, they get to go home, they get to sit on their couches, they get to breathe, after dealing with every single family member that you know comes to the theme parks during Christmas.
Dustin:So for our guests that have our guest, our listeners, that have never been to Universal Studios or have never been in the garages, it's a fairly simple process. It is, but explain to them how they keep it to where you can find your vehicle, oh, I love this.
Ashley:Well, you got a couple options. You have the app, which I think is is fantastic. There's a little spot on there that you can actually add in the Character and the spot and the floor like the level that you are staying at, so that makes it super easy to remember because you're like me and you have a memory of goldfish. It's right there in your phone.
Dustin:Explain the character thing.
Ashley:Oh, I love this. I love this so much. So Universal and and I think they do a Fantastic job of keeping everything on theme, so they will Different floors is themed after a different character Created by Universal. So you have ET. Cat in the hat, you have jaws. I'm missing a couple. You got Kong that you have. I'm getting an audience. Look you spider-man. Oh, my god, I forgot. Oh, julia would be so mad at me, I forgot her favorite person in the world, jurassic Park. Oh, and we got Jurassic Park in there too.
Dustin:I think is it Jurassic Park or is it T-Rex? I think it's a T-Rex, it is a T-Rex from Jurassic Park. I think they should have bluey, it's just not blue.
Ashley:They should put blue Listen. We've been watching a lot of blue in my house so it's kind of stuck.
Dustin:You know, I'm not.
Ashley:I haven't.
Dustin:I don't really know what blue is. I've heard the audio for like the opening.
Ashley:As a 30 year old Part of last week I want to see me so much crap that I didn't know who our lord and savior, gypsy roses, and this man's sitting on my floor Boldly admitting you don't know who blue is.
Dustin:No, no, I know who blue is. I'm saying I haven't watched a bluey show, shame. Shame, shame okay, well, you know what, you know, that's what we're watching. Okay, we watch blue and the next week's episode will be an entire podcast all about bluey, no it was so okay, I got to tell you this thing, though, because this is what kills me is you go through the secure. So, for those of you that remember the Universal Studio, once you exit the garages or you get dropped off from the Resort shuttles or even from your left.
Ashley:So if you're driving in from left or over, you get dropped off from a right chair as well.
Dustin:Yes, you have to go through the security hub in this place. It is massively oh my gosh, it's huge.
Ashley:And make sure you look up and look at the fan that is up there, the fans that are there.
Dustin:They are humongous humongous, yes, but so this is my biggest pet peeve is you go up and you have security and they're telling you you know, one party, one basket. So if you're in one party, dump all your stuff in one.
Dustin:Back one basket one and push it through the machine. And as soon as I went through the scanner today, you know security was like yep, you good and I walk through. And then they're trying to get through other people and they're like go all the way to the end, go all the way to the end like, but my there was over there. Well, no, no, no the fact that there was 20 people.
Ashley:Yeah, I'm being there and it's like strollers and their wheelchairs and you know, and the woman picked up one purse. Yes, one purse.
Dustin:But she had to have her whole family of 10 standing there right outside the metal detector and it was just like granted. Granted, I'll give him a little bit of credit, because there was a security guard that was assisting a couple, because they her purse, her purse needed to be, they needed.
Dustin:Further look, supposed to be brought into a park well, not necessarily they had something they wanted to check, but that caused a little bit of congestion there, but it was still. I'm just like guys. They literally say you know, like, keep moving and they just don't do it. It's when I always have an issue when I go through the security there because people just up and stop. One thing, one thing I wish I would love to see universal get security checkpoint like Disney and Built more estate, have an Asheville.
Dustin:I love it. It's in Disney Springs, has it to correct?
Ashley:You know it's constant moving and you keep yourself on you, which is so nice and you get pulled off to the side If something beeps, yeah, yeah, or if you have a stroller, if you've got a stroller, or if you have an ECV or wheelchair, you they just go.
Dustin:Hey, come to the side and you have your own designated spot, dollywood. They got those yeah.
Ashley:Yeah, universal. What do you need from us so that you guys can get that going?
Dustin:Yes, I'm here for it. So city walk today, wasn't? It was so nice actually was the first time I've gone through city walk since I've moved here that it wasn't wall-to-wall people.
Ashley:I think it's because that holiday, that holiday crowd, they've gone back home. So it's a little.
Dustin:Disney marathons over the Disney marathon is over.
Ashley:I think you're saying thank God, because I'm actively trying to convince you to do one of those with me. So I think that's why you're saying no, I just hate marathons.
Dustin:I think it's gross. Why would anyone run for fun?
Ashley:We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it.
Dustin:I'm not running, unless someone's chasing me, at which point I'm gonna trip someone else so I can walk.
Ashley:We're gonna do the food and wine ones. Then you can just drink your way through it.
Dustin:Oh God, running and drinking wine.
Ashley:Yeah, well, it's any alcohol. They don't just do wine, they do like beer, they do liquor. It's disgusting I mean People do it. That is absolutely listen you do the drinking and I'll do the eating and we'll call it good and somehow, some way will exercise in between.
Dustin:Oh, well, so.
Ashley:I feel like it was less chaotic, which was nice, even with all the construction that was happening and all the walls that were being up, so lots of walls that were up.
Dustin:Do you actually want to talk about this first little bullet point, right I?
Ashley:do I do. I do want to talk about the fact that the legacy story is closed. So for those that don't know and never been to City Walk Universal Studios, city Walk has two Stores that you can go into for merchandise. They're both really nice, they're. They're fairly, I think. I think the newest one is is not that old. I think we're looking at what two and a half years. No, no, no the other, the new store that replaced the legacy store. She's about two years old and then what they?
Ashley:did with the legacy store and if you have not gone you need to go. So when it opens back up, make your point over there, because I love all of the honey. Words go ahead.
Dustin:Yeah, I don't know we, when it opens back up. Did you not read the read?
Ashley:it properly. I know, I know it's permanently closed. I know as of.
Dustin:Do you want to?
Ashley:I know, okay, I guess y'all missed it, nevermind.
Dustin:They did move, well, they did move the merchandise over though.
Ashley:They did. They were not the merchandise I'm in all of the merch. No, no, no all of the what's it called the, almost this whole thing.
Dustin:I'm so, so, so, so here, let me, let me jump in here. So the universal legacy you missed all of that.
Ashley:I literally just got upset at the fact that I was going down the pack that you had. There's like I Don't want to say memorabilia, but it's kind of like what it is and it's fantastic and I love it and I'm kind of.
Dustin:Let me recover this for you. So January 7th, the legacy store permanently closed and Universal has stated that they have Exciting new experiences for their guests coming soon. They haven't said what it is, however. The internet, the rumors which we are going to preface with the internet. Is the internet Correct? And you can never always trust what it says correct? But a lot of people are taking a wild guess. Yes and they're saying that they believe that it may have something to do with epic universe.
Ashley:Is that what you think?
Dustin:Well, it opens in a year.
Ashley:Yes, it does.
Dustin:City walk would be a really great place to put some kind of like preview center or like. Just something, and the amount of construction walls like it goes all the way up the stairs to the rising star.
Ashley:Yes, it does. It's huge like the whole that whole block yeah so it doesn't.
Dustin:What else are they gonna do, cuz I mean, they got rid of, they go rid of the legacy store you go in, even in there, they had props from rides, that stuff.
Ashley:Concentration. Fantastic Hagrid's ride vehicle.
Dustin:Mm-hmm. Yeah, they had a whole right and I want to knock down the walls and sit inside of it.
Ashley:Somebody be like, take my picture. Here you go.
Dustin:Yeah, but I was really sad. I'm kind of sad that it's gone, so I'm hoping that whatever replaces it is going to be, I'm gonna do it.
Ashley:I'm gonna do it, you ready?
Dustin:I hope it's the legacy store, so it opened in 2021 yes, it did so we're gonna say at the end of a pandemic era.
Ashley:Yeah, but it was nice. It was kind of a nice way to bring back us after a pandemic, to be like, hey, here's some some behind-the-scenes things that you got to see.
Dustin:Yeah, it was cool Because you got to see like a close-up look at props, photographs, models from some of Orlando's more popular attractions, some that were still with us. You know, we had Harry Potter attractions and then we had throwbacks and nods to Jaws.
Ashley:Confrontation. Did you see the vehicle? Yeah, the ride vehicle for confrontation. That was pretty me still upset.
Dustin:I never got to ride.
Ashley:You know, I never got to do Jaws either, and I've also never seen Jaws.
Dustin:I the only two. The only two classics that I ever got to ride were ET.
Ashley:Which is so there and a bust, and the best, the best ride.
Dustin:It is and Disaster.
Ashley:You know, now it's a burger shop.
Dustin:No, now it's fast and the furious. Oh it is.
Ashley:What was the one that? That was the burger shop.
Dustin:Oh, that was their contribution that was yeah, no, richter's, yeah, richter's. It was like the themed restaurant that was across the street from fast and furious right.
Ashley:I Think we're trying to read mouths and I think we suck at it.
Dustin:Was I cut what? Was it not disaster? You can actually speak, speak out loud. Oh, it was earthquake before it was disaster.
Ashley:Oh, Look at us getting educated on this podcast. It's not only no unplugged, it's doesn't actually get an education on the theme parks.
Dustin:Hey, and my defense. I was not an Orlando resident back on those times. I only ever got to ride the ride one time. And did you know that Geltlinburg actually has a Excitement here. No, no, that's because Geltlinburg has a knockoff disaster earthquake attraction. Stop it.
Ashley:Yes, I can. We add that to our vacation in a couple weeks.
Dustin:Probably not, because it's all the way in Geltlinburg, which is like 45 minutes and listen. We could walk hitchhike miles from where we're gonna be and I don't like a lot of time, but yes, when we go back to East Tennessee I'm gonna have to take you and ride this. And the pre-pandemic world. That ride only cost $10 to ride.
Ashley:It's now $20 a person get out of here, yeah, but we need to do it, so it's so good because you don't know if you're gonna die laughing or a die from the ride falling apart on you.
Dustin:But it is a lot of fun, but yeah.
Ashley:So we're super sad to see the legacy side, because I literally just went on a whole Spiel about how great it was and they all should visit it. And now it's not gonna be there. And well, maybe it'll come back, maybe if this rumor that an epic preview is gonna be there and then, once epic opens, maybe we'll get something that will be close to the legacy store, if not better. We'll get a couple new back to. I hope.
Dustin:My only concern is we're moving farther and farther into a new generation of like, minion and new, and I'm afraid that you know these classics, while they're still a cult following for them, we're getting older correct and that generation is.
Ashley:Slowly you're getting older going away, yeah.
Dustin:So I don't know. We'll have to see, we'll wait and see.
Ashley:But I'm excited. You know what, maybe, maybe we'll get some instead of you know that generation of getting you know, like Jaws and disaster and things like that, maybe we'll get like some Christmas secret life of pets, please, we're working on it. Okay, don't be so needy.
Dustin:But I want a secret life of pets go to California.
Ashley:They have one. Do you know how much money that cost? You'll be okay, but no, I think you know. What I think they should do is they should give you a legacy store. That's a 2.0 with holiday things. Give me some Halloween hornet behind the scenes.
Dustin:Give me some Christmas if you go to all the squirrel behind the scenes.
Ashley:Give me some Mardi Gras behind the scenes.
Dustin:They have those in the form of the tribute store.
Ashley:Yeah, but I wanted a legacy store.
Dustin:Did you go to the Jurassic store when they had it? I did, I did and I got that.
Ashley:Okay, I got really scared Because I thought that dinosaur, when I was trying to pee, was going to eat me and if you did not? See it. There's a. There's a photo Selection where you could sit on the toilet.
Dustin:try to pee in that toilet? No, I didn't, but I think you listen?
Ashley:I'm sure there's a whole bunch of kids that actively thought that that was something. Can you imagine the kids you never know? You never know. Listen, I'm not putting past anybody at this point.
Dustin:Yeah.
Ashley:But can we talk about how we got into the park though, please? Because that is a whole new concept that I don't know how I feel about it just yet, because I feel like I have mixed conversations about it, so the conversation makes feelings about the arrow guys, this arrow. Yeah, I might know I'm getting the arrow, though in my house I'm getting the arrow. Oh, I mean I being able to say words.
Dustin:I thought you were like me. I was like, I wasn't pointing at you listen, we're getting close enough.
Dustin:It's fine Um you, you, you, I don't know. So for those of you that haven't been to Universal or it's been a long time since you've gone to Universal, you used to get in so they would scan your ticket and then you would get a biometric scan, which was a fingerprint and it was. I enjoyed it, but it would take a while, especially the first time you entered the park, because you would have to provide a photo ID to make sure the ID.
Dustin:You match the name on the ticket and then you have to do a biometric scan and, as you know, you know older generations typically they're They'll wear their fingerprints away people that work in the food industry from where they've been cooking in the round heat. They'll burn their fingertips off, so people wouldn't have fingerprints and we also went through that.
Ashley:That's COVID situation that happened and we were hand sanitizing every single thing and I heard, I read, that that also kind of can affect your fingerprint with how much Alcohol we put on our fingers.
Dustin:Yeah.
Ashley:So, yeah, it doesn't surprise me that, that we're going in a different direction.
Dustin:Yeah, so a couple months ago, I think it hasn't. I think maybe it was towards the end of summer. Islands of adventure got it moved over to facial recognition software, but I don't even think.
Ashley:I mean to be honest with you, though, how they do it. It's not just your face. You're getting a full-body photo and then they just zoom in on your face.
Dustin:I mean it's so they look like so. So to preface studios now has this. I think it I think it debuted right before Christmas, because I don't. I don't remember it being that way a couple months ago.
Ashley:No, and I was there at the beginning of December, so and it was not there at studios at the beginning, so I think it was like Literally right before Christmas.
Dustin:Yeah, so. So yeah, you stay, scan your ticket and then now you just look at what looks like an iPad.
Ashley:It literally looks like an iPad.
Dustin:Yeah, in a case, and it looks like it's just on selfie mode and you just look at the camera and it takes about one to two seconds and then it dings green. If you are the correct person.
Ashley:Yeah, you match.
Dustin:So it's going to, I'm assuming. Oh, this is gonna be interesting, I'm interested. Where have people respond to this? So the first time you go through it's going to store that data essentially of your face, and I mean which, if you think about it's the same as your biometric scam with your finger. And it's the same if you go out into any public space, any CCTV, things like that. It's like people. I don't think people realize how much consent they've given to having their face on cameras and facial recognition. So hopefully people are fine with this. I'm fine with it.
Dustin:We live in a technology world. It's, it's bound to happen.
Ashley:I know, you know I really don't think that it was that bad. But you know what it did actually enjoy, though it kind of seemed to be a little bit faster, like I didn't feel like I was standing in that line for that long, especially if you get that, if you get the the two-park ticket or you get the access to go to both parks. I've already scanned my my face early in the morning, so that's one less thing I have to get. I have to do when most of the time you forget what finger you used or you're you're doing the finger and it's not scanning, it's not working, and then you kind of feel like an inconvenience to the poor team member. That's just like okay, can you remember your finger? Can you wipe it on your pants real quick and then redo your finger?
Dustin:I did. Are you sure it was that finger? Yeah?
Ashley:you're like no, I think it was my pinky and not my thumb. And you're like didn't they?
Dustin:didn't they specifically say pointer finger no, you can do whatever finger, because they can't sit there and go, because what happens if they can't use their pointer finger? Ain't got no fingers, ma oh my lord.
Ashley:Guys, I'm looking for a new co-host. If anybody would like to nominate themselves, please let me know. Oh well, we're doing great, but yeah, no, I didn't. I didn't think that was bad, but you know what I really did like, though the fact that when we got into the park it Did not seem that busy today.
Dustin:I know it was. It was a great day and. I think we should tell everyone About our day. I agree, I think we should get some cookies.
Dustin:Take a break, grab some cookies so refresh your cocktail or your mocktail and grab a snack grab a snack and enjoy the ad and we'll be right back From the birthplace of Dolly Parton to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Tennessee Roads is a podcast where we will look to the rich history and culture and To the bright futures of all the towns and communities that make up the foothills of the great Smoky Mountains. So pull up a chair and sit with me as I tell you about my people. All right, we are back, hey did you.
Ashley:I need your thoughts on our cookies, though, before we start.
Dustin:I think that the cookies smell delicious.
Ashley:Guys, I'm really looking for a new co-host, so, uh, anybody wants to join? Just let me know no, the cookies.
Dustin:What were those for the Zeta? They are a.
Ashley:Cinnabon Company or a Cinnabon, I guess, company guys, today I just can't talk. Okay, I've decided, this day has kind of.
Dustin:Are they gonna come back? Are they gonna come back to the Cinnabon cookies?
Ashley:I don't like you.
Dustin:I don't like it, so they were Cinnabon brand, they were Cinnabon brand cookies, but they were supposed to taste like a Cinnabon. They did, they did and it was nice because, like your hands, didn't get all dirty from the icing and I don't have frosting all over my face.
Ashley:So, yeah, yeah, but yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. No, those are pretty good.
Dustin:I liked it. I thought they were good, but um.
Ashley:But now you know what I'm really ready to do and you ready to talk about some?
Dustin:are you ready to talk about the the uh Epit? What was it held on the greatest hits tour?
Ashley:of Universal. Studios our plan. That was supposed to be replied.
Dustin:Yeah. Yeah, I really am, but didn't quite pan out today. So for those of you that don't know, the greatest hits Experience we'll call it is something that a friend of ours came up with whoo shout out to that friend yeah and it's like all of the greatest hits. It's currently at Universal Studios.
Ashley:Obviously it's not gonna be like jaws and you know it's all the active things that are currently there right now. Yes, my watch just gave me a reminder that it's bedtime.
Dustin:Oh, I thought you were gonna say it gave you a reminder that the cookies are done.
Ashley:No those. The second batch is already done, so that'll be a break for the third time around. No the the greatest hit store, though I think is great. I think the the concept that you get to kind of hit all the major things and then you got to go yeah, my day I did all the cool things, all the major things.
Dustin:So what in the greatest hits? What is there at Studios?
Ashley:at studios. So you got Hollywood rip-ride rocket. For those that don't know, is a roller coaster that is themed to music. So while you are riding the roller coaster you get to pick the two and you listen to, while you get to experience a very chaotic roller coaster and then they get to tape you. It's. It's a movie, it's a, it's a music video in a concept.
Ashley:Yeah, so you have Hollywood rip-ride rocket. And then you also have my personal favorite at studios, which is revenge of the mummy, and it is based on the Brendan Fraser film the mummy. If you have not seen that movie, add it to your list. Watch it.
Dustin:It's just remember your coffee.
Ashley:Yes, because if you don't, then you won't enjoy the interview. Then you also have my brother's favorite ride.
Dustin:It's a good one.
Ashley:It is a good one. You have transformers, the ride 3d, and then you also have Harry Potter and the escape from Green Gods, which is Fantastic, I think it is. It's so good, it's good. You also get to be immersed in the Harry Potter land right before you get to get on this ride, so it's a good one. And then you also have men in black alien attack. So you are sitting inside, not you giving me the, the men in black, yeah, you are. You get to to sit inside a ride vehicle as you are shooting all the aliens because you have officially gotten your coat. Pew, pew. Oh boy, you're. It's great, it's a good time, except I lose every single time I read that ride. So I'm hoping that this is the year that I make a comeback on the men in black.
Dustin:No, you didn't lose today. I did not lose today.
Ashley:Yes, I'm really proud, I came in second. It did not come in first, but I came in second and I am proud, even got a hundred thousand dollar.
Dustin:A hundred thousand dollar, a hundred thousand bonus.
Ashley:Listen, if I got a hundred thousand dollars, this podcast would be a whole different experience.
Dustin:You got a hundred thousand extra bonus points. Yes, I did still second place, second place, but we'll talk more about that here in a little bit, correct? And then the last one on.
Ashley:There is a ET ET's event. Is it ET's adventure or just ET adventure?
Dustin:ET adventure.
Ashley:ET adventure Steven Spielberg. That man deserves all the credit in the world because he helped create a Fantastic ride. So you get to help ET go back to her planet, his planet, because it is not working. Dying like we did at Christmas. It's dying.
Dustin:So you get to experience ET's land and it is one of the actually it is the only original Attraction, yes, from Universal Studios opening day. Correct, is the only one that is left there correct.
Ashley:And boy does she smell like it.
Dustin:I love this. Oh, we'll talk about that in a minute.
Ashley:Oh, yes, we will.
Dustin:So then, if you move over to Islands of Adventure, you've got the incredible Hulk coaster, the amazing adventures of Spider-Man, which is going to be similar to that of of Transformers 3d, but it's going to be the older version. So it's the same type of ride, but Spider-Man is the older version of it. It came first.
Ashley:Wait, and you also in that spider-man is not the new spider-man that are out right now. It is the comic for comic book edition, spider-man, correct?
Dustin:because what a lot of people don't realize is, up until recently, with the Jurassic world, islands of Adventure is mostly based off of literature, correct. Now a lot of that literature has Transferred into the movies, like there's not a book on Jurassic world at all, there's a book about everything else.
Ashley:So I think I think there's a book about dinosaurs, so I think it counts there is a Jurassic Park, but not a Jurassic world correct, but so we are seeing that which To go on.
Dustin:The next on that list is Jurassic worlds, the Velocic coaster. Oh, so good an amazing attraction all on its own. And then you have Harry Potter in the Forbidden Journey and jumping back you have the Jurassic Park River Adventure, which is a total classic bring your poncho. And the last on the list is going to be Hagrid's magical creature, motorbike adventure. Wow, that is a mouthful and we've got a mouthful to discuss about it here in a little bit.
Ashley:Wow, that was great, but we really do. We really have a mouthful to discuss with that one.
Dustin:Yeah. So we got to the park about 3 34 o'clock today and our plan was to hit up all of these attractions within four hours.
Ashley:We had until 8 pm, correct, and it didn't start that way and it didn't end that way.
Dustin:Kids, so so what was the first?
Ashley:so we should, we walked our way over to rip-right rocket ripity rock and Got excited and we're. We were, I think, discussing what, what song we were going to do, and then we get there and she was, she was down temporarily delayed if we are using the proper verbiage.
Dustin:And I was kind of sad because I don't like rip-right. I don't write it often, but you're eager, I get her. I get a wild hair occasionally and I'm like I want to ride this. And today you know what I want to do this.
Ashley:I'm ready, I'm gonna go and it was delayed, correct, and I heard the and I was really excited to because I heard that they had changed all of their their soundtrack so it's a completely different music, so I was really excited.
Ashley:I mean, I'm just kind of sad that they got rid of it, because I was a Kanye West Stronger fan and that is the only song I listened to when I wrote it, so it's kind of sad to hear that it was taken away. However, I was really looking forward to the updated List that was on there to see what music that we listen to nowadays that is on there. So, no, I don't think so, but but God, and I'm hoping one of these days universal, please put, please put T-SWISS on on the pocket.
Dustin:She's gonna want a lot of money for that.
Ashley:Yeah, she would. Except the problem is is I think the entire Taylor Swift nation would be like which song would be picked?
Dustin:Yeah, oh, an era's tour train stop it every. Machine on that train. Every every seat on that train would be a different era.
Ashley:You know, for somebody who last week said that you were not a swifty, you sure are acting like a swifty today, my friend.
Dustin:I'm not gonna lie, it would be good. No, nobody came for me. Um, so we didn't get to ride that one, so we went ahead and we were like let's go to mummy.
Ashley:Yes, next one on the list, let's go. Here we go.
Dustin:I will preface this with when it comes to me and our one studio audience member today, and who did go with us?
Ashley:who did? Yeah, they do this.
Dustin:We are known. If it's more than 30 minutes, it's not worth my time. All right because we're used to riding these attractions. We ride ride them a lot, so for us to be able to just go back to the park on a dead day is a lot more likely for us to get in line. But we were like, no, we've got to do this today because we're doing the epic tour.
Ashley:Yes or the greatest hits tour.
Dustin:Excuse me, so, um, when we looked at it, the posted wait time for mummy coming out of you. Yes was 45 minutes. Yes, it was um, and when we walked in the front door, you, we walked in the front door and immediately stopped, like it was line and I was slightly concerned. I know the face you you posted on was pretty well, I've never, ever stood that far back For that and I've waited a lot longer. But I realize now that I waited a lot longer for a shorter line because they weren't doing dual loading.
Dustin:No, they were not they so a lot of the attractions at universal studios. For those of you that aren't familiar with universal, they have dual loading stations. So when you get up to the top of the platform, you're standing in the middle of the platform and they've got a loaded station to your left and a load station to your right. So they're loading. Is it one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 16? They're loading 16 people onto two trains simultaneously. So there's always movement All right.
Ashley:So how does the mummy team, cat team members though? They get that stuff done very efficiently.
Dustin:Oh, my god, can we talk about our dispatcher?
Ashley:Yes, yes, oh please, so we get in line and we're getting on to the ride, and this team member was. So, on theme, it was spooky. She was playing her role, oh she was spoopy and I was living for it.
Dustin:So she, if you're hearing this we didn't see your name, but she. She was wearing a black face mask.
Ashley:Yes, she was, so her nose down was covered.
Dustin:She had nice like wing tip eyeliner. Yes, she did and she had on the little, the little rag hat that they wear. Yes, um what?
Ashley:there, that's better there.
Dustin:Yeah, oh, you tell me to get closer.
Ashley:Yes, I am.
Dustin:And she, literally, would open like she stood there because she doesn't do the loading process. No, she's not allowed to move from my understanding, she stands there while they're doing the loading and her job kicks in when it's time for her to like do safety checks.
Ashley:And to dispatch the train. Her jumps make our ride go she just stands there. Yeah staring.
Dustin:Into my soul and she was because I looked and I made eye contact with I had to look away.
Ashley:You be saying you like, oh my god, what's happening? It kind of gave me the ebgb's, but it looks kind of kind of cool the same.
Dustin:But we get are all clear to dispatch and she dispatches, and then she does this like who do voodoo dance when? She put her hands up and she was like doing the things with her fingers, and I was here for that was the best dispatch I've ever had, ever riding that ride I had absolutely she killed it. If you're hearing this, we absolutely loved it.
Ashley:Keep it up. It was great. I just wish we would have got her name so we could have did a nice you a proper, a proper shout out?
Dustin:Yes, I wish we could have done that too.
Ashley:We'll have to find her again and be like hi.
Dustin:This made our entire mummy experience great and and we rode the mummy, we had a blast. We did the only thing and it made me sad was when you made it to the I'm gonna call it the first exit station.
Ashley:I think that's very fair.
Dustin:Um, and you have the fire element that participates. Only half the fire element works on the ceiling.
Ashley:Yeah, I was kind of disappointed it was a little blumber, but that happens that does happen with rides and attractions.
Dustin:And that's not the only thing that happened to us tonight with that, but we'll get more into that. So, like I said, the wait time was posted at 45 minutes. Uh, what time did we get in line about 4, 19 ish, 4, 20 ish about 32 seconds.
Ashley:Can you tell? Listen, I'm an exact person. We let me pull up the statistics.
Dustin:It's not like we didn't like we did track of this stuff today, we literally did.
Ashley:but yeah, so we got there at 4 19 with 48 seconds left on the clock, we boarded we boarded at 4 39.
Dustin:Yes so that gave us a wait time of how long? About 20 minutes, 20 minutes, and they had an estimated 45. Correct Um. So I don't know if, like universal, does I call padding your wait times where they make it a little bit higher than what it actually is. So then when you you actually get up and you ride like this and we're like, oh my god, it said 45, but we made it through in 20 Um, I know a lot of people said it, but I honestly I think it's it just Lines fluctuate.
Ashley:Yeah, they do all the time, I'm sure, and I think the issue is is I think people fail to realize there's also people that leave that queue you know they have dinner reservations, they have other things that they're doing, or they just get tired.
Dustin:We don't know how long rip ride. Rocket was down, so rip ride might have been down for, say, 20 minutes before we showed up. Well, that large group, the next attraction to them is going to be mommy, so those people might have gotten in line at mommy and then when we got in line. It could have been three or four minutes after we got in line that the wait time dropped yeah and um, so that could have been why we were in there for 20 minutes. I don't.
Ashley:I don't foresee them Padding a 20 minute wait to 45, and please don't think for those that have never been to this park or or a theme park period, please don't think that we're saying that every single time you get on to a ride that the wait time is going to be something that you're not actually going to wait, because there might be moments where you're going to learn very quickly in our, in our story here today, that we actually did wait some of the time that was actually posted and then there was other ones that were waiting like.
Ashley:Waited longer, or we waited much, much less of it, and that's posted up there, so have.
Dustin:I ever told you of the worst wait time experience I've ever had at the theme park.
Ashley:Oh my god, Give it to me.
Dustin:It was at disney, oh no so I was at ebcot Last last year. Yeah last year. You're before last. No, it was last year.
Ashley:We're doing great guys.
Dustin:I went to ride rimmy's ratatouille adventure. Um, I'd seen the reviews on it, but it was still I wanted the credit. Absolutely and we got in line and it said 60 minute wait and I was like, all right, let's do it. And we got in line and after about 45 minutes that 60 minute wait jumped to over 200 minutes.
Dustin:Oh my gosh and I realized what the issue. So I was thinking well, I'm are. I got in line when it said 60, so I'm sure I'm at the 60 minute mark. The line's just grown behind me. No, the ride went down for maintenance and they didn't put temporarily delayed, they just left it at 60 minutes. Oh no when the ride did reopen, the weight had grown exponentially because all these people kept getting in line, thinking that it was a 60 minute wait.
Dustin:It was closed, or delayed, we never were notified, and the only thing that I didn't like about it is it's a new land. So, vegetation is still young, it's not grown, so there's not a lot of shade.
Ashley:No, there's not it was super hot.
Dustin:We were in an outdoor queue, for we ended up waiting Almost three hours in total.
Ashley:Absolutely, we were we were, so we it.
Dustin:By the time we realized how screwed up it was, we had already waited over an hour. Yeah, mine is all just the line behind us went so far it exited the attraction, went up to the top and then turned to the right and actually went, was going like out of France, stop it. And at that point I would. It was just me and my friend Curtis and we.
Dustin:He's been in Orlando for years so we just kind of were like, eh, we can just wait or you know we've waited this long amount of switch, but that you know that was not fun Um this was horrible.
Ashley:Yeah, it was um, but you know what was fun? What coming in second at mummy. All right, uh, maybe that might be.
Dustin:Welcome to MIB.
Ashley:Yes, it was men and black men and black will Smith In second we kept his wife's name out of her mouth. Yes, we did get punched. No, we did not. A wonderful time, no, but he was really proud of us too, because we became galaxy defenders. We did so not only did we not get slapped, but we got can't proud of you.
Dustin:So we men and black had a posted wait time of 25 minutes.
Ashley:Yes, it did and like said we um this isn't one another, one of those scenarios that we actually waited, less Then our than the post of time?
Ashley:because we waited for about 16 minutes Because we got onto that right about five. Oh, I know we're gonna say about, but, guys, we accurately did this today. Okay. So we got on it. 504 got in line, got in line at 504 and I'm really happy you got to experience this because I know pre covid they had it and then During covid they took it away because obviously we were social distancing. So there was not a lot of pre shows that were happening, there was not a lot of Well, a lot of demands of the. There wasn't a lot of a lot of things happening during covid. So it was nice that you got to experience, because now that we're out of covid you got the pre show back.
Dustin:I did. And here's the crazy thing. Um, I've only ever had express pass in the past Prior to pre covid, when I would come down, I always stayed at premier resorts with universal, so I always got a complimentary express right this is, um, and I haven't ridden men and black, uh, a lot. And then the times that I have have been in the post pandemic, correct, and I've never done the pre show at a lot of these shows because with express, a lot of times you skip the.
Ashley:Bypass it, which I think is the worst part. Honestly, I kind of think you miss. Okay, I love express. Don't get me wrong, I've done express quite a bit Um. I've done express yes it is so nice and if you are staying, if you, if you can do it.
Dustin:Good morning, it's tomorrow.
Ashley:Oh my god, it's 12 o'clock.
Dustin:We're filming late.
Ashley:Yeah, we are, but I think if you're staying at a universal resort and you get the opportunity to stay at one of the higher tiers, that offers the complimentary Royal Pacific girl.
Dustin:So so, I do enjoy Royal Pacific.
Ashley:It's the sushi restaurant in the bottom for me. And if hey, hey, I'm going to do it again. Shout out to Shan Shan loves that. That Royal Pacific hotel, yeah. Okay, so anyway, but if you're staying at those hotels, you get that complimentary express. So, which is so nice, because this way those wait times you're like who cares, because it's not 45 minutes, it's like three. Love that for me. But then at the flip side of it, I feel like you it takes away from the story. Pre the ride.
Dustin:Yeah, I actually never so with express. You enter into an entirely different. Well, Q, you just walked through a door and then you're inside the men and black lab. Today we walked into a very what I'm going to say beautiful mid century modern style art deco.
Ashley:Oh my God, the windows. They were so pretty.
Dustin:And shout out to the cast member that we had doing a pre show because I enjoyed it. We had a good. A lot of people nowadays they do not participate in pre shows and spealers at theme parks.
Ashley:It's like awkward.
Dustin:Yes but we had a great pre show group that participated.
Ashley:Yes, so we were shouting and hollering and everything, and so was the rest of the people that were inside the ride, which is where inside the group. So it's really nice.
Dustin:And I just love because she's like welcome to your three and a half hour walking tour. And these kids behind us were like I think we went to the wrong place.
Ashley:I mean my entire day, because they actively, physically, thought that they were in the wrong spot. They were like wait we've been here since park open. You mean I have to walk three hours.
Dustin:Yeah, but I love that because.
Ashley:But I think that tells very highly of the team member that was doing that with us that she made them believe that it was a three hour walking. Yep, which it definitely is so enjoy that guys Make sure you bring your walking shoes.
Dustin:The pre show was fun.
Ashley:Yeah, and she was training, she was training. She was, I think she was getting signed off, or she was, you know, a couple days on there, but she was great.
Dustin:Was she training or was she being trained?
Ashley:She was being trained, being trained yeah she was being trained.
Dustin:Oh, I never she was. She did great, she has a very good voice for that I think she'll, I think she'll do well in that.
Ashley:Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I think she did really well.
Dustin:But yeah, so we made it through the pre show and we got to walk through and I got to see the little aliens in the in the break room having a little coffee. And it was cool because their mouths were actually moving. They were animated, they weren't just a static prop. That's one of the things I love about men in black is the whole set.
Dustin:A lot of the their, their aliens are animated, they're actually moving, they're not just static props, correct? But yeah, so we waited. We only waited about 16 minutes to board it was so nice.
Ashley:We moved the entire time. It was nice. I don't feel like we ever like actually stood still, except for the point when they were they were taking those that were coming from Express and mixing us in together. Then I felt like we stood for like two seconds and then they went. Ok, keep going, Enjoy.
Dustin:And I love so. This is one of the things I joke. Universal does not play games when it comes to their dispatching cycles.
Ashley:No, they do not.
Dustin:And so there was a bit like for some reason, the cars started moving faster than the grouper for like a second, and so she sent us to our row, we boarded and we wrote, and then when we got off, we realized there was no one else. No, there was no one else in the second row because they were ready like they were ready to go, they were ready to dispatch, but they just didn't have that back row filled.
Dustin:So we, just we shipped it, we shipped it and we got it out and they that's how I think Universal can keep their line moving. And I still was second.
Ashley:Yeah, you got, there was nobody else in the vehicle but the three of us, and I was still second.
Dustin:You try.
Ashley:That's the only reason I was second. Ok, that's it.
Dustin:No, the only reason you were seconds because you got 100,000 bonus points.
Ashley:I would have stopped taking away my joy.
Dustin:Yeah, well, so men in black, it is so mommy. Mummy was more of like it's just a dark ride roller coaster with with black, black light and, low in the dark, magi symbols. And the mummy is there and that the the first unload station. And then a really hilariously funny video with Brandon Frazier there at the end.
Ashley:Yeah, yeah you did great job Good job.
Dustin:Shout out. Shout out to Brandon Frazier.
Ashley:Oh my.
Dustin:God, he's so great. He was amazing. During my childhood he was the movie star to be but mommy is it's, it's, it's good.
Ashley:I just hope it gets a cup of coffee but it is a basic concept.
Dustin:It's a. It's a dark ride roller coaster whereas men in black is a fully immersive.
Ashley:You are starting off going through a training facility with to become a man in black and man in black and during the middle of your training process, aliens actually attack.
Dustin:Is it New York? New York City?
Ashley:Yeah.
Dustin:And so you have to. Then defend the galaxy, and so you've got a little laser gun. Yes, you do and you're just shooting on these, these aliens does? Oh wait, no, stanley doesn't have anything to do with men in black Does?
Ashley:he no, it does not. I don't know why, for some reason I was thinking.
Dustin:Yeah, I realize that. Now I don't know why. I think I'm thinking of Spider-Man or something where he makes cameos in the ride.
Ashley:Yeah, because I noticed that. But we'll make a couple cameos, which was pretty nice. You hear him quite a bit. You get him first in the beginning and then you also get him halfway through. So you get him at a couple good spots. So I feel like that's our cameo, that's. That's his will. Smith is the Stan Lee to men in black.
Dustin:Yeah, there you go, and it's good. I want the pug, though I want the dog.
Ashley:And I was second, and I was second Frank.
Dustin:Does his name Frank Frank? I want Frank the pug, but yeah, so we wrote that waited just about 16 minutes. It was fun. It was a good ride. I love the exit for that ride because it's all concrete and then they have that that like flower bed, but it's not flowers, it's like the palm trees and you're inside, but I feel like I'm outside. It's a weird concept.
Dustin:It's such a weird scenario, I'm going to say something to you guys as we were exiting, but I was so far ahead of you because people I don't like people and people get really stupid at theme park ride exits and they just bunch up and they blow and I was like I need outside.
Ashley:But I also think Universal is in a really good job of creating the exit cues to not be so congested because they've moved the photo kiosks out of the way.
Dustin:Have you been to Harry Potter though?
Ashley:We're not talk. Well, I guess we get to talk about it.
Dustin:I don't think Universal ever expected Harry Potter to be as popular as it is, but I think they've done a good job with what they have. But it is a small and compact area.
Ashley:Kate, that does kind of make sense, though, because we did kind of experience. That saying is how, when we walked in to where, escape from green gods?
Dustin:is. What a good segue. Thank you very much.
Ashley:When we walked into there, the entire is that a land. Is that what we're?
Dustin:calling it. Yeah, it's Diagon Alley, great. So Diagon Alley, not Diagon Alley, diagon Alley.
Ashley:Listen, I think we should call it Diagon Alley. What did you say again?
Dustin:Diagon Alley. Yeah, that that will actually take you to a bad place. It takes you to Nocturne Alley. Diagon Alley is a store in Nocturne Alley. Because remember, harry Potter accidentally goes there when he travels by flu powder.
Ashley:Yes, he does. Yeah, but anyways, so we entered into Diagon Alley and there was so many people, I went oh my gosh, here's all the tourists, here's all the guests that we didn't see when we first came in. It was all. They're all in Harry Potter land.
Dustin:Wall to wall.
Ashley:It started at the Leaky Cold Room? Yes, it did, and went over to All the way to the bank, to Green Gods.
Dustin:And when we rounded the corner, you saw nothing but cameras in the air, because they want to get a video of the dragon breathing fire, of the dragon. And I'm just like and for those that haven't seen it.
Ashley:It is very impressive. Like it is very impressive it is. They put the dragon that is inside the movie. When Harry Potter, hermione and Ron are inside the bank, they put it on top of the bank.
Dustin:It's a statue.
Ashley:It is a statue and he every what hour?
Dustin:15.
Ashley:30 minutes 30 minutes I'm getting a 30 minute queue Every 30 minutes. He breathes, breathes, he words. Today and I are just not going to go long guys. He spews fire.
Dustin:And he roars.
Ashley:And he roars and it is very impressive and the heat that comes off of that. You do feel the heat.
Dustin:Yeah, you do. The one thing, though, is I like it, but it's so overcrowded of people trying to get that video that for me, it takes away the impressiveness, because it's shoulder to shoulder people and they're all trying to get their own really good video of it that I'm just like move out of my way and let me get through here. I don't want to stand here shoulder to shoulder with strangers smelling what you just had to eat in the leaky cold run, because today, when we walk through, someone literally burped as I was trying to walk and all I could smell was disgusting burp breath, shepherd's pie that had already been eaten.
Dustin:You know what it kind of gives me the same feeling of magic kingdom when fireworks are happening. Oh yeah, so if you've been to, magic kingdom.
Ashley:And you've seen the fireworks I'm sure all of you have seen. If you have not been in person, I'm sure you've seen photos.
Dustin:But Main Street USA is a lot wider.
Ashley:Correct, but that that is the same concept. That is Diagon Alley. That is the same exact idea, that claustrophobic. Every single person. If you're not a part of my family, we're now a family members, because we're so close. We're breathing the same air. You're literally in me. That's how close you are to these people. They're in you, they become you. You are one with strangers, but that's how close they all are. It's ridiculous, it's insane.
Dustin:And, with that being said, we decided to escape all of these people by writing Harry Potter and the Escape from Green Guts.
Ashley:Which is so good.
Dustin:It is the theming.
Ashley:Okay, let's talk about the theming first here. Well, you walk into the bank.
Dustin:You walk into Green.
Ashley:Guts, you walk into. Green Guts, you get to to.
Dustin:And then we walked out of Green Guts.
Ashley:Then we walked out.
Dustin:Because we went into the extended queue.
Ashley:Yes, we did. We walked in and then walked out.
Dustin:Green Guts had a posted 40 minute wait when we entered.
Ashley:Gosh, they were so busy.
Dustin:So when you you walk in and it's such a teaser because who was that? Was that my phone?
Ashley:No, that's my phone. You know what it is, perhaps coming home from work.
Dustin:Oh cool. Tell them not to make noise when he comes in the door.
Ashley:I will do my best.
Dustin:So when you walk in, you get a teaser if the extended queue is open, because if you look to the right you can see what I'm going to call the Great Hall of Green Guts, which is where the the from the film. You see the giant chandelier and the goblins at work at their at their desks, and you have to walk past that and then you have to walk outside. Yes, you do. Fortunately, we were only down the first turn back.
Ashley:And we were only outside for a little bit.
Dustin:Yeah, it was like not even five minutes and we were back inside.
Ashley:You know we did not. That is when I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't accurately write down how long we were outside, for we got an accurate description of every single right time that we did, except we did not. So I'm going to give it. We were there for 3.75 seconds.
Dustin:For in the extended queue Correct.
Ashley:Outside Correct. I know that was pretty much, but that was nice. It was kind of nice. I felt like I was in the bank and I love, I love the chandeliers, I love all of it. Like I think the elves are so impressive. I think the stacks of gold bills that are there Are they elves? They're goblins, they're goblins.
Dustin:I know, because I wasn't talking.
Ashley:No, like at all.
Dustin:Like you know, I'm going to say something that's going to be controversial.
Ashley:Say it, say it.
Dustin:This is one, Everything was beautiful, everything was amazing, but the big big chandelier, the one that in the movie comes crashing down, she was a bit dusty.
Ashley:She was real dusty.
Dustin:She had some cobwebs just growing on her, I think cobwebs is an understatement.
Dustin:That was like the only area in there that had any form of dust on it, because by the looks of it, it's almost impossible to try to get to to clean. It's in such a narrow passage and it's like stairs that start going. Yeah, it's a hard area to clean, so I'll give them that. But yeah, we went down. We made it to the I don't know what that's. It's where they take your photo. I don't know what they call that section or what that section of the bank would be called the offices. We made it outside the offices and you actually see the Harry Potter characters behind the door and you see the newspapers that have like, like, come to life and do things. And then we made it up, we got grouped into our queue and then we got on the elevator and the elevator didn't function properly.
Ashley:No.
Dustin:And that was sad.
Ashley:That was really sad For those that don't know. When you get onto that elevator, it is to take you to the ground floor so that you can.
Dustin:The ground floor. We're on ground. I guess it's underground. It's to take you all the way down to the vaults. Guys, I've never ridden this ride, clearly I've never done any of these things.
Ashley:I can't figure out if it's a goblin, if it's an elf and we're going ground.
Dustin:It takes you to the vaults and the elevator.
Ashley:This is the most chaotic podcast we've ever had today.
Dustin:Okay, it's an optical illusion. So if you look at the roof of the elevator, there's video screens that show you going down. Yes, and the floor of the elevator is actually a table and that table bounces in a rhythmic pattern to make it feel like, when you look up and you're watching, it looks and feels like you're in an actual elevator that's actually moving. You didn't know that the elevator didn't move, did you? You thought it really went down, didn't you?
Ashley:Ladies and gentlemen, the man that ruins the magic, da-da-da. Oh, that's what we're here to do.
Dustin:We're here to talk about.
Ashley:We're here to unplug it.
Dustin:Yeah, we're unplugging. Yeah, we are. We really are. This ain't Disney no.
Ashley:Hey, you know what I really don't like about that right though.
Dustin:What.
Ashley:That is, I have to wear these glasses, so I don't.
Dustin:So when you come out of the elevator, you get glasses Because it is a 3D ride. Well, it's a mixture of physical set and 3D.
Ashley:Correct. So you get a little combo of A and combo of B and it's like a good Chinese meal.
Dustin:We grabbed glasses, we just didn't wear them.
Ashley:We didn't, and then it was. It's still a great. Okay, this sounds. Everybody that's going to listen to this is going to be like, oh my God, they hated that ride and I literally just spent five minutes. Oh God, no. Going on and on about how great that ride is and it is. I don't believe you have to wear the glasses to experience how wonderful that ride is. However, you can still wear the glasses and still get a fantastic experience. I think it goes either way.
Dustin:I think the first time you ride it, you need to.
Ashley:I agree, but me personally, as somebody who wears glasses, it is very difficult for me to not just wear my glasses but also wear 3D glasses on top, and I don't do contact because I can't put something in my eye, for example oh my, God, I just thought of it.
Dustin:What did you think of? Universal should design and sell glasses. Those glasses.
Ashley:They really should.
Dustin:And like, because if you Like you have glasses. I do so if they sell like a clip on that clips onto your glasses or a glasses that I'd be the first person to buy it.
Ashley:I would, I honest to God, would, because I think that is the sole reason why, when I ride any 3D ride, like it does not matter if it is Green Gods, it doesn't matter any Like anywhere, like I could be at Disney World and have a 3D and I cannot do them. Because the issue is is one I look like a complete nut or moron.
Ashley:Two, I can't see out of them because you know what I see when I put the Green Gods glasses on my own eyeballs, back at me, and that is some trippy, trippy, trippy shit and I don't like it. So and it, to be honest with you, it kind of makes me sick. So then, when I'm riding the ride, which I very much enjoy, I'm now wanting to throw up because I see my own eyeballs staring back at me.
Dustin:What is your prescription?
Ashley:Oh, it's so bad, I'm so blind, it's not even funny. Thanks, mom, thanks.
Dustin:Shan. Thanks Shan, but yeah, so Did you know that?
Ashley:did you know that, though, that your eyesight comes from your, your mother's, side? Did you know that? I didn't know that I learned that I had a.
Dustin:I have a really good eye doctor, no, where I'm going off to. So an optometrist has actually confirmed things yeah.
Ashley:That hereditary eyesight comes from your mother's side. So thanks Shan, Love you. But thanks Shan, Because my mother's also really blind, You're welcome.
Dustin:So we grabbed her glasses. Yeah, we did?
Ashley:We went up the stairs the bottom of that staircase was a walk.
Dustin:It was a cattywampus mess.
Ashley:Listen, we're going to get into this very shortly, but the amount of words today that I have heard that Southerners say that, being from the north, we don't say. But I'm kind of adopting some of them because I'm no longer calling my grocery cart a cart, I'm not calling it a buggy.
Dustin:Yeah, it's just cute, because that's what it is. It's a buggy, she cute.
Ashley:But yeah, then we went up the spiral staircase and we got the front row. Yes, we did Of our car.
Dustin:Correct, and we rode the ride. Yes, we did. I learned a fun fact today, though. What is that?
Ashley:About that ride and it was honest. Honestly, I think this might be my favorite fun fact. So when you ride that ride, the very first element into it is a hill that you're going to go down and it's called a hill because Beatrix, she takes over. Bella Tricks. Thank you so much Words today, guys.
Dustin:I'm not doing the wrong. Beatrix, don't you slay Ellen Bono Carter like that.
Ashley:My one audience member is laughing at me, so she throws some magic.
Dustin:Cast a spell.
Ashley:Yeah, thank you.
Dustin:To levitate the car.
Ashley:I haven't slept much in the past couple of days, so it's all catching up to me at this point. Can you tell?
Dustin:Yeah.
Ashley:So she cast a spell on our ride vehicle and we go up in the air. Did you know that when you look down on the side, the floor is a mirror? It's mirrors. Yeah, I did not know that.
Dustin:So that, well, only half of the floor was.
Ashley:Correct.
Dustin:If you looked back, you could actually see concrete floor.
Ashley:Yes.
Dustin:But if you're a normal park guest and you look down, you don't know where to look to see the things like the concrete floor. So you look down and you see in the haunt industry that I'm familiar with we call that illusion a bottomless pit.
Ashley:Love it.
Dustin:Because the room in there has a black light reflective design.
Ashley:Yes, that's.
Dustin:And so that concrete cobblestone, rock wall hits that mirror and then bounces back up and it looks as if it goes on into eternity.
Ashley:Yeah.
Dustin:Which is the concept that they want you to feel like when you're down there in those vaults.
Ashley:And it was so. I had no idea Like I'm a big fan of fun facts.
Dustin:Do we know? Do you know what that element is actually called?
Ashley:I don't. Can we ask our one audience member see if he knows we can Do? You know what?
Dustin:Do you know what the element is where Bellatrix does cast the spell and it makes the track turn.
Ashley:What's it called? It's called a tilt track. I knew that. I knew that, no, you didn't so actually, you know what?
Dustin:If you guys are interested, please let us know, reach out Facebook wherever you want and if you want to know more of the history and the mechanisms behind the ride, because, let me tell you, escape from Green Guts was a actual game changer for Universal- Studios. Did you know that when you stop in front of those movie screens, that all that feeling that you're getting is because the track that you're on, the little piece of track that you're on, is going up and down?
Ashley:and tilting. It's not the machine, it's not the ride vehicle.
Dustin:Yeah, it's the track. Well, it's a mixture of both. Yes, but yeah.
Ashley:But the track is the main mechanism that is moving your moving ride vehicle.
Ashley:Yeah, so if any of you guys are interested in any of the Universal or Disney rides or anything, let us know and we will do a deep dive, we will research and we'll get with folks so we can actually tell you what these rides are, what the types of vehicles are, all that stuff we have quite a few friends of ours that are incredibly educated in that department and that are very capable of giving us the actual verbiage, the actual terminology that could describe all of these things, which is, I think, it's very interesting to find out. But yeah, no, I had no idea that there's a whole bunch of mirrors on there. So I feel like every time I ride a ride at Universal, I learn something new about that ride, every single time.
Dustin:You know, today we didn't ride the Transformers ride, but you know, if I'm not mistaken. Rob would be very disappointed in us A majority of that attraction actually takes place on the second floor.
Ashley:Yes, I did, I did know that. There's actually an elevator that you go up and you don't know you are going up because you're watching a movie screen. Correct and yeah, so it's really neat Also another ride that I don't wear my 3D glasses on.
Dustin:Same Universal.
Ashley:I'm gonna need you to give me some glasses I can attach to.
Dustin:We looked for our friend. We have a friend that we know that works at Green Guts, but we did not see our friend.
Ashley:No kind of sad, I know, but they were so busy, so it makes perfect sense.
Dustin:Yeah, which was good, because that ride came in at 38 minutes, so we got on two minutes prior to its estimated wait time.
Ashley:Yes, we did.
Dustin:So pochum. Thank you both so much, 공 EE, general Garlic. So that's all the rides that we rode at studios.
Ashley:We decided to pop over.
Dustin:We wanted to hit up Hagrid's magical mountain creature bike. Hold on.
Ashley:You have to say it, it's trademarked.
Dustin:You have to say it right Hagrid's magical creature motorbike adventure.
Ashley:And the issue, though, is that all of us that live here, we have like little. I love that. We have like little. I don't want to say like quirky names for all of these things, but we kind of do Like we in a sense, and I don't know if it's because at some point we all worked for theme parks, so we all kind of adapted either the radio code, or we adapted the you know the shorthand version of what it is, because that's what our bosses called it or our friends called it, or we just kind of hear other people and go, oh, that's kind of cool. Like, ok, instead of calling Universal Studios or Lando, we call it Studios. Or instead of Islands of Adventure, I have always called it Islands, you know. So it's not so for Hagrid's, I call it Hagrid's. I think we all call it Hagrid's.
Dustin:Yeah, so I think everyone calls it that.
Ashley:Correct. So I think you know we got to kind of bear with it as a tad bit. So if there's any one that we say a name of though that you don't understand or does it make any sense, let us know so we can kind of clarify for you.
Dustin:So in this journey on the Greatest Hits tour, there were two attractions at Studios that we didn't get to ride. But I do want to touch base on both of them for a moment because it's kind of a dishonor that we have done. We've brought dishonor upon our family and our cow because we didn't ride ET today. But I ride ET so much that it was one of those.
Ashley:I've ridden ET so much. I have a candle that smells like ET. Yes, you do which?
Dustin:is something I don't want to talk about. So for those of you that aren't familiar ET Adventure was an attraction that originally opened with Universal Studios when the park originally opened in 1990. Shout out to Steven Spielberg Way to go so in this ride you're actually met in the pre-show by Steven Spielberg on a video screen and he explains to you that ET's home, that I'm not going to try to say because I cannot say it the green planet. That's literally it.
Ashley:You couldn't say the green planet. No, I think this man has been giving me the looks we're not being able to pronounce anything this entire podcast.
Dustin:It's the ET's friends that have weird names. Oh yeah.
Ashley:There's no way. You need to ride the ride that you hear their names and good luck saying it yeah, we're not doing that. Listen, our one audience member is giving us the one I know.
Dustin:Teakly. I can say Teakly. That's the only one I know how to say. You know which one.
Ashley:I can do, you know the one I can do.
Dustin:Is it the creepy doll one? No, no, no.
Ashley:When he goes welcome home, you've arrived.
Dustin:Yeah, that is Teakly All right. Great, that's the only one I got. He's like a rain one. There's Magdoll. Magdoll is creepy, terrifying. That is the most scary animatronic in my life.
Ashley:Terrifying, it's terrifying. And for somebody who has a fear of animatronics, because my roommates maybe watch Five Nights at Freddy's.
Dustin:Love Five Nights at Freddy's. So, you're met by Steven.
Ashley:Spielberg.
Dustin:And he explains to you that you're going to get an intergalactic ID.
Ashley:Passport, passport.
Dustin:Passport Passport Intergalactic passport. So you're actually going to give the ride attendance your names.
Ashley:Yes, you do your first name and try to keep it first name, guys, as somebody who's done this before and has had people be like oh, my name is Elizabeth Ann, or this is how it is. If you go by something shorter, it's much easier for you.
Dustin:Well, ET has to say all these names later. So you've got to keep it short and simple, otherwise ET doesn't get through the whole list of names, correct?
Ashley:Please don't walk up there and be like hi. My name is Ashley Marie Austin.
Dustin:Here is my favorite thing, though, about ET. So, after you get your intergalactic passport, you round the corner and then you're outside, but you're still. You're physically inside a building, correct, but you are now in the nighttime, in the woods, in the forest, in the forest on the edge of the town that all of this takes place in. Yeah, sure, and the smell.
Ashley:Oh my gosh. It is the best smell in the entire world and I'm so grateful that companies have figured out how to make that smell so that my house can smell like it, because I just want to live there, I want to live in the forest with ET, I want to be best friends.
Dustin:I'll wait an hour in that queue line because it's air conditioned. It's dim lining because you look like you're outside there's a little show that happens every little bit of an animatronic that comes up and it's a message to ET to return home. And then there's just neat little things. There's some.
Ashley:There's the spaceman.
Dustin:There's the spaceman in the trees, there's the little umbrella and kid's toy that has been rigged and it's getting an alien transmission. But then you get up to the ride vehicles. These ride vehicles, they're bikes.
Ashley:They're bicycles. The best part is if you sit in the first row in the. What is it the second or third seat? Second seat.
Dustin:The two middles, there's four. There's four to a row.
Ashley:So if you sit in seats two and three, ET is in front of you, he pops up out of the basket and he rides with you. So I'm not going to lie. Whenever I ride that ride, I try to request for that row.
Dustin:I just go over there. I like to be anywhere on the left side because you're driving through scenes of the movie. Essentially, and then you do the famous silhouette and you fly on your bike and you see the cities down below you.
Ashley:What is that city? Anybody know LA?
Dustin:It's all working. It's LA, so it's downtown LA. It's downtown LA and what's.
Ashley:I like to pretend that I'm the person that's on the moon. So have you seen the cars?
Dustin:I'm a real fast. If you look down at the city, do you see the cars that move?
Ashley:I do yeah. Do you know what that?
Dustin:is no, that is a bike chain.
Ashley:Stop it.
Dustin:It is a bike chain that has a little. Is it glow-in-the-dark paint that's reflecting under black?
Ashley:lights. I love that.
Dustin:And that's how you see all those cars moving in the city is because it's just a chain that is going around on a pattern and it's one of the coolest concepts from the technically it would have been the late 80s, because that park opened in the 90. In 90? Yeah, so that was a basic, super basic.
Ashley:That's so impressive.
Dustin:But for that time frame that's so impressive. And then from there you blast off at light speed.
Ashley:Yeah, you go very fast, and then you land on ET's planet. You do.
Dustin:The not green green planet.
Ashley:No, it's not green.
Dustin:It is not green, no, it's not, but ET.
Ashley:It also has a couple of water moments in there where you think you're going to get wet and then ET goes nope.
Dustin:I'm waiting on the day something messes up and I get wet.
Ashley:Countdown All the mini ET's, though I don't know if they're like ET's I don't want to be like ET's babies but I definitely won. The very first time I wrote that ride because I had not seen ET yet. So when I wrote it I went oh my god, et has all these babies. It's so cute. And then I realized that ET did not have those babies, but there's a whole bunch of mini ET's all the way around and I think it's adorable.
Dustin:But it's a good, because when ET arrives back to the green planet, his finger his little little finger heals the planet oh deep back and you get to start going through and you see the planet come back to life. Yes, and one of the neat things, you didn't get to see ET in the ride today, but they have brought back some lighting elements. No way and some refurbishments of the ride that haven't been there for several years.
Ashley:Oh my.
Dustin:And I've actually had some. I've heard other guests talking about it and it's a great concept and it looks really, really neat.
Ashley:It's so nice to know that they're giving ET some love. I know.
Dustin:And then you get to the end of the ride and you see ET.
Ashley:Oh, should we talk about it? Should we let our guests find out what happens?
Dustin:Well, this is well.
Ashley:I think we're unplugging it.
Dustin:We talk about it. Yeah, we've already unplugged it. We've unplugged it this far. Let's see.
Ashley:He says your name, he thanks you for helping him get back to his green planet and he goes. Thank you, Ashley. Yeah, he does so that intergalactic passport that you have. Yes, the reason they ask for your name.
Dustin:You give those to the greeter as you board the ride vehicle and they tap all of these to the back of the ride vehicle. And it programs that ride vehicle to all of the names that are on it. So, ET will say goodbye.
Ashley:No, he says thank you. He says thank you and goodbye. I believe I thought it's just thank you. I think it's just thank you for helping him and goodbye.
Dustin:Oh, it is goodbye, We'll see that's the thing, if he can get through the whole list of names before.
Ashley:That's why you all need to shorten your names.
Dustin:Yeah, because I have been on it before where it's going on for so long that it cuts off because it has to start doing the next ride vehicle, but anyway, and then you go through this really weird spinning light. Well, yeah, because you go back to your planet, Well no, it's funny, though, because you go through a spinning light and then there's just a light that shines on the wall in the form of ET's finger and a human hand. Yeah, and it's just so, because it's just that shining on a black wall.
Ashley:Yeah, that's it, and then it's like ta-da ride over. Good job, Thank you for saving ET's planet. Yeah, so we didn't ride that today, but then you go through, I think, a very cute gift shop because you get the chance to take your photo with a prop of ET. I usually sneak outside.
Dustin:I hate going through gift shops.
Ashley:I hate it with a passion. I'm sorry, but I strongly disagree with not just my co-host, but with the one audience member I have, because you both suck OK.
Dustin:Gift shops are fantastic, yes, but the ET gift shop is a very tight space. I don't care. You know what? I don't care.
Ashley:It's because I love ET and I want ET plastered everywhere because he's so cute.
Dustin:Well, just outside ET. We didn't get to see the progression today, but there'sa lot of construction walls outside of ET and that is because Universal's new, rejuvenated land of Dreamworks. So it's a new. It's actually it is a new land, but it is rejuvenating a land that was already there.
Ashley:Correct because that used to hold. What do you? Woodpeckers, where the coast are correct, yeah, and I think Barney was over there and a couple of other things.
Dustin:So it's now being re-themed and actually rebuilt.
Ashley:Yeah, they tore down and then they're redoing it.
Dustin:And they're doing. There's going to be trolls. Kung Fu Panda Shrek is getting his own swamp.
Ashley:I love that for him.
Dustin:He deserves it, and it is right in front of the entrance to ET. It is right there. Do you think there's going to be?
Ashley:a combating of smells. We're going to get a little a little ogre swamp smell. It's like an onion, oh God.
Dustin:Onion and ET.
Ashley:An onion smell in a forest. What a combination of smells, guys.
Dustin:It's going to be great Correct, but I think that opens later in 2024. So I'm actually pretty excited to see this.
Ashley:Yeah, because I think we're going to get a little bit for Epic. So we kind of get like something new and then we get Epic.
Dustin:And there was where else the Starbucks at studios just recently got?
Ashley:re-perbed If you haven't been in there. It is so nice. It is so nice. Are you dying over there, you doing?
Dustin:all right. Yeah, I'm good. A little bit of indigestion burp. I don't know, I thought I needed a burp.
Ashley:I thought I had to sneeze for like 20 minutes there for a second. That's what you were doing, I literally kept having to like move the mic out of my face because obviously I don't want to like sneeze in everybody's ear, but it just keeps coming towards me and I'm like, ooh, it's going to happen.
Dustin:So then, the last ride that we didn't do is Transformers 3D. We talked about it a little bit. So you're at the Transformer base.
Ashley:Yes, you are. I feel like I need to like have the brother explain Transformers to us. But we'd be here for like a six hour podcast.
Dustin:But while you're there, you're part of the Nest Company. Yes, you're part of Nest.
Ashley:Yeah, this is all the information I get from that brother of mine. Okay, so bear with me here. But you get, you're recruited as part of Nest to help them to collect the AllSpark. As far as I know, Protect the AllSpark. I'm sorry, protect the AllSpark. Rob would be very disappointed in me. So you're trying to protect it, obviously from the Decepticons who are trying to take it away from the Autobots. So you go through this ride using your 3D glasses. It's an entire experience, but you are inside an Autobot named I'm dropping blank Evac.
Dustin:Thank you, His name is Evac.
Ashley:Evac helps you. You sit inside of Evac while he holds on and helps to protect the AllSpark. He helps Optimus Prime, he helps Bumblebee, who does cute little music in that which is adorable. But yeah, I think it's great, it's pretty impressive, you know. I like how, how themed that ride is, and not just the ride but the queue itself.
Dustin:You get to see the AllSpark that's in there and there's buttons and all, there's stuff for you to play with in that queue line, but one of the neat things that I love about it is the I forgot what I was saying.
Ashley:What do we get? What do we get? What do we get?
Dustin:Do you know? Ooh, ooh, do you know?
Ashley:We're going to get off topic of the Trance Rumors.
Dustin:So we're NEST.
Ashley:Yes, you're talking about NEST.
Dustin:Do you actually know what NEST stands for?
Ashley:I don't, but I bet you somebody in my house does, and I don't know if it's the brother, if it's the one audience member you have, but I'm ready to hear it.
Dustin:So I actually recently learned this by listening to Universal Studios podcast that they have, which is great podcast when they talked about this ride, but it stands for the Non-Biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty.
Ashley:Wow, that's a mouthful. Listen, we thought Hagrid's was a mouthful. Nest is even. No wonder they hyphenated yeah. I had hyphenated too, but it's good. It's a good ride.
Dustin:It's a good. It's got a great mixture of again the video screens and physical sets.
Ashley:And you know what I really like about it.
Dustin:What.
Ashley:At the very end, obviously after we destroy no, well, yes, but no After it's so hateful, the hate I'm receiving today. No, after we obviously destroy the Decepticon, and the worst one being Megatron. You get to go underneath of his dead robot body and he's staring at you and you're like, oh my god, he's above you.
Dustin:You watch the light fade from his eyes.
Ashley:You do, but, to be honest with you, it kind of brings me joy, like I know I'm not supposed to. And you know what is the, the, the? I guess the phrase I have heard so many times because, like I said, rob is so obsessed with it is that we get thanked for being a freedom fighter, and I appreciate the fact that Optimus Prime tells me thank you, yeah, yeah. I like that, and obviously at the end we go through a gift shop.
Dustin:We've been talking for a while, so let's go ahead and jump over to Islands of Adventure.
Ashley:Yes, I don't think so.
Dustin:Over at Islands of Adventure we talked earlier. We said we had the incredible Hulk coaster which we did not ride.
Ashley:No, we did not.
Dustin:The amazing adventures of Spider-Man, which we thought was closed at first.
Ashley:We did.
Dustin:It's covered. It's in maintenance is completely covered with construction walls. It is, but that's because we later found out that they are redoing some like sidewalk work or some work out front in front of the attraction. Some well-nated maintenance, so you actually enter the attraction through the ride's overflow queue which is located on the far end of Marvel. Island, which is just like around the corner from that sneeze.
Ashley:It's not happening. No, I'll say.
Dustin:So that was interesting and weird to see. But it's kind of neat to see how universal can be like oh, we're actually going to completely shut down the entire entrance to this ride and we're going to move it somewhere completely different.
Ashley:I know that's kind of cool. Now, if only they could teach I-4 how to do. That would be in business. But like no, I think that that is so neat that they can still keep those rides operating while they're still keeping up with the well-nated maintenance.
Dustin:So I give them some props, which is also so if you've done Transformers.
Ashley:Spider-Man is the same exact concept.
Dustin:Yes, Spider-Man is an older version. Yes, they're the same ride system, I think. But, Spider-Man is an older version from the 90s.
Ashley:Was it 1999.
Dustin:Yeah 1999 is when that attraction opened and Transformers opened. In what? 2013?, 2014?, yeah, 2013. Love that. So I'm going to laugh if people can hear our audience member in the background giving us the dates because we're like yeah, I think it's this, and then he's over here like 2013.
Ashley:But we kind of appreciate it, though, because there are a lot of numbers that we don't keep up with, so it's nice that we kind of get the little tidbits. So thanks for our audience over here.
Dustin:But yeah, so then, from there we moved on to the wonderful world of Jurassic.
Ashley:Yes.
Dustin:And so I recently went to the Orlando Informer Meetup, which we're going to hopefully do a whole episode on explaining what this is, and we may even get to go to an Orlando Informer event in the future. I'm kind of hoping so, because I think it would be really fun for you to experience a university like that, so we can explain it to everyone.
Dustin:But when I went, my roommates were like, let's go to Camp Jurassic, and I was like a kid's play area. But for the mini meetup that we went to, there were no children permitted at this event, so there was no children on Islands of Adventure. When I went to Camp Jurassic the first time and let me tell you that was the best experience I'd ever had I loved it. So I was like Ashley, I've got to show it to you. We were fortunate. We went in an hour before the park closed tonight.
Ashley:Yes, we did.
Dustin:Well, actually it was about two hours before the park closed. There was not a single child in Camp. Jurassic. Actually, there was one child that scared the crap out of all of us.
Ashley:I thought I was going to pee my pants when we went through that thing.
Dustin:So we get into Camp.
Ashley:Jurassic Children terrifying and.
Dustin:I took you into the secret underground caverns of Islands of Adventure.
Ashley:If you've never done this, add this to your list, add this to the must. Do you know what? I think we need to add it to the greatest hits we are, and I recommend that you go. It is so cool.
Dustin:And go to close, to park close, because the rest of the kids, the families are already going to be gone, but there is a full underground cavern with water and bridges and geysers and mist and it literally feels like you are in a prehistoric cave underground and it's the coolest thing ever.
Ashley:It's so cool Like I thought that was the neatest concept I've ever, because it's like there's no weight, it's not a ride, it's just a walkthrough. And it's so impressive Like you walk through and you're like how did I get from outside to underneath a cave?
Dustin:so quickly, and it's something I never knew.
Ashley:No.
Dustin:I've been going to Universal since 2014. I never knew that was there.
Ashley:I had no idea, I had no clue, I had no idea.
Dustin:So then we came out of it, and then there was something I really wanted to show you, but I wasn't going to tell you what it was. So we walk over to this door, and inside the door you can very clearly tell that it's like those McDonald's and Chick-fil-A play places where you go in and you have to climb up.
Dustin:But it's like you're climbing up platforms, so you climb up and then you go to the left, and then you climb up and you go to the right, and it's so funny because I round the corner in there. And I was like oh, God there's a child.
Ashley:And the first part, though, is she stood there or she's at there.
Dustin:No well, did you not hear what she said when I walked?
Ashley:in. No, she was playing hide and seek, she was playing hide and seek in camp. That girl won the camp. Jurassic is huge. The rumor is her family is still looking for her now.
Dustin:So camp Jurassic, it's huge, oh my gosh, it's massive. So I was like, ok, well, we're just going to climb past you. So here we are, full grown adults crawling through this, and it was tight, oh my God, it was so tight.
Ashley:But you know what? It didn't make me feel real skinny. So I appreciated it, but no, it was so tight and as a 27-year-old that was a struggle for me, but I am really proud that I made it through. I don't know if I could do it again, Maybe not with that girl I bet you she's still there. But no, I had no confidence that I was going to make it through that. I'd be like somebody call paramedics and get me out.
Dustin:Fire trucks. Here we go. We made it to the top.
Ashley:I did.
Dustin:And it was a giant netted rope bridges.
Ashley:Correct Everything.
Dustin:Crossways, it was just. It was like 1990s dollywood dreamland forest where it's just the knotted rope. And that's all it is. It's a rope, floor, walls and ceiling.
Ashley:Yeah, ladies, do yourself a favor and don't wear I wouldn't even wear sandals in that thing. I'd wear tennis shoes, because you need some traction.
Dustin:But we were climbing. And we were like what, 50, 60 feet up off the ground?
Ashley:I don't want to know that, but it was really cool.
Dustin:You got to see some really great angles. It was so good.
Ashley:And the views you got. You got to see. You saw the Incredible Hulk. We saw a very, very cool view of Velocicoster, which was very neat. We got to see it going over the top hat, so it was, which is the hill we got to see over the hill. But it was great. That was so neat and the nice part is there was nobody there.
Dustin:Yeah, we got really lucky, so we got all those views.
Ashley:We got to do all of those things when it was just the three of us, without any child running past me or without anybody there.
Dustin:And then we got to have a really cool Jurassic photo shoot.
Ashley:Yeah, we did.
Dustin:And I cannot wait for you guys to see. You probably actually you've probably already seen these photos, because I think we're going to use them. We're going to use them for some of our marketing for this episode. So the pictures that you saw of us, like me and Ashley, at the Jurassic Park gate and we're pushing the gate open.
Ashley:That's because we were actively trying. Listen. Ok, it looks like we just posed, like we were scared, but I was like, are you sure a dinosaur is looking at me? She was actively scared.
Dustin:She kept asking me if something was going to jump out and scare us.
Ashley:I was ready for blue to come and eat my butt.
Dustin:This is a children's playground.
Ashley:Listen have you been through the queue for Velocicoster? That's still a roller. No, I was waiting. I was waiting. I was waiting for blue to come out of the corner and try to eat me, the Adominus Rex.
Dustin:But then so we left Camp Jurassic.
Ashley:We did.
Dustin:And I was really sad to see that the Jurassic River Adventure had construction walls up covering the entrance because it is currently closed for a winter refurbishment. Oh, well, needed she is having some work done while facey lifty. So I'm excited to see what she looks like. I don't think it's a long closure. I don't think she's only closed, I think for a few weeks. About a month yeah yeah, and then she'll be back open and ready to go for the rest of the winter.
Ashley:I think she's also a very good ride. I think if you're looking for a water ride that you don't actually always get wet on I think of the handful of times that I've ridden river I feel like there's moments where I get off and I'm like, oh my god, I'm soaking wet. And then there's other moments where I'm like, oh like, my bangs got wet. That's about it.
Dustin:When people ask me about it, I always say if you want to ride it without getting soaked, do not sit in rows one or two.
Ashley:Or three, I think. If you're in the middle of it, I think it's fine. Yeah, but definitely the back.
Dustin:You've got the splash down where it gets. But if you do the lean forward, as I like to call it, the splash happens on the top of your head and your back and then you're not soaking wet.
Ashley:Nope, and you're good to go.
Dustin:And then after that we have good old Velossie, velossie Coaster.
Ashley:Oh my god, she's so good. I love her so much and I think she's such a great addition to Islands because she adds another high, intense element to that park that it did needed.
Dustin:It's a huge throughput.
Ashley:Oh huge.
Dustin:They can crank through some people on that attraction.
Ashley:Oh, shout out to Velossie Coaster's team member group. They are so good at what they do.
Dustin:And it completely changed the skyline of Islands. Hello. Hello, that's all that bang.
Ashley:What.
Dustin:Oh.
Ashley:I think we're struggle busted to get through the front door right now.
Dustin:Yeah, so it completely changed the skyline of the universe. And it's a gorgeous, gorgeous view. Hi Rob, how was work hey?
Ashley:that Transformer know it kid came up. We were literally just talking about Transformers. I think you'd enjoy it, but yeah, no, I think the entire skyline. The view is completely different with adding Velossie Coaster into it. So, yeah, no, I think it's a very, very impressive roller coaster, but it's so good, we did choose to skip it today. We did.
Dustin:Because we were in route and on our way to Hagrid's.
Ashley:Hagrid's.
Dustin:So we did make a quick little pit stop though because, our friend that went to the park today had a nice little cocktail and Ashley was on the hunt for a mocktail. And we actually found a drink that was actually called mocktail in Jurassic?
Ashley:Tell us about it, I mean, I've kind of made the decision that I think 2024 is the year that I am sober.
Dustin:I'll drink it for you, so that's OK.
Ashley:I appreciate that more than you know, so I've made it my mission that when I go to theme parks to find the mocktail for those of us that, like myself, are deciding not to drink anymore. So I needed to find it, I desperately needed it, and this was so good. Like she was kind of sugary.
Dustin:She was. I did try her. She was a bit sugary for me.
Ashley:She was a bit sugary, correct, but she.
Dustin:Oh, she just.
Ashley:Hang on, I lost the whole thing.
Dustin:Oh, she's got to find her notes so she did and it had a long list of ingredients.
Ashley:It was so long, like for it being a mocktail, it was so long and I'm just like why I do love the straw that you got.
Dustin:It was not a paper straw, it was a bamboo straw.
Ashley:Oh, it was bamboo it was bamboo themed to keep up with. Well, we can talk about the cup With the Jurassic, the Jurassic theming.
Dustin:Oh, that's nice it was. Yeah, it was good and they did have so the bar that we went to was called what. What was it called? The watering hole, Thank you, Sorry I had to. No, I wouldn't.
Dustin:Indigestion again, but it had the watering hole so they had all sorts of things, so it looked like they actually have a full bar there so they were able to make any if I wanted a Jack and Coke or a Jack Dyer or what does our friend get a vodka diet? That's his poison. And then they had frozen drinks, they had themed drinks, they had a bunch of stuff and then you chose to get with the mocktail which apparently the entire list of her went away, but I know she had.
Dustin:Guava in her. We'll let our studio audience see if they can look up that ingredient list it was so excessive, but you know what I loved about it?
Ashley:so much One it was only $11. So, while my friends are spending $16, $17, $18 on a cocktail, I only had to spend $11.
Dustin:$20 for premium. Correct, I didn't get anything today, though.
Ashley:But I liked the price of it. And you know what else I really liked. I liked the fact that my cup came in a free and price included souvenir cup.
Dustin:And it was not like a blow mold cup that you get. It was actually looked like something that would have been in Jurassic Park by the 90s. Yeah.
Ashley:They were etched in dinosaurs all the way around it. I'm sure maybe a couple of you have seen it. It's been on social media postings because I was this cup. Oh my god, she was so cute, she was adorable. I was so proud. I was like this is stop, the team member that is pouring all of these ingredients into my cup. I'm like wait, I get a souvenir cup to go with my drink. And she was like yes, and I was like stop, it was so cute, it's an entire thing. I mean, this cup is a whole mood.
Dustin:She is a whole mood, so you grabbed it. I think we're going to go ahead and move on at this point. So you had the cup, you were drinking it, you were right next to Correct.
Ashley:I've never drank liquid, so fast in my entire life but we were actively trying to get on Hagrid's and where this watering hole bar is in comparison to where Hagrid's is is they are right next to each other.
Dustin:It's the stones through.
Ashley:It is. It is. So you have to walk, which is really neat because I think, depending on which way you come in, if you go through the Harry Potter land to get to Jurassic World, or if you go through the other side, if you go through, if you leave Jurassic to get to Harry Potter, you get to go under the well-known Jurassic Park arches, which is so cool.
Dustin:So you kind of get the gate, the gate, the gate.
Ashley:It's so neat. So we're leaving and we're heading straight to Hagrid's and I'm downing this drink and I'm getting ready because obviously our goal was to ride Hagrid's and I'm like, all right, here we go, here we go, here we go.
Dustin:Jordan and I run a bathroom. You run and grab a locker. You put your, that's fine. You put your my cup and a locker because you can't take.
Ashley:OK, so you can take some.
Dustin:Fanny packs.
Ashley:Fanny packs on the ride, but you cannot take A bum bag for British listeners. I love that. I might steal that from now on, but you can definitely, so you can take these things with you. However, you cannot take a popcorn bucket, a cup or any food and drink option.
Ashley:You can't take that on the ride, so you get to use Hagrid's's free lockers that they provide to you, which is fantastic. So I scan my park ticket, open my locker, put my brand new Lovehurst souvenir cup inside the locker and I'm getting ready to actively sit in the weight queue with you guys.
Dustin:Yeah, so we entered the line for Hagrid's. It was between we didn't actively keep track of this at this point, but it was between 7.30 and 7.45 PM.
Ashley:Correct.
Dustin:And the park closed at 8. So we planned this specifically to jump in this line right at park close because it would be a short wait. Yeah, was it a short wait?
Ashley:Not even a little bit.
Dustin:No, it was as soon as you entered into the queue it immediately was a line.
Ashley:Correct? I don't even think we made it. What 20 steps?
Dustin:What did it say? Do we remember what the wait time was posted?
Ashley:90?.
Dustin:No, was it set? Was that 100? 100. I think it was 100 minutes. Yeah, it was either 90 or 100. We?
Ashley:are very committed theme park players.
Dustin:So because I told you you had never riden it at night.
Ashley:Correct, I had never done it at night, so I was very excited to experience Hagrid's which OK for those that have never done a ride, a theme park ride or any ride period at night, compared to during the day, it is entirely a different experience.
Dustin:Well, not necessarily all rides.
Ashley:No, but I think a good majority of them are.
Dustin:Hagrid's is because Hagrid's is covered, hagrid's is completely well, almost 99% outdoor.
Ashley:Correct.
Dustin:I'm not going to, we're not going to go through the detail of what Hagrid's ride is, because I don't want to spoil that one, because it is one of the flagship rides. Oh it's so good, but it is a completely different ride at night, because every inch of that ride is covered with special effects lighting that you don't see during the day. So it gives you a completely different perspective of that ride. And you actually feel like you're flying through the night sky at night because, you don't see the track.
Ashley:Which was something I was very much looking forward to, so we were committed to waiting in the line. And we were committed to doing it, and that's what was going to happen.
Dustin:We went down every single switchback, every single extended queue. They were not joking and we waited.
Ashley:And we waited.
Dustin:And that ride. There are parts of the queue that I don't mind. I don't like when I'm in the switchbacks and I've got people to my left and people to my right and they're just there and they're on top of me and it's ugh. But I think the worst part is when we go in to the cave system. The cave system yes, and you're like underground and you're in this claustrophobic cave around all of these people.
Ashley:Oh god, I hate it.
Dustin:That part sucks. So we get past that. We get to the little. I call them pre-grouper.
Ashley:Yes.
Dustin:Because they're the person that reminds you to put your bum bag on your round your waist if you like, wearing it on your shoulder. Nothing on the shoulder.
Ashley:No, no, it has to be around that waist.
Dustin:You've got to put your jacket on and we get past them and we're probably one, two, three, four, four switchbacks away from getting on the ride. We're so cool Less than five minutes, I was ready.
Ashley:The excitement oh my god, I was so excited.
Dustin:And then suddenly you hear in a British voice which I'm not going to try that class or today's lesson would be temporarily delayed, meaning that the ride was experiencing a temporary downtime Could have been due to maintenance, could have been due to a guest issue, could have been due to anything we didn't know at that point. We hoped.
Ashley:I think that is the worst sound. I could possibly hear while waiting for a ride, especially after we waited so long.
Dustin:Well, we got in line between 7.30 and 7.45. When the ride went down it was 8.45. The park had been closed for 45.
Ashley:No, no, no, the ride went down at 8.45.
Dustin:Because we had stood in line, because when it went down I was like we've been here exactly one hour which would have been still a lot shorter than 100 minutes, but we had been in line exactly an hour. So then we stood there, and we stood there, and we stood there, and they kept doing the temporarily delayed and then we got the secondary. That was like the motorbikes need some additional adjustments.
Ashley:They need a bit more magic to try to make them go, and then a few minutes later you got today's lesson, will be experiencing an extended delay, and then it played the like. Maybe you want to go visit the other places and we're also being here going. Everything else is closed.
Dustin:Yeah, it's been an hour. Everything is closed.
Ashley:Correct. An hour after park closure, so we were like we're going to hang out Thing that could happen happened.
Dustin:Well, the overhead lights came on. The overhead lights came on and you're like no, and we could look and see and not just the overhead lights, but then they turned off all the music. The music and everything turned off and if you looked in the front corner we could actually see there was a door that they're not cast members?
Ashley:What are team members?
Dustin:You could see them going in and out and as they were going in, they were coming out with padlocks and keys, which, in the theme park industry, is referred to as what's called a lockout tagout which means if a ride attendant is entering into a ride perimeter, they have to put a padlock on the power switch to the ride or their form of safety switch, and it notifies maintenance in everyone that someone is in a danger area, correct?
Dustin:So that way they don't start the ride while this person is in the right path and we knew immediately as soon as we saw that that that meant most likely we don't know for sure, but that meant most likely guests were going to be evacuated off of the ride vehicles outside of the station. That's correct An hour after park closure. So we knew it was coming.
Ashley:It was coming but we were like it was inevitable. But I think we were praying to the Hagrid God that we could get on this ride. We were hoping he was going to be able to make some magic and fix it.
Dustin:And then, lo and behold, at the last glimmer and light, a voice came over and said that today's lesson had been canceled and at this time, all guests needed to exit the attraction we had to leave.
Ashley:We waited for 60 minutes. And then we waited about another 10 to 15 during the downtime and then we had to go, and it was the most crushing thing in the world. So I've yet to ride Hagrid's.
Dustin:But we took it with a grain of salt.
Ashley:We did.
Dustin:And we did everything because that is unfortunately it's not the same time that it happens. Well, that is theme parks, it is Rides are subject to closure at any point in time To expect universal. I get it, we waited an hour, yes, we did. But to expect universal to allow us to stay in line for potentially another one to two hours while maintenance did whatever?
Ashley:it is that they needed to do. Yeah, you can't do that in a real world. You know why? Because team members have lives too, but we have to remember that.
Dustin:Universal. They made good on their part and they took care of every customer in line, Guest and guest yes, not you calling them customers, and we? Received what I think I heard them call.
Ashley:Ruby passes, ruby passes.
Dustin:Yes, I don't know if that's an official term or if that's something that they've come up with.
Ashley:Do you know? What I heard today is a fun fact for Ruby passes.
Dustin:What.
Ashley:Do you know why they're called Ruby passes?
Dustin:Is it because of the color Ruby ticket Rubyus rubius. Hagrid. Oh, is it only? Are Ruby passes only a Hagrid's thing? They are only a Hagrid's thing.
Ashley:Oh, that's my fun fact for today.
Dustin:I thought it was because this ticket is like a ruby color, a ruby red.
Ashley:No, it's because of rubius Hagrid. Oh well, I didn't know that and I learned that today, so that's a pretty cool fact.
Dustin:So what this pass is? It's valid for only one guest per ticket. So I got a ticket and you got a ticket.
Ashley:I did, and so did our third party member.
Dustin:And it's valid for just us to use at a later time. And we can actually use this. It looks like we can use it anywhere between both of the parks, except for the para-terra. I can't ever say it.
Ashley:Can we just call it P-Flyers, p-flyers? I can't the draft, I can't say it, I'm going to call it the pterodactyl flying ride in Jurassic and I'm going to call it P-Flyers. We're going to call it P-Flyers.
Dustin:But this is valid up until March 1st of 2024. Yes, and the great thing about this is, hagrid's doesn't have express.
Ashley:No, they do not.
Dustin:So we have the ability to go back to Hagrid's and actually skip the line and get kind of in an express-ish line. I think you go into the single rider line but then you actually merge off of it, I think, which that's great, Because now we can.
Ashley:Experience the night ride that I did not get to experience, and we can go like five minutes before close. Yes, we can. So, if it happens again, and hope and pray that we don't break down again.
Dustin:But that was not the only Actually that wasn't the biggest travesty?
Ashley:that happened. It was as we exited Hagrid's.
Dustin:So what happened when we exited Hagrid's Last story? And we're done.
Ashley:I know. So we're leaving Hagrid's and we walk out, we get our Ruby passes and we're all super excited. But now we're tired and we're hungry and we're ready to go home. So remember that wonderful cup that I had dropped into a locker? Well, I have to get her.
Dustin:Oh, your beautiful mocktail cup, my beautiful mocktail cup that I love so much that you were bringing home to give to a loved one.
Ashley:I was bringing it home to give to Rob. I was ready. I was like, hey, I really was, I was really ready to give him this cup. I was so excited.
Dustin:You were so stoked to have this cup.
Ashley:I was so excited because I was like oh my god, here you go. This is so cool. So I get to the lockers and I scan my locker rental car that they give to you because my ticket was on my phone and I keep my phone in my panty pack, so I had them. The team member can initiate give you a card that you can use so that you can open your locker. A locker pass, Correct. So I grab it out of my panty pack and I scan and it comes up and it says there's no locker available and I'm going.
Dustin:So the ticket, thought you were trying to rent a locker.
Ashley:The ticket thought I was renting a locker, but the park was already closed so it wouldn't let you run a locker.
Dustin:Correct, but it shouldn't have done that?
Ashley:No, it should not have. It should have opened the locker and it should have given me my things. Now here's the problem. Here's what happened. So I found a team member who could help me, because at this point I could not open the locker that had my cup in it. So he comes over and he's trying very hard to figure out which number that my locker was, and it didn't work. It did not work. So he decided that he was going to actually initiate some extra help for us and they literally opened, they opened.
Ashley:They literally opened every single locker. And it was like Oprah it was like you get a locker, you get a locker.
Dustin:You get a locker and they just popped open every single. It was like open, open, open. If you ever get to, see this.
Ashley:It is the coolest thing I have ever seen. This one button and it opens all these doors of lockers like that, and I went through every single locker and guess what was not in a locker? My cup.
Dustin:It was. It was really sad, but a huge shout out and a huge thank you to Carly from that ride.
Ashley:She did so well.
Dustin:She really tried. She looked in every single locker.
Ashley:Every single locker.
Dustin:And she explained to us that our best option would be because it was so late in the evening.
Ashley:Is to go to guest services.
Dustin:Is to go to guest services and speak with them, and she didn't promise us.
Ashley:No.
Dustin:But she said that they would likely be able to replace that cup for us. Correct, we did make the decision because we knew that there were some folks from Hagrid's that had already made their way to guest services and it was already so late.
Ashley:We knew we would be able to get the cup today.
Dustin:So we just decided well, we're going to buy more cocktails and mocktails from that bar in the future, so we'll get another one next time. But it was sad.
Ashley:I'll repeat my cup.
Dustin:I bet.
Ashley:You know what? I just hope whomever has my cup, whoever has it, whoever is loving it, loves it so much as much as I did when I had her for five minutes.
Dustin:Did you enjoy Harry? Did you enjoy the Harry Potter ride?
Ashley:I would have enjoyed this Harry Potter ride more if I had gotten my Jurassic Park cup. What a da you didn't yell at the end.
Dustin:If you know, I want to know comment on Facebook and tell us, Do you?
Ashley:know? Do you know what reference that was from? Do it again, do it again. I would have enjoyed this Harry Potter ride more if I had gotten my Jurassic Park cup.
Dustin:Let us know when do you think that's from. But that is it, guys.
Ashley:That's all.
Dustin:we got Much longer episode today than last week, but we just love talking about these experiences and having a fun time. We hope you guys enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, if you don't mind, make sure you guys follow the podcast.
Dustin:Make sure you turn on your notifications, so you can be notified when we post our next thing, don't forget to follow us on our forms of social media, one of the things that we would absolutely love for you guys to let us know. Please let us know. Are these episodes OK, being this long, do we need to cut them down? I know I like to listen to podcasts when I drive, so a longer podcast is better.
Ashley:It gives me more content to listen to See, and I listen to my podcasts when I go exercising, so I don't mind that they're a little longer, because my workout seems to be a little longer. So yeah, but let us know, keep us in the know.
Dustin:Don't forget, you guys can follow us on Instagram at Orlando underscore unplugged. You can check us out on Facebook at Orlando Unplugged podcast. Our TikTok is Orlandounplugged. And yeah, we are Orlando Unplugged. Life and Living Color. Until next time. Thanks guys Grab a cocktail.
Ashley:Or a mocktail.
Dustin:And we'll be back to.
Ashley:Unplug Orlando in Living. We're messing it up again. Color. It's time to go home kids, it's time to go to bed, love you. It is one o'clock in the morning. It is one o'clock in the morning.
Dustin:Peace out. Cub Scouts, Don't let the door hit you. We're the good Lord. Split you.
Ashley:Love you.
Dustin:Oh, we'll have to tell them about all my Southernisms next time. Yes, we will.
Ashley:All right, oh, and our fun adventures that we're having at the antique mall.
Dustin:Oh yeah.
Ashley:Yeah, we have a lot planned and a lot coming up, so Got a busy week. Stay tuned, it's coming your way.
Dustin:Bye, Bye oh.
Ashley:God, I can't turn it off. We just want to hang out with you guys more. Ok bye, ok, bye.