1313 Harbor the Podcast
1313 Harbor the Podcast
Epic Universe Saga: Grand Helios and Celestial Park
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We're back! Jasmine and Michelle have returned to bring you a limited series for 1313 Harbor the Podcast - the Epic Universe Saga. In our first episode, we'll discuss the fabulous Grand Helios Hotel and the main hub for Epic Universe, Celestial Park. Did we love it? (we did) But did we really love it? (spoiler: we really did).
Hi Michelle. You know what's really stupid? All these reboots that are happening right now. Like um Jurassic Park and How to Train Your Dragon Live Action. Oh yeah. And like the new Ghostbusters. I mean, new Ghostbusters. What else is? I mean, there's so much more like that could just be, you know, so many universal properties.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you know what? Nobody asked for this. And you know what else nobody asked for? This podcast coming back.
SPEAKER_00That's right. We're back, babies. Michelle cared to sing the theme song because I don't have it anymore. Yes. Let me get into character. Hold on. Okay, hold on.
SPEAKER_01She has to ground her character. It's time for 1313 Harbor, the podcast hosted by Jasmine and Michelle. That's us.
SPEAKER_00Hello, we're back. Um, hello, everybody. We decided to bring the podcast back after going to Epic Universe. Um, we had the so uh spoiler, this whole series is about Epic Universe and about the various lands. Um, and we had such a great time. We decided to bring the podcast back for a limited engagement.
SPEAKER_01And maybe we'll do more. Maybe we'll do some like Universal Fan Fest over in California. Maybe one of us will ride the Fast and the Furious roller coaster. Whoever gets the short straw, I mean that can be it to you.
SPEAKER_00These cars look so ugly. They're like zebra. And they spin, don't they? Like kind of like guardians. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, you know. But on like the side of a mountain overlooking a cemetery golf course, and you're just like. I mean, you know, it is a feat of engineering. Good for them. It's a franchise and property. I don't I don't know. Do people still like Fashion Curious? I'm not normal, so I don't know. Tiff Mink does. Okay, and she is everything. So she's she call her Whitney Houston because she's every woman. Yeah. I mean, if Tiff Mink likes it, then I like it. So I cannot question it anymore. But you know what I really like?
SPEAKER_01Hmm.
SPEAKER_00Epic Universe. Good segue, Michelle. Okay, so uh, and of course I have notes because it's me. Um, so we And I do not because it's me. Welcome back, everybody, to 1313 Arbor the podcast. Uh so I will start with saying that Epic Universe opened May 22nd, 2025, with previews starting March 1st, 2025. And I was watching TikToks that whole time, uh, dying to go to Epic Universe, dying to meet Igor, which spoiler, uh, happened twice. Um, and yeah, so this all started back in July. I have been harassing Michelle and her husband for a long time to go with me to Orlando.
SPEAKER_01And by harassing, saying, Hey, we should go on a vacation together. And we said, Oh, yeah, that sounds great. You know, harassment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, constant harassment. And so finally I was like, hey, what if I planned the whole trip? And you're like, yes, please. I keep having to plan stuff. Uh so yeah, we planned it and we went uh the last week of January. Uh, we stayed in the Grand Helios Hotel, which is actually no, what's the full title? It's the universal Helios Grand Hotel. Um, and it's I didn't even know that. I just called it Helios. Yeah, the well Helios, okay. So you know that statue you're obsessed with outside um with the man in the little undies? Yes, who is not anatomically correct, by the way. He that's Helios, and he's launching a sun arrow into the gong of the chronosphere, which we will talk about, or the chronos. I don't know, it's chronosphere.
SPEAKER_01Is that where that beautiful night lady is? Oh my god, did the park just make did I fall in love with it more?
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. That was possible. Didn't even know that was possible. Yeah. Okay. So we're starting um with uh the tale of uh epic universe. So we will be going over all five lands. This episode is the Grand Helios and the Celestial Park. Uh then we're gonna be going over Dark Universe, how to train your dragon, Isle of Burke, Super Nintendo World, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Ministry of Magic. They like a long name.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I like that um Jenny Nichols said this a while ago about Star Cruiser, of like they give the the creative teams give them like these titles, you know, like the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and we call her Anya. Do you know what I mean? Like that's the perfect analogy. Like it's called like the Isle of Book, an epic universe, brought to you by Monsanto. And we're like, oh, the Dragonland, got it. Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_00Hiccup, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Hiccup and Bell. Yeah, yeah. Hiccup and friends, hiccup and friends. Um, okay, so as excited I am to talk about a hiccup and friends.
SPEAKER_00So what the Grand Helios Hotel, which is a 14-story hotel with 500 rooms. Oh, yes. Um, and you and so okay, so we had separate rooms. I had my own room, you and Dale had another room. You and Dale had to walk 15 miles to your room. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01But it was This is like the first worldest of problems because we were given gifted, truly gifted, complimentary park view upgrade. And now I like I'm forever spoiled. I will not, first of all, I will next time I go to Orlando, I will only be staying there.
SPEAKER_00There's something like a drug dealer that they gave us a taste for free, and we're like, nope, we will only be booking park views from now on.
SPEAKER_01Legit. Um, this is the second theme park or hotel that I I have stayed at that is attached to a hotel. That is the way to go. Like, um, do it, is it in you? I'm loving it. It was so great, but our room, first world problem, right? Our room was literally the second to the last on the hallway. And the way that the hotel is, it kind of like hugs the like a V, but like a really open V, like a curve, a little bosom, the bottom of a bosom. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Um skinny hotel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. And our room was very far away. I joked to Dale that we needed like a donkey to get us from the elevator to the room.
SPEAKER_00So, okay. So we get there on a Saturday night, we check in. Michelle, I told her before we got there, befriend the staff, be friendly, because I'm very shy. And then maybe we'll get an upgrade. And of course it worked because you both bonded over universities, various universities of Florida.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Surprise, surprise. The ladies working the front desk went to the University of Central Florida, just like everyone in Central Florida.
SPEAKER_00So they made me they didn't make me feel old, but talking to them made me feel old because I'm gonna assume they were like 20, 21. I'm like, oh, I could have had you at like, you know, 18. That's cool. So we check in, we go up to our room. So first there is, I looked it up. It's called the Aurora Market. It's the best uh hotel market in the world because they had Fiji water, which I love Fiji water. And then other hotels and theme parks don't have Fiji water, so you know, it was nice. They had snacks. I mean, of course, everything was really expensive. They had pastries, donuts, coffee, coffee, candy bar, basically everything you would want at a very high price, but very convenient. There was a store in the lobby with was basically an abridged version of everything you would want, an epic universe, a little from each land, including like, you know, essentials. These are all the details you wanted to know. Okay, so we go up to the room. Uh, we got each two queen beds in our room because that was cheaper than a king bed. Um yes, Grangios is very expensive, so you know, keep that in mind. But for some reason, the two queen beds were the cheapest.
SPEAKER_01Do you feel like for a theme park junkie such as yourself, do you feel based on the the price versus the location, the getting in an hour earlier while other theme parks are only doing 30 minutes earlier, like an hour earlier, the ability to go back to your room in the middle of the day so easily. Like, do you nighttime show? Oh my gosh, incredible.
SPEAKER_00I feel like the value the value is is there. Yeah. I think it definitely was worth the price, especially on the cheaper nights, like some of the more expensive nights, maybe not as much. But you know, if you look at hotels, hotels are very expensive right now. And I'm sure even if we stayed off property or um a hotel at Universal further away, it still would have probably been pretty expensive. But I would say it's definitely worth it if you can stay there. Highly recommend. Um I second that emotion, by the way. So yeah, we could see the park from our room. Um uh and then so every night we'll get into this later. They have a nighttime light show, and you really can truly only see it from the rooms or from the first place we went, which is the bar on the top floor, which is called Bar Helios, and it was a beautiful celestial theme. And Michelle tell them about your delicious food you had. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Dale got the risotto, which Michelle says my husband Dale. We had risotto like two of the three times we ate at like sit-down restaurants in Universal. So I like that Universal was like, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna go hard on the celestial theme and the risotto theme. And they started doing a log. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. So it came in like this smoked log, and then like they took off the top of the the lid of the log bowl, and then they were like, woo-woo, woody thing, and it had like these big old mushrooms, which mushrooms are very uh polarizing. I love a mushroom, you do not. Oh, I like some mushrooms. I just don't like too too much. Too much mushroom. Much like the spice girl said, too much of something is bad enough. Um, we can't afford the spice girls.
SPEAKER_00And so you we each had a drink. I think you and I had non-alcoholic drinks. Dale had an alcoholic drink, and I think he was the only one who really liked his drink.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my drink was not good, but like, you know, we were the we were there for you. We were there to report on the bar and the drinks and and other things.
SPEAKER_00So my tip, my tip is to book the bar at park closing because then you can watch um the light show. Unfortunately, we were not seated in a place where we could see the light show, but luckily we had rooms. So even if you have a non-park room view, you can still go up to the bar and watch the show. Maybe you can request to sit cl somewhere where you could see it, but we did not because we didn't know about it. They also had a dessert that involved freeze-dried rose petals. We did we didn't get it, someone else had it. I think I had like crab cakes and beef skewers.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you did. And the beef skewers were really good. I had Dale had risotto, I had something. It was really good. The food was really good. Overall, the food was very good in Epic Universe.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um, and then before we get into the park, um, we also drank, had some drinks at the Flora Tav Taverna. T A V E R N A. So Taverna. Taverna. And we had a very good-looking bartender from Nashville, and we asked him if we knew. You know what, Michelle, we you know, some of us are getting desperate in our old rate. Okay. Oh, and then I had room service our last day, and it was really good. And the staff was like almost too attentive. Like the lady's like, may I open your condiments for you? Is there anything else I can get for you? Do you want me to get you more hot water? Like, just ask me a million questions, and it was so nice. I'm like, no, thank you. Like, that's so I've never had like someone offer to open my jars for me. That's nice.
SPEAKER_01I really liked our room. So we had we ordered the same room, but they were different. And so my room had a stand-up shower and this really pretty little vanity. And your room, you had like a shower tub, right?
SPEAKER_00I had a shower tub and I had an extra couch, which I don't want to say what we called it, but it's um the place where your partner who you would like to watch, she would sit, that chair, and I also had a couch.
SPEAKER_01So she got extra stuff. Yeah. And I'm not saying it. Although it is referenced in Shakespeare. So if we said it, we would be very classy, but I don't, but we're not gonna say it.
SPEAKER_00We're only medium classy. Um, but yeah, your room, I liked your shower. You had a glass shower, I had a curtain. Um, but everything was so clean and new. It wasn't even a year old that like I normally don't like shower curtains, but it was delightful because it was very nice.
SPEAKER_01I think it really speaks to the power of like keeping a place clean. I feel like cruise lines are really good at it. Like they're really good at keeping places clean. And even though they have like, they have less turnover time than like theme parks, but they're they've like mastered like painting and keeping things up. This, I would like to note that this is the second universal theme park that I've been to opening year. I was at Islands of Adventure opening year, and it's really interesting to see opening year versus this amount of years later. Because and I've also been to a Disney park opening Shanghai opening year, and then again, like eight years later, seven, eight years later. Just an interesting observation of like, oh, this used to happen, or like, you know, this used to be this, or that ride didn't exist there, or that used to be a show, or whatever. So it's just interesting to to see see it and see it in all of its glory.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, because inevitably there will be things that like will not work in the future that they just it won't won't be like uh they just can't fix it. Like some things they can try to fix and they just don't want to, but some things they just you can't. It's impossible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's interesting to see everything right when it opens versus even like a couple months down the line, a couple years down the line, as well as they maintain it. Just there's gonna be different things. Anything else about the hotel? Oh, it smelled really nice. Oh, it smelled very spa-like. Um, the elevator had a celestial theme, even like they had a screen and then a projected star. So the whole hotel in Celestial Park had a celestial theme. Space! So, okay, so I I wrote this down. I talked about this earlier earlier. The statue of Helios, which is Michelle's favorite statue, is a very muscular statue, is shooting a sun arrow across the park to hit the gong of the Kronos. And the Kronos is the front entrance of the park. Spoilers. Um, also, this whole series will have spoilers. We'll try not to get too detailed, but like if you want to know nothing, maybe wait um and listen to this at a later date.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna talk about spoilers because if you're listening to this, you're probably a theme park junkie. Yes. And as are we, you want to know.
SPEAKER_00So uh so let's get into the park. Okay, so now we're entering. So we entered the park from the back, but the main entrance was on the opposite end. So we walked by it a few times, but we actually never came in through the main Kronos. But it was beautiful, it was green and tall and had the symbols of all the lands. Currently there are four lands, but there's gonna, you know, there's room for a thousand. Any volunteers? There's so to the so there's a roller coaster we'll get to called we called kept calling it Starlight Express, but it's what is it, Stardust Racers. Uh just to the left of it, there is potential new portal, and I've heard it could be anything from Wicked to uh actually, what was the other thing? Somebody was saying what they thought it was today. Hopefully not Fast and Furious. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh. Can I tell you as much as I would love a Wicked Portal because toss toss leg, I think they should bring the Wicked show from Universal Studios Japan, which is an abridged version of Wicked, because I don't I don't know if you I think you know this, but if anyone else, Wicked on Broadway is produced by the whole property is owned by Universal. So the movie, the musical on Broadway, the musical, it's all universal. So, and in like I said, in Japan, they did an abridged version. And believe it or not, I don't think it should go an epic universe. I think it should be used as um a not a gimmick, but like to get people to go to the older parks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Universal needs some love, Universal Studios. Oh, and I am wearing this shirt with ET on it. And when Dale saw me in it, and this is all in jest, we were joking, he's like, Jasmine, if you buy that shirt, no man's gonna sleep with you. And I said, Well, you know what? I'd rather have the shirt than a man. So you can look at E.T.
SPEAKER_01And I'm the one punished for it. I'm the one that has to look at his stupid weird face.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I remember what it was. Um, people think it's gonna be a DC portal because um Universal supposedly trying to make a deal with Warner Brothers right now, which is possibly being purchased by Netflix, but they're making a deal with Warner Brothers. I don't understand business. I'm not Jack Donegie. Hey, remember when monopolies were illegal? Yep.
SPEAKER_01Remember, remember when you couldn't own 50 billion things? But you know, now it's Remember when there were lots of companies and like they competed and like made art instead of just like each other and making money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yep. That was those were the days. Those were the days. So uh you get your very own special entrance into the park from the Grand Helios. You get in an hour early. So when we were there, the park opened at 10. We got in at nine. Actually, some people were getting in like 8 45. At the time, you could get into all the lands except Isle of Burke and Wizarding World, but now you can get into all of them. So I think all rides are now open. We left and they were like, let's change this policy. Literally the day after we left, it happened February 1st.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you see? Yeah. It's hard not to take that personally, but okay. It was also freezing that day. So they're like, we gotta do something. Yeah, yeah. That was the we were there at the at the tail or the beginning of like the great Orlando freeze.
SPEAKER_00It was like 40 degrees when they left. It got down to 24 degrees, which is not a real number. Nope. Not real. So let's we're now we're entering into Celestial Park, which is the mainland in um like the hub, I guess, the main, you know, the main street, if you will, of Universal, of uh Epic Universe. But it's kind of like two infinity symbols.
SPEAKER_01It's like water in the middle. Yeah. So it's like a bit of water, like water, big pool, and then like medium pool slash carousel, and then a smaller pool. And I just thought it was really beautiful and cool.
SPEAKER_00And I love the moving water. So like fresh and pristine and blue. Everything was like had nice lighting. It was beautiful. Obviously, the park looked 10 times better. It looked good in the day, it looked better at night. It was breathtaking at night, truly. So Celestial Park has a backstory, and also um, there is a character called Captain Cacao, which I was gonna get to him later, but I have I have Captain Cacao. This is him. Captain Cacao. Cow Dan Cacao. Um, he his story is that he discovered this land, and his little hot air balloon um is powered by marshmallow dreams, and he is just delightful, and I would die for him. And they even have a special door for him in uh the Captain Cacao shop. I don't know if that's what it's called, but that's where they had the most Captain Cacao stuff. I think it's called something sweet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You'd think he they've been gone for so long.
SPEAKER_00You'd think they'd be more informed. Nope. No, not at all. So a little, and then so Celestial Park is run by the Celestials, which I think are aliens. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01They're just they're just like celestials, and like it's implied that Doc Brown from Back to the Future is one of them, which is like so cool, but they like travel around like the universe man and just like just cool. They used to use the it's not Starlight Express. What's it actually called? Stardust Racers. Yeah. No, I'm just if we call it Starlight Express, we are referring to the roller coaster Stardust Racers. And the Stardust Racers used to be like a train station, and that's how the Celestials used to get around. Yeah, on the Stardust Racers, but then they created the portals so it's easier to go from one place to another.
SPEAKER_00So now they're just like, we'll turn it into a ride, because you know, they're just cool. Like now just regular people can ride it. So Celestial Park is themed as a crossroads for interdimensional travel powered by the Kronos, a tower that serves as the park's icon and entrance gateway. So what I love about Epic Universe is every inch of it has lore, every inch of it has some story. Even in the restaurants, there was like moving parts. Um, we're gonna get to that and our friend Polly. But yeah, it was just, I cannot express uh like pause right now and go look at some pictures, some videos. It's just beautiful. Such a, and you know, it's not just because it's new, I think it's gonna always be beautiful. And right now the trees are kind of small, the plants are small, so it's I think it's gonna only get more beautiful.
SPEAKER_01I love that because that's one thing I complain about a lot in theme parks, is like I just want to sit down and relax and just like watch and like be part of the vibe. But there's so many like stages for musicians and little bars and a shrine to Coca-Cola, which chefs kiss. There's like a beautiful angel statue holding a Coca-Cola on top of it.
SPEAKER_00And I'm like the Columbia girl, like with stars around her, but you know, to Coca-Cola.
SPEAKER_01Oh, and I was like, this was made for me.
SPEAKER_00I love it. But mostly Diet Coke. Um, and the I believe the benches had like little griffins on them, little lots. Yes. So everything was themed. Like there was you could find an empty bench within, you know, a hundred feet. It was so nice. A lot of them were shaded. The whole park, yeah. I we keep saying it's beautiful because it is, and like they have beautiful water features.
SPEAKER_01And yeah, I don't know if you noticed this, but in the third, the water pool closest to the hotel, there's like an amphitheater, like the seating, so you can watch the water show. And I was like, Well done, you. Well done.
SPEAKER_00So when you enter the park from the front, so the opposite of where we entered, to the right is Isle of Burke, and behind it is Wizarding World, and to the left is Super Mario Land and the home of my love, Igor Dark Universe. And spoiler alert, Michelle made fun of me for liking Igor, and now she's equally obsessed.
SPEAKER_01I can't help it. He's so adorable.
SPEAKER_00Yo, Idiot don't you. Oh, I just love him so much. Um, so would you like to talk talk about uh Stardust Raster racers, also known as Starlight Express? By nobody knows.
SPEAKER_01I would love.
SPEAKER_00Yes, thank you.
SPEAKER_01I would love to. So the lore is that the celestials, this that was like their mode of transportation until the portals. I just said that. I said that two minutes ago. But you said the even sexier this time. Yes. I the roller coaster is intense. I will say it's one of it's not, it's not as like it doesn't hurt you the way that emotionally and physically, the way that Rip Roar Rocket did. Because that one, I don't know about you. Did you ever go on it? No. You're that's fine. It's torn down now. I didn't like the um that you went like that. Yeah, I don't think that. With Rip Roar Rocket, I would always get off and have a headache. And Stardust Racers, I went on twice and I was totally fine.
SPEAKER_00It was intense. It was scary. Um, like I liked it, but it was scary. And if you were like, I want to go in a third time, I'm like, I don't know if I can do it a third time. It was a lot of she did it twice, one time in the front row, and I'm very proud of her. Thank you. So there are two sides, yellow and green. A few facts to get us started. It is a steel dual launch roller coaster. So it is both dual as two and dual as in their dueling.
SPEAKER_01That's kind of like an homage to the fire and ice dragon dragon ride from diagrids. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. The yeah, the dueling dragons. I don't know, duel. That's what it's called. Um, each track is 5,000 feet long, uh, which is what what that's almost a mile, 5,280 feet. So it's almost each one's almost a mile. And it's a long roller coaster. Like it is, it is, as Michelle would say, intense, like because it went camping, because it's intense. I stole that joke from you. Um the top speed. That's cool. I stole it from Dale. That's good. The funniest man we know. The top speed pirates. Uh the top speed is 62 miles an hour, and there's a part where like you're launching and then you launch again. Like it's like a double launch, and you go even faster. That that was pretty cool. And then the ride's backstory is that Celestians, residents of Celestial Park, have learned to capture the comets from the stars and ride them, which was how they traveled to different worlds before the portal system was invented. They are allowing visitors to race on two of these comets, Plusar and Photon, to see which is the fastest.
SPEAKER_01I I love, I love all these backstories because they're so good. I was telling someone, they were like, How did you like it? Why did you like it? And I was like, it's celestial woo-woo, and I love, I love celestial woo-woo. Like my I have a back tattoo and it's celestial woo-woo. It's like stars and moon and like juniper, and so I I was eating it absolutely up. I absolutely love, I love I love a roller coaster. I thought that roller coaster was very smooth, very nice.
SPEAKER_00Um it does go upside down. It does go up really high. I think they're called a hi-hat. So the car itself is pretty big. Like I didn't count how many cars, but it can fit a lot of people. And the back, there is a flux capacitor because Doc Brown is a celestial. And um, so the ride is so intense, like I had to take my glasses off. So you kept pointing it out to me. And I'm like, I can see the light, but I can't see any detail.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they have a lot. Okay, so they are very serious about keeping your shoes on, which is yeah, and also making sure that you have nothing on you when you get to do the ride. So not only are there lockers at the bottom, then you have to go through a metal detector to make sure like you don't have anything on you.
SPEAKER_00I'd say a third of the rides, you had to put your stuff in a locker. Not all. That was the only one I would take my glasses off for, though, because um the it went upside down. Some of the others, like you couldn't have stuff on you, but like I wasn't worried about my glasses flying off that one. I was like, no, my hair clip almost fell out. Like I had to kind of hold it. So you go like you go around the corner and then you launch, and then you're like, oh my gosh, we're going so fast. And then you go even faster. Then you go up like a huge hill and like you're going around and dueling and you kind of go upside down. You don't like fully, you don't like loop upside down, you do like a barrel roll. Yeah, like corkscrew, I think they're called. I know one side is more intense than the other, but I couldn't tell which one, but somebody was saying, Well, I think the yellow is slightly more intense. Both scared the crap out of me. So we'll just say that. I did think I was gonna die because your legs, I'm pretty tall. We're both five eight. My legs didn't touch the floor. And so, um, and you floated in your chair like you had a lot of um, whatever you call that, floaty time. And every time I thought it was gonna fall out and die. Not that I didn't feel secure, I just thought it was gonna fall out and die. Uh, but yeah, it was it was cool and people really seemed to like it, and it was really cool in the front. I would recommend the front.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love it. I like and also like just in general, this park understands the theme park person. And we so many of us like to ask for the front. So a lot of their roller coasters already had like built-in side cues, like so that no one gets upset, like, oh God, you're one wait for the front. Like, yeah, go wait in the front. Go ahead. There's already a cue for you. Go, go, live long and prosper.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, every roller coaster had a special cue for the front. Um, the longest one was for this ride. Um, we used to for uh the hiccup roller coaster, there was one, but we never had to wait very long for that one. I guess not a lot of people asked for the front.
SPEAKER_01No, it's because it was so cold. How cold was it? It was so cold that the ride stopped working.
SPEAKER_00Yep. That was that was a theme of um when we actually went up going to um Islands of Adventure, spoilers, we were gonna go there all day and we ended up only going half day because we wanted to go back to Epic Universe so bad. Um, the roller coasters weren't running because it was so cold. And it was like 40 degrees, like 45, so it wasn't freezing, but it was very cold. And I guess roller coasters don't work in Florida. Um, any last thoughts on Constellation Carousel, not Constellation Carousel, that's our next ride, uh, Startups Racers Slash Starlight Express. Dale only went on it the one time. It was it was too much for him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I loved it. Like I said, I love a good roller coaster. It scared me, which most roller coasters don't anymore because I'm a grizzled old theme park girly. Yeah, it was scary.
SPEAKER_00It was not in like a dangerous way, just in like exciting. Yeah, exciting, yeah. Yeah, and just whoa, woo, like just feeling like you're gonna fall out, but not really, floating a lot. Um, you know, it's just 10 out of 10 would recommend. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so now let's move on to Constellation Carousel. So there's two rides in this land: the roller coaster, and then there's the most beautiful carousel you have ever seen in your life. Um, and it's right next to the water. So it is zodiac themed. There are seven different musical scores used. So it has the park itself, I think the whole park has original music, unless they have music from a movie. So I heard Dark Universe was composed by Danny Elfman. He made original. Yes, but I can't confirm that. I just heard someone say that.
SPEAKER_01No, the the so while we were in Dark Universe Monst Dark Monster University Universe.com. You go forward slash free offer, ship free. There was uh some universal creatives were coming through and they were giving a tour and they were like, and also the music was done by Danny Elfman. And I was like, that's great. I need to leave this restaurant immediately.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, spoiler alert, there was a restaurant that Michelle did not like because they made the food look bloody and they put fake maggots on food, and I was all about it, and she was disgusted.
SPEAKER_01I and there were like dead bodies and like mummies everywhere, which like that's no, absolutely like I was about to say live long and prosper, but die long and prosper. Like you do you, I don't know why. Maybe it was just my stomach that morning, but I was just like.
SPEAKER_00I think the was when I poured the very red au jus onto my steak that looked like blood, and you're like, nope, you literally left. You're like, I'm out.
SPEAKER_01I was like, you take your time, baby girl. I'm gonna stand out here in this dark British alley and hopefully not get murdered. But I'd rather that than watch you eat this blood.
SPEAKER_00And that's some of the um exciting anecdotes you have to hear in our Dark Universe episode, which will be the best one because we'll talk about Igor for 55 minutes. Okay, yes. Yes. That was her Igor impression she did to Igor, and he loved it. He does not sound like that at all. Nope um, so uh back to constellation carousel. Each carriage turns 360 degrees while lifting riders up to six feet in the air. So it is on a turntable and it turns, but then each section has its own turntable, except yours was stationary, unfortunately. But mine moved all the way around. So my I was on a ram and you were on a bunny. Yes. Dale. So you can either fit one or two people on each one, um, two two adults, because you and Dale are full-size adults. Um also had like little carriages that could fit three people, and then you could have one person sitting on the front, like the animal leading the chariot. I don't know, the horse.
SPEAKER_01I think you're like riding, yeah, you're like riding the animal, and then the you're pulling the chariot.
SPEAKER_00So it's right next to the water, and you go and circle like a carousel, and then each of the sections rotates. So at one point I was pointing out and I was facing the water and I could see the beautiful view. It's just like at every moment they really turn you in a good direction to make sure you're getting the best view. Like it was very well done. There's like a little magical twirly thing on the top that's like an optical illusion, and I don't know how to describe it, but it just like looked like ribbons like tying together. Uh, it was beautiful. I was jealous you got the bunny, but I got to revolve around. Oh, and my favorite part was um before you get on, they ask you if you want to ride an animal, how many people are gonna be riding the animal or a carriage, so they can make sure, like if you say you want a carriage, they'll make sure you get a carriage. If you say you want an animal, like they'll make sure you get an animal. So they just like it's very the whole park is so well organized and just so like there is no chaos, there's not a ton of people running around. It feels empty because everyone's in the lines for the ride. Spoilers, the lines were really long. Yeah. This ride it was like 30 minutes, but it felt a little longer. And then Stardust Racers was that was shorter because that one can take so many people at a time. But also we went during the 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_01the pre-order. The pre-order, the the opening, and we went right before closing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that one, that one wasn't too, too bad. So basically, if you go really early or really late, you can get on pretty quickly to any ride except the uh Ministry of Magic ride. That one you will just be waiting for 14 hours no matter what.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. But the queue is very cool, but you will be in it for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00I think you could get everything done in one day if you have express pass. We got every single thing done, every single show uh in two and a half days. And we could have done it faster. We went on like the uh one ride four times, we went on another ride three times. So, you know, take this with a grain of salt each ride, but we saw every show everything in two and a half days. You could we saw every character that eat and greet every like that you could wait in line for. Um, I think yeah, we pretty much saw every character and interact with almost all of them. We ate something in every land. We had sit-down meals every day. Um, you can really like I encourage you to spend like three days there. That park is like the vibe park. Yeah. You can just it's just fun just walking around and enjoying things and interacting with the characters. Uh, the rides are a nice bonus, and there's not a lot of rides, but they're all very well done. Yeah. There wasn't a like the worst ride was still a a pretty good ride. Which ride? I don't know. Like, so okay. So a lot I didn't love the one in Isle of Burke, the dragon gliders. Just wait in line for so long and it was just a minute-long ride. Yeah. And also the Ministry of Magic probably was a great ride, but it kept breaking down and not working.
SPEAKER_01But it was Yeah, I'm gonna say, like, it's so weird because I love Potter and especially Fantastic Beasts for many reasons. One, Newt's a Hufflepuff. Two, Newt's Commander is absolutely adorable. Three, uh, it was the first movie Dale and I saw when we started dating. And four, in one of the sequels, there's a girl that talks like this. And I don't know if I don't know about you, but this is my favorite way to talk because it's just so animated and I love it. Catherine Hepburn, guess who was coming to dinner? Oh, balloons. So I absolutely, I absolutely loved it. But like it's so weird because what doesn't make sense to me about we'll talk about that later. Never mind.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, I'm putting out breadcrumbs. Ooh, so you'll come back and listen. Yes. So the highlight of Celestial Park, besides the beauty, is there's a lot of really good, really well-themed restaurants that are not tied to an IP. Uh, so the first one we will talk about was where our best friend Polly worked, uh, Atlantic. So Atlantic is like their flagship restaurant. Um, it was two stories. It's all glass on one side. So you have a great view of the park. It was two stories, it's underwater themed, and there's these beautiful crystal fish that move around the restaurant on these like arms and they go up and down, and they're almost like on their own carousel, and they go all around the restaurant and it's they go very slowly and like smoothly, and it's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_01It's just such like a small detail of just like just have this thing go up and down and around, and yet it added so much. And then also when you go to Atlantic, ask for to be in Paulie's section. His name is Paul, but he goes by Paulie. He's his name tag says he's from Hudson Valley, New York. Spoiler alert, that's not a real place, it's a region. Go with it. Yeah. He well, I we were laughing so hard. He's absolutely wonderful. Uh, we adore him.
SPEAKER_00So he um did tease us with Diet Cokes. We ordered Diet Cokes, he brought it out, then went back and got Dale's drink and came back, and Michelle called him out, rightly so.
SPEAKER_01You had Diet Coke so close to me, and then and then you take it away from me? Poorly.
SPEAKER_00Poorly. Poorly. Like a baby who's like, oh, I'm old, I'm 31. I'm like, excuse me. I know. I would die to be 31 again. Thank you very much, Pauly. I wish that my knee wouldn't hurt anyway. Um, my I really liked my lobster roll. I had a lobster roll, it was delicious. Polly recommended to have it with fries instead of chips. He was absolutely right. You got, I remember you were something with lobster and you got cold lobster, but he's like, no, I'm gonna get you cooked a grilled lobster, and he was correct again. Yeah. Dale got risotto. Yeah, Dale got risotto. He also got a cucumber drink, which the drink was fine. We just don't, none of us like cucumber in a drink, so that was our mistake. And there was gin in it. Gin in it, and nana.
SPEAKER_01I can speak. She she is very articulate. Um we all do really bad with gin. Yeah, I just I just don't care for gin. Rum, on the other hand, we had a good time with rum. Rum and tequila, yes.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, gin, yeah. We I have bad stories with gin. We all have that alcohol. Those of us, you know, if you drink, you we all have that alcohol. We're like, I can drink anything, just not this one. Yeah. I mean, that's gin. It also tastes like eating a tree. But yeah, there's a lot of the whole park as a whole had fantastic kinetic energy. Each land had a beautiful water feature. And when I pointed this out, um, Dale was like, oh, your Persian is showing. Because you know, we Persians love a water feature. So yeah, highly recommend Atlantic. The next restaurant is Pizza Moon, which is a quick service restaurant that had delicious pizza. Some of the, I would say the best theme park pizza I've had.
SPEAKER_01A hundred. I would say outside of New York, some of the best pizza I've had. Period.
SPEAKER_00It's themed off of the George Millet, is it Journey to the Moon, Man in the Moon. You'd think I'd know this as a film student, but that one, it was one of the first films to use special effects, and it's directed by George Millet. Also, it's the aesthetic of the Tonight Tonight music video from Special Effects.
SPEAKER_01I was about to say, or how trashy people know it, the Tonight Tonight video. Tonight, believe then. Tonight, tonight, Zelda. Which Dale pointed out sounds like my Adina Menzel impression. But I'm like, no, that sounds like this. Let it go, let it go. And that sounds like ble oh no, it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_00Never mind. A trip to the moon, that's what it's called. So it has that like cardboard cutout aesthetic, the moons, like the things, the cardboard moving back and forth, very like old timey movie.
SPEAKER_01I got just a cheese pizza because I am very basic and picky, and also a werewolf, apparently, because I opened some cereal and then Dale claimed that a werewolf opened it, which is true because I imagine So she bought a box of cereal, and you know how like you have a bag of cereal and you you take the two sides and then you pull it. That's how normal people open it. Not Jasmine. Jasmine like ripped it off so that every time you tried to shake the cereal into a bowl, it like got caught on itself. And it's like, Jasmine, she's like, I don't know how the cereal open.
SPEAKER_00I live my life like I opened cereal ravenously. Like a werewolf. Um, and spoiler, the cereal was frosted flakes. So good. Which I got into after going to Japan. Fun fact. Um, okay, so the last round, oh, so Pizza Moon, um, you guys got an ube pizza that was purple with things.
SPEAKER_01I was really nervous about it because ube is either hit or miss for me, but purple is always a success for me. So I got that. And honestly, the ube crust didn't taste like anything one way or the other, but it was really cool to have like my favorite color with one of my favorite foods, which was pizza. And it had um like cured meats on the pizza, and it was excellent, and I highly recommend it.
SPEAKER_00Mine had fresh mozzarella tomatoes, which I pulled off. The cheese came off, and it basically every day, every time we ate, I got food somewhere on my bosoms. Yes. So it was a good one. And Dale mocked her relentlessly. Yes, as he should, because it happened a lot. It was pretty epic. And so the last restaurant we ate at, so there are more restaurants than this. There's like a a celestial theme, like rib place. Oh, yeah. We we walked into it, but I don't like do you like barbecue? I don't like barbecue. I like barbecue, but like not from a I don't know. Maybe it was good. I don't know. Big park barbecue. We'll try it next time. Yeah. Um, there were a few other restaurants, but the last restaurant we ate at was called Blue Dragon, which was an Asian-themed restaurant. And there was a man in there who was very frustrated because he's like, What is this? Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese. And I was like, Yes, it's all of it. Like it's just Asian from all various East A Eastern Asian countries. It was delicious. Uh, the theme is like neon street fare. It was beautiful inside. Just beautiful.
SPEAKER_01And there were like paper lanterns in the ceiling that moved again, like so much movement that I'm sure will be broken in like six months. But like for now, like let me just enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00They the theme was like these delicious family style meals, and then they were really into tea, and then they had really fancy but non-practical teapots. And our waiter kept talking about how like the teapots are beautiful, but they're not practical at all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because like I've I I've been trying to be a real lady. I'm like on etiquette TikTok. No, I'm sorry. I'm on etiquette, I'm on that there, edu, edu kit TikTok.
SPEAKER_00Huh? I came in with food on my boobs, and they're like, oh, nope, shut her at the door.
SPEAKER_01Get her out. But like you're supposed to be able to pour and not spill something like in Bridgeton times. That means she comes from good breeding. And I was trying really hard to be all not a slob. And and this teapot was working against me.
SPEAKER_00Uh, we had a bunch of different things. I like the beef broccoli, the beef, obviously, I'm a beef person. And we had orange chicken, we had some noodles that we called nudes, um, and uh and fried rice, I think. It was delicious.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And Dale got calamari, which was calamari, but instead of like fried in um panko crumb, not panko, but like um the crumbs. Bread crumbs. Yeah, it wasn't that. It was rolled in um wonton chips.
SPEAKER_00It was so good. And then I had like an Earl Grey tea, and you had like their signature like fruity tea. I just I only got another tea because I needed caffeine. It was delicious. Yeah, no, that restaurant's right next to our hotel, too. So that's nice that it's just right there. Any other comments on the food in Celestial Park besides the um homage to soda that they have?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got soup dumplings. Yes, which is a huge complaint I have just in, and I complain about this all the time, especially in Southern California. Like, why do you not have more good Asian food in theme parks? Like it's not hard to like find. You could go to Hmart, right? And buy like the stuff and then just like make it. Like that's better than a lot of the than that's that would be great. So I had soup dumplings and they were great. And the Diet Coke Shrine or the Coca-Cola Shrine was great.
SPEAKER_00And yeah. So the portals themselves, I won't go into too much detail, but they're all themed from the outside, and they have like they all look a little different depending on the land. And then they have like a little medallion that moves, like the Burke one had a dragon flying across, and then they have like a a TV screen. When I say TV screen, I mean like a fancier, I don't know what you call it, but it was like a wraparound projection screen-y thing. And they all had like a line. So like Burke was like, We have dragons, or we, my friend, have dragons. Dark Universe was it's alive, which Michelle and I had a lot of fun saying. I don't think that's how you you perform it. I believe it's it's alive. It's alive. So those are beautiful. At night, I was I just kept watching like the fake lightning hit Dark Universe, and I just kept wishing Igor would come out and that I would see him. And then I did, and then you weren't with me, so I got shy and I ran away. But then when I was with you, we had a very nice, two nice interactions. So we would like to end the show talking about the uh Kiss Goodnight show, which is called the Cosmos Fountain Show. Oh my gosh. So right in front of our hotel, there's a giant fountain. It's kind of like Bellagio with like the water features. There is also an amphitheater, so you can watch, you can watch. From almost anywhere. Like people were watching from their hotel rooms. People were watching from like the um this like little bridge next to the hotel. I watched from like Dark Universe.
SPEAKER_01We mentioned there's like three smaller pools of water. You can watch the show. Each pool of water is included. All the lights in Celestial Park are involved in the show.
SPEAKER_00There are seven million individually controlled lights, and they all are multiple colors. It happens every night at closing. So when we were there, it happens at right at 10 o'clock on the dot. So that's why I booked the restaurant at 9:30 so we could watch it. And uh the plot is that the Kronos is aligning to signal the end of the day. So basically, all the celestials are like, oh, you know, we visited all our of our lands, so now we gotta align everything, put everything to bed. They go through, like they have like the universal theme at one point. They go through each land. So my favorite section was the Mario section because it was bright and colorful.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, it was never have I ever thought that Mario, like the Mario theme is like, yeah, bah but like it just sounded so grand and awesome.
SPEAKER_00So not only did the fountain light up, every single light in Celestial Park lit up, and we're talking like really far back, and even the Kronos, like the entrance was a part of it. Um, it just was so cool, and you really truly can only see it from the hotel room or the bar. Like seeing it in like in person at ground level, you get to hear the music. And um, we did put in a complaint that we wish that you could turn on the TV and hear the music from the fountain show and watch it from your room because the music is epic, but yeah, that would be our only complaint. Is uh we wish, but you can kind of hear the music from your room a little bit or at least. Yeah, through the window. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you know what I did today? I made an epic universe playlist. Would you like to know what is on it? Yes. Great, because I would like to talk about it. So so they have released an album called Celestial Parking Park and Universal Destinations. It comes with Court of the Moon theme day, which I'm guessing is like the day area loop, Stardust Racers Day, and Majestic Rising Reprise of Apollo. And that music is absolutely gorgeous. So I made the playlist as if you were starting at the Kronos and then enjoying the park. So the first track is Court of the Moon theme day. To your right, as if you're going to the right, the next portal is Burke. So test drive from How to Train Your Dragon. Then main themes from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Then you could go on Stardust Racers. So I have the Stardust Racers song. Then uh for Super Mario Land, I have the Super Mario theme. Now here is my question, Jasmine. What song did I pick to represent Dark Universe? Um, Werewolf bar mitzvah.
SPEAKER_00That is correct.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say Monster Mash, but I knew it was. Where is it? Werewolf bop mitzvah. And if you're like Michelle, that doesn't make sense. First of all, there's a werewolf ride. Second of all, it's a univers NBC Universal Kmart property, which is owned by Universal, whose parent company is the Shine Hardwick Corporation. And then the last song is Majestic Rising. I just think it's really funny that this playlist is like epic, beautiful, werewolf butt mitzvah.
SPEAKER_00So final thoughts on Helios, uh, the hotel and the Celestial Park, and your cat has an opinion as well.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, Chandu, I can't, he's this is all day, every day. The hotel is amazing. I love that I could get well, if I was cold, I'll just run upstairs and get my jacket. It wasn't like, well, now I've got to like go take the tram to the car or take the bus or the boat to the to the hotel to the thing. It was just like right there. I ran up. I ran upstairs to like take a nap at some point. I took a two-hour nap and then was like ready to go for the evening. Just it a disco nap. It was so great. I absolutely love Celestial Park. It was beautiful. The hotel was great. My like I said, the only thing that the only thing that could make it better is being able to hear the nighttime music in the um yeah.
SPEAKER_00I um so they sent me a survey. I said something about that. And then my other thing was I wish there was more room service selections because it's just breakfast food. Also, if you would like to watch this, uh, we are recording this, so you can watch this on YouTube or just listen to our lovely melodic voices on the podcast app of your choice. My final thoughts are I loved the rides. I'm glad we got to go in the constellation carousel because that was our last ride that we went on. I wish more things worked when it was cold, because I feel like 40 degrees is cold, but it's not like freezing. Um, but yeah, what do I know? I'm excited to keep going back. We're saying for our next vacation, we're just gonna go to Epic Universe the whole time. I could spend probably five days there. I could spend longer, but like I could just spend a day not even going on rides, just hanging out, taking in the vibes, eating, eating the food, just like walking around, watching the shows.
SPEAKER_01The shows are amazing.
SPEAKER_00I can express too how like the park does not feel full, especially in Celestial Park. Like you I could spin around, like you don't have people pushing you, do you don't have people walking in front of you and stopping? It's just delightful. And like you can see into the other parks, but it's not so spoilery. Like you get a little taste, but the sight lines in general are pretty good. Oh, into the other portals. Yeah, the other portal, sorry, other portals.
SPEAKER_01I was like, you could have you saw Islands of Adventure from there.
SPEAKER_00It's like five miles away. Oh, and we will say Epic Universe is about a 10-minute bus ride from the other parks. Uh, but it's closer to the airport. So win-win. Um, and I'm sure eventually they'll come up with some form of transportation beyond a bus that connects them. You know, dare to dream, I believe in uh Universal. Maybe a dragon. Yes. Oh, a dragon, yes. They were testing dragons in Isle of Burke um that could fly. What do you call it? I saw that and I was like, like, wouldn't we see that? Um, so yes, uh, thank you for listening to this episode.
SPEAKER_01Uh, tune in to the next episode, which will be Dark Universe, or as I like to call it, Monsters University, Universal, the musical.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yes. To all who come to this podcast, welcome.