The Lido Loop: Spirit Airlines Shuts Down & Discussing Themed Cruises.

Jack and Jesse are back with a brand-new episode of The Lido Loop!

This week, the show kicks off with the breaking news that Spirit Airlines ceased operations on May 2. The guys break down what led to the shutdown, what it means for travelers, and how airfare prices could be impacted moving forward.

In cruise news, Jesse covers a wave of major headlines, including a new ship heading to Galveston, Royal Caribbean ordering two brand-new vessels, two influencers being banned by a cruise line following a negative review, and growing frustration among Royal Caribbean guests over waterslides being out of service for much of their sailings.

Over in the theme park world, Disney has announced dates for its Halloween festivities, leading Jack and Jesse to debate whether Disney’s offering can compete with Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. Plus, Six Flags Fiesta Texas makes headlines after riders were left stranded on the Star Flyer, and the park is teasing a massive new attraction for 2027 that could shatter records.

To wrap things up, Jack and Jesse share some of their dream themed cruise concepts, from sports and music to some truly unique ideas that cruise fans won’t want to miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to this week's episode of the Leto Loop. I'm your host, Jack McCraw. With me as always, my good friend, Jesse Barboza. How are we doing today? I'm doing great. How are you doing, Jack? I think we're doing a little bit better than Spirit Airlines, which we'll talk about, you know, here coming up shortly. But Jesse, tell us what's on the show today as far as the cruise news goes.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Yeah, so we weren't here last week, so we have a lot of news to cover this week. So the first thing is there's a new ship coming to our home port of Galveston. Uh apparently Royal Caribbean orders two more ships. A lot of people have been frustrated at Royal Caribbean about slides being shut down on a particular class of ships. And some content creators got banned for making a bad review on their ship.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, that luckily it wasn't us, you know, because we only say good positive things about cruise ships, but that'll be a fun topic to get into. On the theme park side of things, Disney has announced dates for their not-so-scary Halloween party. Jessica and I break down if that's better or worse than Universal's Halloween horror nights. And Fiesta Texas, here in San Antonio, is in the news for both good things and bad things, with rioters getting stuck mid-air. And of course, new teases for their brand new roller coaster, that. And Jessica and I break down some of our favorite themed cruises and which ones we would actually go on. That and this more on this week's episode of The Leader Loop. However, because there is some major breaking news over the weekend, I think we're going to have to start the show with that. And of course, that breaking news is Spirit Airlines ceasing operations as of May 2nd. Now, as frequent Spirit Airlines flyers, Jesse, this definitely is going to affect our vacations coming up because Spirit was the cheapest option to get you from point A to point B. Now, yes, not a lot of people like Spirit. They charge you a lot for bags, which you know I probably will talk about here in a little bit. And, you know, you had to pay for everything. If you want a seat upgrade, pay for it. Snacks, drinks, pay for it. And if you wanted, you know, even the big front seats, you had to pay for that as well. So I'm very sad to see Spirit go, but I don't know. What are your thoughts on Spirit, you know, essentially going away?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

I mean, what do you think, Jack? About 90% of our flights have been Spirit, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Correct. Every flight I've been to Vegas was Spirit. I think all but two flights to Florida were Spirit as well. So Spirit would get you to those, you know, high touristy destinations. And I've even flown them to Chicago, Denver, we went to Baltimore, and then Los Angeles. So there are plenty of places Spirit flew that they got you from point A to point B as cheap as possible. And if you knew how to pack lightly, it was a great money saver.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, I like I said 100% agree. I the reason I love Spirit was because it was definitely by far the cheapest. You could easily pay additional my family of four would have been easily additional a thousand dollars just to fly to any destination. Um like we mentioned. There's probably been many more that I just haven't mentioned that we've flown Spirit with. Um I definitely think the what do you think? I mean, what do you think, Jack? You think Frontier is gonna raise their prices, or what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 3:31

I mean, at that point, Frontier now becomes the bottom of the totem pole, like what Spirit was, as far as airfare prices go. Spirit was always the starting price, and if you wanted someone of a little bit nicer experience, you would go to maybe a Southwest. And if you wanted a really nice one, you go Delta the Big Three, Delta United, or American Airlines, because those are the most you know, have the most destinations out of most airlines here in America. And then of course there's other airlines like Allegiant, you know, Jet Blue. We don't see that here in Houston too much, but they're also a low-cost carrier. Spirit could have been bailed out by the government and it didn't happen, but also they had two failed mergers with both Frontier and JetBlue. So there were many opportunities to save Spirit, but unfortunately, as of right now, it doesn't seem like Spirit's coming back, barring some you know, bailout miracle. There is a crowding GoFundMe source going on right now with them, too. So possible, but I wouldn't hold your breath on it. Uh, do you have any favorite spirit memories or your bad memories?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

I mean, there's no good or bad memories for me personally. I know you have some bad memories with spirit, but me personally, hey, since we're in Texas, we're central United States, everything we fly is within three hours. So why would I pay, you know, a thousand dollars more for my family to fly somewhere for a three-hour flight? You know? What about you, Jack? I know you got some bad memories.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

It's just the bag situations that always got me. And every time we flew out of Houston, there was never a problem. I mean, I could stuff my backpack to make it look like a I'm going on a hiking trip and they wouldn't say anything. It's not until I got to Miami that they pulled me out of line and said, Hey, your bag's too big, and I had to pay $90 for it, which was almost three times what I paid to fly from Houston to Miami. But they did that too, or Orlando, too, it looked like they tried to. They tried to, yes. And then, you know, of course, your brother got pulled, but you know, he luckily was able to shove the his bag in that box and said, Hey, look, it fits, and they didn't question him. So I understand why Spirit would do that, is because that's probably how they made the majority of their money was those fees. Like you, it's the casino model, get people on, you know, inside, get people on the plane, and then charge them for everything else afterwards. But where they fail is that people started learning to adjust to that, go on a shorter vacation, you know, you only need to bring a backpack and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

So, Jack, what do you think the main reason? I know they say that is because of rising fuel costs, but they were having this issue before the rising fuel costs.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

I think that was just a straw that broke the camel's back, was that the fuel cost got so you know high just because of everything that's going on in the Middle East. And I just don't think that they had a sustainable business model. Now, it does kind of make you question how come Frontier is doing well, but Spirit isn't? Is it just because Frontier is like charging a little bit more? And what about all these other budget airlines? Like, where do they differentiate from Spirit?

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah, exactly. And I I was kind of thinking of the same thing is like, do they have less staff? Like, I know Spirit probably advertised a little bit more than Allegiance or Frontier because I've never seen any type of advertising for Allegiance or Frontier Have you?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Other than the fact that Allegiance's name is on the Raider Stadium in Vegas, I otherwise would not know who they are without that information. And if you're not a football fan, how would you even know that either? Um, you know, I imagine that they're gonna become bigger players. I know Allegiant sometimes flies out of Houston, but they're more I think they're more so a West Coast company. You know, Jet Blue could, you know, we mentioned them earlier, they could come into the Houston market. There's so many different places they flew to, Spirit did, where they had a over, I think it was a 27% market share in Fort Lauderdale. That's a big open spot for other these airlines to come in and take. And they also had smaller hubs here in Houston, but other places like Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando, Las Vegas. So there's gaps that need to be filled in these airports, and you know, hopefully, you know, now that Spirit's gone, people can lower their prices because they don't longer need to compete with Spirit, but at the same time, I think it's gonna have the opposite effect where airlines' air prices are gonna go higher just because there is no bottom, with the exception of maybe a Frontier Legion or Southwest.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah, exactly. That's why I think because the lowest here at IAH, the Houston Airport, the lowest now is Frontier. There's no one even competing with them now. So why would you lower your prices even more? I feel like they're just gonna they could easily raise their tickets a minimum of $50 per ticket and still be by far the lowest cheap, lowest price ticket out there.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Because I mean imagine let's just say you want to go to Orlando from Houston and United's 300, Americans 330, and you know, Delta is probably 340. If you're Frontier and you charge 250, you're already the cheapest option. You know, for some people, 250, that's not that bad. I'll just pay a little bit more to go to United. That's great, good for you. But the budget travelers, I mean, the the economy already is kind of rough as it is, and I think this will prevent some people from going on vacations just because they don't have that cheap option to go to these places. Now, if you really want to go, you're gonna find a way. There's no ifs, fans, or buts about it. You'll pay the 250 for Frontier, or you'll pay you know, a different airline to get you from point A to point B. But I do think that it will significantly affect travel now that the budget airline is essentially going away.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Do you think that a particular airline will be liquefying spirit itself? Like maybe particularly Frontier Allegiance?

SPEAKER_02 9:02

I mean, I feel like those would be the top two candidates, and you know, I've mentioned JetBlue a couple times, I would think them as well. You know, maybe some of the planes get sold off, and you know, the ones that are older, maybe they get scrapped. But, you know, I I think that there is uh going to be uh increased flights. Uh those planes will still be in use because some of those planes are still brand new. So, yes, I think that they could expand Frontier Allegiant. Yeah, I mentioned Southwest, I think they're a little bit, you know, there as well. Those could use those flights and just rebrand them.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that these are the exact same planes that everyone's been flying in. The only difference is the interior and the and what they offer, like the you know, the service that they offer with drinks included or uh mills included, um, or how comfortable the seats are, how big the seats are, or if they got charging. You mentioned like your your Southwest flight, you just went on had charging on it. I know Spirit definitely doesn't have that.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

No, you had to bring your own portable charger, and they got mad at you for even bringing a portable charger on a plane. But yeah, Southwest had, you know, they had USB and USB-C outlets that you could just charge your phone. Even though my flight wasn't that long, it was still nice to have that convenience. And of course, Southwest also offered free food and free drinks. So I had a pleasant experience, but you know, Southwest now used to be the low-cost carrier, but since they got bought out, now they're becoming, you know, just like everybody else. So I feel like that's kind of going to be the norm going forward, is all these airlines are just gonna be very similar with each other, and there isn't gonna be that super low-cost budget unless barring some miracle comeback by spirit. And you know, kind of tying everything to a cruising and theme park perspective with no spirit, does that affect you from going to Florida in the near future?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah, absolutely, because Spirit literally flies in all the major hubs in Florida, am I right? That's correct, yes. Yeah, so every time I flow to Miami or Tampa or uh Fort Lauderdale, every time we've flown there, we've always flown Spirit. There's not one time I've flown any other web any other um airline, but at this point, I don't know. I'm I feel like I might end up having to change I don't know, change airlines. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 11:23

I at that point you just have to learn how to deal hunt because there are still some cheaper flights, but it just depends on your destination. Because I think Vegas, Orlando, the touristy destinations, they'll always have that want for people to want to go, and these airlines can charge cheaper to fill them up and you know have the lower to middle class go on these flights. I mean, United, Air American, Delta, they're gonna fill up no matter what. But having that secondary low-cost option, you know, would be beneficial for not only our economy and tourism as well. And but yeah, I mean, I we were kind of spoiled when we got used to paying $50 and under to go to Florida. I mean, I think the most I ever spent on a spirit flight was $150 to go to Vegas one time. So it's just gonna be an adjustment. And you know, let's say if you know we need to go to Universal Disney, you would just have to weigh your options and maybe be more flexible with your days to try to find the best deal. So rest in peace, Spirit. You know, I hope that you find your way back to us one day, but as of May 2nd, Spirit Airlines is no longer in operation. But uh industry that's not dying is the cruise industry. And Jesse, tell us what's the latest and greatest in the cruise news?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, the cruise industry definitely is not dying, especially here in Galveston. It's actually the fastest growing port in America right now. And the newest ship is actually going to be Carnival Tropical, which is gonna be coming to uh Galveston in 2028. Uh, a lot of people ha were very upset about this um decision that Carnival made because since we got Carnival Jubilee in 2024, why are we getting another XL class ship, which is Carnival Tropical? But honestly, it's honestly the best decision that Carnival made because of they're definitely competing against Icon, which is coming to Galveston next year in 2027. And Icon definitely has like six ship, I mean six slides that are on board. Um so with this new Carnival Tropical, which they're going away with the uh um the coaster that's on board, and they're gonna be making five uh slides on board. I think they're definitely trying to compete with it. Um what do you think, Jack? Do you think this is a good decision?

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think the more ships go into Galveston, the more foot traffic, number one, the more people want to go to Galveston to go out of that port. And then it's just more money for the cruise lines and then the city itself, and then you know, by proxy Houston, because you have to, you know, fly in here, just not with spirit. But you know, I you brought up something about the roller coaster and we kind of talked about it off air. What is the reason that they're doing away with roller coasters? Do you think it's a maintenance issue, or do you think it's just people are just don't have that much interest in it anymore?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

I I definitely think it's it's a little bit of a maintenance issue, but being on Carnival Jubilee, when we went on it, it was closed down probably about 75% of the time. The only time we were able to get on to it was in port. Um and it was fun, definitely is fun. But if you had slides that were on board, you can definitely ride them all the time. You don't have to worry about being shut down at all.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

It was probably likely due to wind, just because you know, especially when you're sailing, even when you're on the top deck, it gets really windy. I mean, you we try to play ping-pong, shuffleboard, anything of those games, or even mini golf. You have a slice that goes left, your ball goes all the way to the right. So, I mean, it's definitely good that they're investing more in the slides than they are on the roller coaster, just because, like you said, you can use it essentially any time as long as it's not raining.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah, absolutely. And that that kind of brings us to the next uh news with Royal Caribbean, that they actually ordered two more ships. And I kind of think that these ships, there's actually gonna be one of these new ships are gonna be going to Galveston as well. Because they did announce that icon's gonna be coming into Galveston in uh 2027, which is next year. And I almost guarantee that one of these new ships that they they ordered will be coming to Galveston in order to compete with Carnival. Uh and these are actually gonna be the two Icon class ships, which is the world's biggest ships. Um so we'll I mean we'll definitely see exactly what what's gonna happen with that.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

I mean I think that icon coming to Galveston, kind of similar to car more carnival ships like we mentioned earlier, going to Galveston, it's just gonna do great things. Because you know, uh we've never had a big ship like that here, especially an icon class ship. So you know, people will definitely be more willing to try it out. And you know, we've kind of seen something similar with MSC. Yeah, a new ship, people are trying out, and the cruise port is just exploding because they have all these different options. Because you inside from Carnival, you could also go with rural Caribbean, you you know, MSC now, like I previously mentioned, Disney cruise line. The possibilities are endless as far as like all these different cruises going out of Galveston, which is the fastest growing port. So I'm I'm excited to see the icon class come here as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

I just hope that Galveston can keep up with the demand. With I know they got different parking garages that he's built, but honestly, I honestly don't think that they can keep up with how fast that Galveston is growing. Just looking at the multiple times I've been to Galveston and how busy it is on on the strip going to the uh actual cruise terminal, it has been ridiculously busy. Um I just don't think a carnival can keep up, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

So let me ask you this, you know, not to get too off topic, but could potentially we see another port added maybe in Texas, maybe like a Corpus Christi or a Brownsville, but those cities are just so small by comparison. It's kind of like Galveston is the only, you know, uh, you know, beach town that could be even sustain a cruise port in general, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Yeah, honestly, yeah. I don't see any other cruise port even in the talking about building another port and all that because they know that Galveston is so big with their refineries they have that their port is made to hold mass of ships like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Yeah, I mean Flor Florida, they have Tampa, they have Fort Lauderdale, they have Miami, they have Cape Canaveral, Jacksonville. Those are all big major cities, you know, with Cape Canaveral being very close to Orlando, so I'm counting that. But there's Florida has the luxury of having so many different like population centers that can be used cruises. Texas, really, we I mean Corpus Christi is only about what two to three hours away from San Antonio, but I don't think that's enough to make people want to go to Corpus Christi out of a cruise ship, so I think they just have to eventually expand the Galveston port.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah, absolutely. The the only thing issue is that there's not much room to expand there because they're kind of maxed out in the way. Every time I go down there, I'm like, where are they supposed to expand? Because there's no room actually there. It's not like Florida where Port Canaver, there's so much room that they can expand there. They just go farther and farther down the coast. And Galveston is not like that because everything's on the island. It's not like you can make the island bigger.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

I mean, I guess you could, and you just pour more sand there. Do what they did in uh in the UAE where they had Dubai, like those sit, you know, floating cities out there in the middle of the Gulf. So, I mean, that's something certainly interesting to talk about. But you know, kind of staying on more of the cruise news, how about some people being frustrated at Royal Caribbean for slides being shut down? Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, so there have been multiple articles about people talking about on the icon class ship of up to four slides being shut down. Four out of six slides being shut down on the icon class ships. We know we all know about there's an issue that happened probably about four or five months ago where someone was actually going down one of the slides and the slide actually broke and actually cut the person that was sliding down the slide, and they shut down that particular slide for months until they actually got that issue fixed with all the slides on the icon class ship. But a lot of people were ish were were complaining because I mean I think I would be one to complain too. If you were going on a Royal Caribbean ship and you had a bunch of kids and you had four out of six of the slides completely shut down, I would I think that that would mean I think my kids would be mad. I mean, what do you think, Jack? Would you be mad? I mean, even as an adult, I enjoy the enjoy the slides.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

You know, that's the two things to look forward to on a cruise ship, the casinos and the slides. You know, I like to. Yes, they should be better maintained, and that was certainly a scary situation where you know, you're on a slide having fun, you get cut, and I've even seen videos of like a person getting trapped on the slide. I think it was a Royal Caribbean, but I can't I could be wrong. So I mean I think that they just need to have these slides better maintained. I understand shutting them down due to weather, you can't predict that thunderstorms, whatnot, that's gonna happen in the Caribbean. But that's such a major part of a cruise ship is like the fun activities on the top of the deck, including the slides that I think that that needs to be a priority to be maintained just to keep the guests happy.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Yeah, and these slides weren't just shut down like for one selling, these are shut shut down for over a month. So, I mean, that's like going to a theme park deck and and 75% of the rides being shut down.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Would you still go to Oh, so like what's going on at Disneyland right now? Yeah, no, we're not that's why I'm not going to Disneyland. No, that that's definitely yeah, I guess you just go to the casino or you go to the shows at that point. But I like being on the deck too and like enjoying the views of the ocean and also you know going on down those slides. So yeah, I would be definitely disappointed in that. But uh, we could leave a bad review, but you know, World Carew might kick us out, kind of like what happened to certain other content creators. Jesse, you want to elaborate a little bit on that?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yeah, so a YouTube channel back in 2023 called Travel Spree, they took a cruise on the Margaritas at Sea Paradise. Uh they actually paid for the screws themselves. They didn't weren't sponsored or Margarita didn't pay for them to be on the screws. They actually left a negative review video of showing like, you know, some of the clean cleanliness issues, which included like trash, odors, worn and outdated stuff on the ship. Uh the video it got over ten million views spreadly across TikTok and YouTube. Uh and then this this year, just about a month ago, twenty twenty six, they tried to book another cruise with the same cruise line is actually on the Beachcomer. They wanted to kind of see if you know if the cruise line did better. And their booking kept failing. When they contacted customer support, they were told that their count was flagged. They were a block guest, and apparently the reason was tied to a bad review. I don't know, Jack, what do you think? Do you think they should have been kicked off just because it left a bad review?

SPEAKER_02 22:25

I mean, at the end of the day, they have 97.4,000 subscribers. So, you know, they they do have a you know pretty decent following, and you know, the video, like you said, got millions of views. I feel like that's just so petty to do. And I think it makes Margaritaville look worse than this, you know, these YouTubers critiquing the cruise ship. Because if you really think about it, a bad review is gonna happen. I mean, you and I, when we do these shows, we talk about the good and bad things about cruise. I mean, we just talked about how Royal Caribbean slides didn't work. What are we supposed to say? Like, oh, it's okay, you know, they're doing their best, they can. You know, so we need to be able to tell the truth objectively. And if Margaritaville was not cleanly and Margaritaville, you know, they had a negative experience, they're gonna tell them that. But Margaritaville going after them and flagging them and banning them for just telling the truth, I mean, it just looks bad on Margaritaville. They're the ones that you know are more affected by this than they are, because these people still make their content regardless. But now people are gonna associate Margaritaville with, oh, you can't say anything bad about them because then they'll ban you from their ships.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

In all reality, if anything, I think Margaritaville should be like paying these people to go on this cruise to see, hey, we've actually changed, because I know for a fact that Margaritaville is a lot better than it used to be. If anything, they should invite them aboard and say, hey, let's see if we can make this issue bitter better, not worse.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Yeah, like give them a second chance. Like, okay, we heard you know your complaints. Well, here's you know, Mark cruise on us. We hope you have a better experience. That that's you know, customer experience 101. I guess Margaritaville doesn't go by that. Uh I mean it it seems like it's just a petty story, and you know, it's sad that this cruise line stooped down to that level, but like you said, Margaritaville is improving and getting better. But I mean, I just think the optus uh of this look pretty bad. And because we were off last week, some other things happen, and I know you have a couple of things that you also want to mention, Jesse, just smaller little cruise news points, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah, yeah. So the first thing is that Legend of the Seas, which is uh the newest icon class ships, they actually start the sea trials. And a lot of people don't realize that these sea trials are really important in order to happen before that the first cruise actually starts. Uh they test many navigational things, they put make sure making sure from everything from they put these ships on like stuff that you would never experience. They see how fast they can go, they see you know if they can turn right, if all the mechanical stuff works right. So as long as this the sea trials work great, they're gonna the everything should be back on schedule. Uh and then the next thing is actually I saw I I saw actually this on LinkedIn. Carnival, they start the cutting steel for the newest class of ship, which is a Project Ace, which is supposed to be the Carnival's biggest ship, and that's supposed to happen in this July. So if they're cutting the steel, that means they already have the plans for what this ship is gonna be. I don't know the exact reason why they're calling it Project Ace. Maybe it's gonna be the Ace class of ships, because this ship is actually supposed to be bigger than all the XL class ships, what they currently have, which I could definitely see potentially one of the ships coming to Galveston as well.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

I would say on that, do you think that Carnival could eventually build a ship to compete with an Icon class ship?

SPEAKER_01 25:52

I think exactly I think this this is what they're gonna do. I think exactly they're gonna try to build the ship to be very similar to an icon class ship. But another topic that a lot of people don't realize is that by the time that they build this this this class of ship, there's many ships that potentially are gonna be too old to be in service. Because the typical life of a cruise ship is 30 years max. By the time this first ace class ship comes out, which is in 2029, there will be at least four ships that will exceed that 30-year lifetime. So they can't keep building bigger and bigger ships, they have to find some ships and build some ships that will replace these older ships that can still get in the smaller ports, because these smaller ships are the only ships that can get in some of these ports. Like New Orleans, because a lot of people don't realize that New Orleans, when you're you're actually going up the river, the Mississippi River, you're not like on the coast, you're in the up in the Mississippi River for eight hours. They can't get an XL class ship in New Orleans, so they have to only have smaller ships. So I feel like that Carnival, same with Royal, every everybody, I think they need to start coming up with some smaller ships.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Not to mention, we talked about this in the previous story about Tampa as well, because they have the big sky bridge, some of these icon class ships can't go under it. I mean, and it would cost, you know, the city of Tampa or excuse me, St. Petersburg, you know, billions of dollars to redo the bridge just for these bigger ships. So, you know, you're right, that so not every single one of these ports can handle an icon class, you know, kind of like you know the other ports in Florida and now here in Galveston. So, yeah, I do completely agree with you that they could be building these big ships, but they also need to be building some smaller ships as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

Yeah, as of right now, they have no plans, no cruise line has any plans of building a smaller ship. Everyone's trying to build bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. But one day everyone's gonna find out that hey, we gotta we have to decommission all these old ships and they're not gonna have nothing to replace it with.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Yeah, it will just be big ships or nothing.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

So that kind of covers all the cruise news. So in theme park news, so Jack, I heard that Disney announced the not-so scary Halloween party dates.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Yes, and to those that don't know, this is Disney's annual separate ticketed event where you can enjoy Magic Kingdom, and you know, you bring little kids, they can go trick-or-treating, they're encouraged to dress up in costumes, there's certain select character meet and greets for the villains, and they have different fireworks and shows, all based on Halloween, and the park is decked out in Halloween you know attire. I was able to go to a Halloween at event and Disneyland, and I gotta say, to me, it leaves a lot to be desired. So I kind of want to ask you this question. So this is basically an overglorified kid-friendly Halloween party that is gonna cost you starting at $119. That's not including your Disney ticket, that's just take it to go to the not so scary Halloween event. Would you rather do that, or would you rather pay about $80 to go to Universal's Halloween horror nights where you actually see real genuinely scary stuff? Uh is there option C? None of the above, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

You can absolutely do do neither. No, honestly, I definitely were my kids, uh, my kids right now are almost 13 and 14. I think that they were still technically probably like the traditional trick-or-treating for kids type right now. Um me personally, so I think I would stick with the Disney movie personally.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

I honestly would too. I'm not a big scary movie fan, and you know, I don't really like haunted houses. I've been to them. That's just not what you know gets me going. And of course, with when we went to Universal, when we left Islands of Adventure, we just saw a mass amount of people come into the parks, you know, all dressed in all black, because they were going to the Universal Halloween horror nights. So, I mean, it's definitely a fun experience if you've never done it before. So I would recommend it, especially if you're a big horror fan. Like they have specialty, like horror-themed haunted houses, like you know, one year it was Stranger Things, you know, sometimes they have Saw Haunted Houses. I think this year there's a big five nights at Freddy's haunted house they announced. So it's definitely fun that these theme parks like Disney Universal get into the Halloween spirit, but I'm pretty sure it's just to sell you more Halloween merchandise and you know get more money from you as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

So switching to the next topic. So Fiesta Texas leaves fans stranded on top of their Starflyer attraction.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yes, Supergirl Skyflight, which is their Starflyer attraction that's about 200 feet tall, left riders dangling in the air for 10 to 15 minutes according to reports. And this all happened because somebody had their phone out and doing whatever it was when they were on the Starflyer attraction. Now, Jesse, I'm guilty of doing this. I'm sure 75% of people that go on these attractions have their phone out and they're filming being swung around the park. This was definitely overkill, and I think this is bad on the you know, Fiesta Texas worker that did this. They said they were just following orders and protocol, but I mean, there's gotta be a better way than immediately stopping the ride and leaving these riders stranded up there for 10 to 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Uh yeah, my guess honestly, it's probably a new employee who during training they were told, hey, if a rider is doing this, you need to make sure you shut down the ride or something like that. And he wanted to do good and follow protocol to the T. And so I think that's exactly what happened to me personally.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

I mean, I think you can try to avoid this by if you have a guest using their phone when it's still on the ground, like, hey, don't use your phone, or hey, we won't start the ride until you put your phone away. I mean, once you get up in the air, I mean, there's nothing really you can do to prevent it except for stopping the ride, which they did. And I think that just leads to more hassle than something, you know, uh sending a message, because let's say the kid does lose a phone. I think the chance of it falling on a guest are highly unlikely considering where it is in the park, where it would hit the quarry wall, it would hit the area by Superman, or it would hit the river that goes next to it. I mean, there and there's you know there's a walkway over by it that you walk under to get from Crack Tackle Canyon to the DC superheroes land that's covered. So the chance of it hitting a guest are incredibly slim. But I understand the worker was just doing his job, but at the same time, I think it could have been done a whole lot better, and I'm sure that ruined a lot of these guest days. But Fiesta Texas is also in the news for something positive, as they updated the phone number on the billboard where their new 2027 attraction is supposed to be. Now we're gonna play it here, Jesse, and we're gonna kind of decipher what these new clues are and new context will be.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Howdy there! The name's Jasper Bunyan. Reckon I beat you all to the punch, because I just snapped up a whole stretch of land outside a crack axle canyon. Every dusty inch of it. You don't threaten me. Big things are ruined. I'm building a brand new, roadside attraction across from the best barbecue joint towns. All those barbecue, you know, that's kind of a place that's supposed to be in the arms. You can smell the rubber. Maybe it's the wind sneaking through the trees. But maybe what I can promise is experience won't forget. And once it's raining, the only thing louder than the tall tails will be the screen. I mean, Jesus bigger than a Texas sunset, give old Jasper a ring back. Otherwise, I'll see you when the dust settles. Until then, keep your eyes peeled. Things out here like to stare back.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

So there's some things I took away from that. Roadside attraction, creatures, stare back, burn rubber, screams. I mean, it definitely sounds like it's going to be some roller coaster. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yeah, definitely. I definitely think that the first recording that we heard uh uh a couple months ago that we first put on the on this podcast, uh I think they gave more information out, but I think this one definitely like give a little more hints. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that they're building something pretty big because the way it's being hyped up, this reminds me of when they built Dr. Diabolical in 2022. Because they put signs out there, you could hear a lady's voice screaming, Power My Machines, and you're gonna fall. So the clues were there. And you know, even back in 2015, they did something similar to when Batman the ride was built, when they had the Joker recording a voice saying, you know, you're gonna flip, you're gonna spin, it's gonna be crazy. They did similar to Joker's, you know, spinning ride as well. So I the S of Texas does this for big attractions, and I think that this is going to be potentially record-breaking as far as Texas goes. Maybe it could be the biggest ride in the park, but if I had to take an educated guest, I think this is going to be a launch coaster similar to poltergeist, but maybe with some dark uh elements where you you start the ride in a you know roadside attraction with creatures, and then you're launched outside into the Texas sun.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

That that's like like it did say, it did say bigger than a Texas sunset.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

And maybe I mean the way they mention the quarry wall, it has to go over, you know. You know, for those that don't know about Fiesta Texas, it is built within a big quarry, and you know, certain rides like Iron Rattler and Superman, they go actually on top of the quarry wall and go off. So and in it, the rattler actually goes through it. I mean, this could be one of the new best coasters at the park. I don't think if they would hype it up this much if it was just a dark ride. Although, you know, they did they do have a dark ride in Pirates of the Deep Sea, but they didn't hype it up as much. So this is definitely going to be a big time attraction coming to Six Flags Fiesta, Texas. So the final segment of the show is talking about themed cruises. Now, this is something you and I have discussed on other you know shows in the past, but we finally took a look down, went down that rabbit hole to find some of the most fun themed cruises. And Jesse, I I see you're looking at one right now. What are you looking at right now as a theme cruise that you would like to go on?

SPEAKER_01 36:39

So it's probably the ultimate dad rock, which is the summer of 99 cruise, which included Creed. They have Breaking Benjamin, uh Zach Myers of Shinedown, Huba Stink, uh Hender, and Fuel, and multiple other ones. That was like my error of rock. That I honestly believe that the 90s and early 2000s was the best version of Rock.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

I love how Creed is the headliner, too. I mean, it feels like Creed has made such a you know big, I won't say comeback, but like people love Creed. They used to hate on them in the 90s, and now you know they're selling out. So, yes, that got us kind of thinking like, what are some other fun theme cruises you would like to go on? That sounds great for me. How about uh I know one you said not so much was a pop punk theme cruise with yeah, I saw bands like Yellow Card, uh Mayday Parade, a bunch of other bands you haven't heard of. So you'll stick to the dad rock, but not the punk punk pop, correct?

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Yeah, that's exactly right. Um you you know me, Jack, enough that I don't like the punk rock as much.

SPEAKER_02 37:40

I mean, I think what a theme cruise that both you and I would agree on are like sports theme cruise. So, you know, in the past. Hey, you may hate us, but we would definitely go on Astros theme cruise. Oh, yeah, yeah. You there's no secret we're from Houston, we're big Astros fan. So, you know, twice a year they do a cruise on the Carnival Dream out of Galveston. It's usually about a week-long cruise, but it's interesting because it's a theme that is made by fans and not exactly with Carnival. It's you're just encouraged to wear Astros gear. And you know, other sports teams do this, like the Dallas Cowboys have, I think I can't remember if it's NCL or World Caribbean, but you know, they have cruises as well. And you know, having a fun theme like that can make you want to go on a sh cruise a little bit, you know, more, correct, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Yeah, absolutely. I think it would definitely be fun with being around a lot like-minded people. Um, one another one I saw was like a Comic-Con. I'm not a really big Comic Con, but it would definitely be cool if you were a big Star Wars fan or whatever, going to this and being you know drawn to other people who are like-minded like you.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

I mean, I don't know Disney also does certain Star Wars themed cruises on their Disney ships, and I think Marvel at one point they had the Summer of Heroes ship, where it's still a Disney cruise, you still see Mickey Mouse and all his friends, but there's definitely a bigger presence of Marvel, and in some cases, bigger presence of Star Wars. So that's kind of more of a theme within a theme, and you know, you can also say that Disney itself is a themed cruise, but you know, it it's fun to have these other little reasons to go on a cruise ship, besides the fact that you know you can get the all you can drink package, gamble, and go to these exotic beach destinations. Sometimes that little theme puts it over the top, like a sports theme or a music theme.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

One one one cruise that me and you were talking about earlier, I think it would be really funny. Is uh is that they actually have this too, is a Dave Ramsay cruise. And I know how how many people have gone on that cruise. I guarantee Dave Ramsey's like, you failed the test. You know, you spent the money going on this cruise. That he would call you an idiot.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

I think that was gonna say he would make you feel bad for spending the money that you went on this cruise to listen to what he says about going on a cruise. I wonder how many people went on debt going on that cruise. Like Yeah, you you better have paid cash for this cruise, otherwise, you know, you're really getting a talking two by Dave Ramsey.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Exactly. But speaking of that, what is some of the cruises, Jack, that you would not go on if it if it was a theme cruise?

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Um well, I mean, keeping with the sports theme, anything of like rival teams. So if it was like a Philadelphia Eagles cruise or I'd say even a Texas Longhorns cruise, I feel like those would not really be up my alley, and I would just be elsewhere. A fun one would be a no-gambling cruise, but I don't know any cruise ship that doesn't have gambling.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Well, Disney doesn't have gambling. Oh, yeah, you're right. And then there's actually a Norwegian ship in that is actually the only ship that is registered as an American vessel, which is in Hawaii, which doesn't have gambling as well.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

I mean, I understand I don't understand the fun in that, but I was gonna say, like, I understand the Disney aspect. You don't want dad gambling all his money away when the kids are meeting Mickey and you know Tiana and all them. And I know a friend Maddie definitely wouldn't want to go on that. Yeah, absolutely. No, she she said never a Disney cruise unless they have a Mickey slot machine, which you know, Disney might be able to get away with it and call it a quote arcade.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Yeah. I I I mean, I definitely think that she would definitely not go on any cruise without Huff and Puff.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

Or Buffalo. Yeah, shout out to Maddie for always listening to our show and us talking about her gambling problem. One cruise I don't I think I would stay away from is be the swingers cruise. And imagine you're in a situation where you didn't know that there's a theme going on these cruise ships. I mean, that well essentially that's just don't get on a Virgin Voyages ship.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely think I I I can just imagine going on this cruise ship and you're like, why are there upside-down pineapples everywhere?

SPEAKER_02 41:37

By the way, fun fact, you cannot bring those on carnival ships anymore, so don't try. Leave your speakers at home, leave your upside-down pineapples at home, and leave those fans at home. What about you, Jesse? What are some themes that you would not go on a cruise under any circumstance?

SPEAKER_01 41:52

I definitely think that anything where little girls are screaming at the top of the lungs at, like uh a Taylor Swift or a Justin uh Bieber or I don't know, whatever the newest The Jonas Brothers cruise. Hey, they're making a comeback now too. Oh, that yeah, you're right, that is true. But anything that little girls are screaming at the top of the lungs at, I definitely would not want to be on.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

I was gonna say, yeah, I think a Taylor Swift cruise does exist, and that honestly sounds like a nightmare. I mean, imagine they're one, they run out of white claws. Number two, I mean, Taylor Swift. I like Taylor Swift, some of her songs are pretty good, but I feel like that would get annoying very quickly.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

And I doubt she would be on the cruise. I think it'd just be like a Taylor Swift fan. So it'd just be a bunch of girls screaming every time they hear a Taylor Swift song.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

I was gonna say, uh, I I feel like another one that we haven't really talked about is like maybe like music that's not from our generation. So, you know, Eagles, Beatles, cruise. I'm sure that they have their audience, but you know, with us being millennials, that wouldn't necessarily really appeal to us. I think it'd be cool, but I don't know if I would be go out of my way for something like that. I could definitely see your dad doing that. Oh my god, yes. My dad would have a beer in his hand listening to you know John Lennon singing Let It Be All Night Long. And the Eagles.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

I I I still remember the Colorado trip we took on where we listened to Eagles the whole way to Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

I was like, yeah, Houston to call to Denver is about a 16-hour drive. So, you know, we became very, very familiar with the Eagles and all their hits on that drive. There and back. But at least we stopped in Big Texan and got some big juicy steaks. Oh, that's the cruise I want, a big Texan themed cruise, would just or any kind of like food-related cruise. You know, Guys Burger is always a good one, but you know, maybe like a celebrity chef would have a Gordon Ramsey themed cruise ship, would kind of be very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

I I I feel like that would definitely compete against like the Emeralds, because that's a celebrity chef too, which is on Carnival. But I feel like a carnival would not host something like that, potentially like Norwegian or someone that doesn't have a celebrity chef.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

Yeah, I would say that you know there's definitely a market for that, and I think that's could be an an option that could be explored. Now, let's mention I said Gordon Ramsay, not Dave Ramsey. Yeah, the Dave Ramsey, you know, we're staying away from because, you know, we don't want to be yelled at about our money. And that'll do it for this week's episode of the Leto Loop. As always, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, wherever you get your podcast. Our YouTube channel is the Lido Loop. And don't forget, we have a Facebook page. We do. We have a the Lido Loop is now on Facebook. So feel free to like, share, and comment on all of our posts there as well. We post our YouTube content. We're going to start posting, you know, teases as to what we're going to be talking about on that page as well. And as always, I'm Jack. That's Jesse, and we will see you on the Lido deck. But not on the Dave Ramsey Cruise.