[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and welcome to very amusing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're one stop shop for the story secrets and shenanigans of a popcorn field theme park journalist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Curly Myself and I am recently back from my absolute whirlwind trip to Orlando.
[SPEAKER_01]: I flew there to go to Epic Universe, I of course went to Disney World because when I'm there I got a jam in all in and I stayed at Caribe Royale but you're about to hear all about because they actually sent me to Florida.
[SPEAKER_01]: More on that in a minute, it was absolutely wild and I had the time in my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not the only thing I have to tell you about this episode because at the start it just needs to let you know that over the weekend Okay, it is Gilmore girl season.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you were on the internet, you know it is Gilmore girl season It is their 25th anniversary which happened a few days ago and I was lucky enough to be able to attend the weekend in stars Hollow event that Warner Brothers threw it the grove which is the
[SPEAKER_01]: famous Disneyland-esque mall in LA.
[SPEAKER_01]: They recreated Stars Hollow in the middle of the mall and it was exceptional.
[SPEAKER_01]: I posted some stuff about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, but the reason I'm telling you about that is because do you remember last year that I went on the studio tour where you go to Stars Hollow the set of stars Hollow and they like bring it to life and it was amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did a little episode which was basically me screaming about how good it was for 10 minutes straight.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to let you know from the jump and we will get into theme parks in a moment, but if you are going to be in the Los Angeles area, or will now be convinced to travel there, December 18th to January 4th, they did announce the dates those are the dates for the holidays made here event at the Warner Bros Studio Tour Hollywood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you know, we did a big tour ranking episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gosh, a year and a half ago with this point a while ago, and Warner Bros Studio tour is so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, if you've listened to that episode, we'll be talking about it in depth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now, including your ticket, this is not an ad.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is just a passion of mine.
[SPEAKER_01]: Including your ticket is a visit to Star's Hollow.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are apparently doing it bigger than ever before this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, I was told some stuff by someone at this event at the Grove, which I definitely should not know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was kind of like, you're talking about,
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't even turn the list here and that's what's telling me this.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's going to be bigger, it's going to be more robust.
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like there's going to be virtual cues for stuff inside so you can spend all day there and be able to see everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are a Gilmore Girls fan, you have to go to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go four to five times.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is how much I love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to let you know from the jump so that you can grab tickets before it possibly sells out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to get all my tickets this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, those dates are December 18th to January 4th.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is included with admission.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this virtual cute thing was a tip I was told which I didn't know about online No, they haven't said anything about that yet, but some of the popular spaces will have virtual cute So if you want to go on the studio tour earlier in the day all studio tours end here It's optional, but like you're gonna want to go if you go early on the day You have obviously like the virtual queue.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll have it early.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like return time But if you go later this place, it's sunset and at night.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I think they have a treelighting Last year like like the like lower line Roy's house is like lit up in lights
[SPEAKER_01]: Go and bring the day, go and bring the night and no matter what you do, you're going to have the time of your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's even like a tasting food pass this year anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to let you know from the jump.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are around those dates, get tickets now because it is going to be exceptional.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I'm just telling you as someone who went by myself and was like, this is the most magical thing I've ever done and then stopped the website for additional tickets to go back last year, which I did it made it back in the last day.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you work in more girls fan, this is girl,
[SPEAKER_01]: That's neither here, they're neither, because we are talking about my own land or trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I cannot wait to tell you about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom and I did so much wild stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to hear about one of the best right experiences I've ever had.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something I've never done before, which was a blast.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom's many reactions to Epic Universe, one of which you could not prepare yourself for, no matter what you've done.
[SPEAKER_01]: My review of the hotel we stayed at, which shocker, it was great, also they have whole Starbucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get into it, stick around.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to bring him along on this trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, he was so much fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, I'll see you on the other side.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has been an absolute blur of Uber rides and desserts and umbrellas and souvenir shops and schedules and photos and zebras and I cannot wait to bring you into the fold on all of the shenanigans that were had this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could have taken these two days to like chill by the pool and hang out and take it easy which is probably what I should have done.
[SPEAKER_01]: But of course I am my mother's daughter.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am a theme park themed and I was simply unable to do anything that do everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of my slogan at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't do anything, but do everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did over 18,000 steps a day, Disney Springs, three-themed parks, universal and Disney resorts.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just run and gunned it, and I somehow lived to tell the tale.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mostly because my body has both Starbucks and droffries in it right now, the best of both caffeinated worlds.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, as you likely know by now, the reason I'm in Orlando is because simply straight up, a hotel was like, want us to send you here to fart around and like run circles around the park and then talk about it all on Mike for our hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, yes, yes, I would sure like to do that very much.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is how I ended up here on assignment with like, no assignment, except to tire myself out and lean into the chaos, which I tend to do anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: which sidebar.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a podcast of stories, secrets, and shenanigans.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's kind of combine all three of those and get very real here.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not normal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, like this is not the norm for my career or even for like checking out and reporting on a property anything along those lines.
[SPEAKER_01]: A setup like this, like being invited to just go dilly, dally and then gap about it, does not happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it does not go down like this ever.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm being very candid here, like this is the type of stuff people don't really talk about publicly, but I want you to know I am in no way being like, beep, boop, hotel invited me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I spit out nice compliment for,
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, people will do partnerships where they stay and exchange for a post or videos, or whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: And those are generally always positive.
[SPEAKER_01]: People will be invited to check out a hotel in a media capacity where they review it and write about it and whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's usually a balance take a review.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if a hotel serves simple functions, there's not many negatives you can say, but that's more like a reviews style, the pros, the cons, who should stay here while you should
[SPEAKER_01]: I live in a liminal space between both worlds, because I am in my brain, media capacity, I am a journalist, but I yell excitedly out loud, so I'm a little in both.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I really like full, I mean we're being very real here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would have anticipated them like trying to encourage me to stay at the hotel and not
[SPEAKER_01]: not leave and not put to the parks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or I would have expected them to like Loki shaped the narrative of my content, which I wouldn't let them do.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I'm good in my job.
[SPEAKER_01]: But no, this was top to bottom.
[SPEAKER_01]: The best possible experience I've ever had when being asked to come somewhere and it couldn't have ended up better.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this hotel didn't just be like, do you want to sleep here for a night?
[SPEAKER_01]: They've made everything so easy, they were like, go to epic run around, have fun, crash a curry braial, do it all over again, enjoy, you do you, girlie.
[SPEAKER_01]: This has been the chillest setup, and I don't need to speak this while ever happening again, but I want to let you know that is what we are coming into this with.
[SPEAKER_01]: The energy that curry braial has brought is we love your podcast to
[SPEAKER_01]: If you listen to this podcast, you know I am overly enthusiastic, but sometimes that enthusiasm skews positive and sometimes that enthusiasm is not positive, see last week's extensive commentary about Disney's Hollywood Studios.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was an unbelievable role of the dice because if I don't like the hotel, I was going to tell you, while I was sending it, I was going to complain about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think they knew they had a really good thing here because I was very pleasantly surprised
[SPEAKER_01]: Whoa, they have a hidden gem here and they knew I would love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They knew they knew I would love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And well, I did, but we'll get into that in a minute because we're going chronologically.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we're gonna build slowly like like a Twister coming for a rural barn.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, is that is that rude to farmers?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, I was an agriculture major.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a friend of farmers.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I hope it wasn't taken with the fence.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was just thinking of Glenn Powell because I was on Hulu, obviously watching Angel last night when I should have been doing work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sorry, mom.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know I said I was working, but I was watching Angel while I was working to be fair.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Glenn Powell's new show popped up, which is from Michael Waldring, who's the dude who worked on one vision.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I've had like that show on the mind because I'm like, oh my god, I see Michael Waldring's new project.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, that's what I meant.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was thinking of twisters.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't thinking of offending the farmers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, anyway, anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just meant we're gonna build momentum slowly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, physics and tornadoes and Glen Powell aside.
[SPEAKER_01]: After a particularly hectic week back in Los Angeles, my mom who was in California with us at the time flew with me across the country to Orlando and we have spent a total of about 70 hours in Florida doing as much as we possibly could.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I emphasized hectic, like it was a hectic week back in LA because it has been a long month on the home front, like y'all know this, a lot of doctor stuff, a lot of health stuff, a lot of chaos, potty training, preschool, a week without child care, like it was bananas.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had an itinerary, I was set for the trip, I set everything up, like we were good.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I did not, and I just kind of like put a pin in it and kind of forgot the day had actually come when the trip was happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I had an interior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I had plans, but I didn't truly register what was going on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, nothing that I was just, and in it, plinking out from my computer in my office, had really clicked in my brain that it was a plan that I'd made for myself to live in real life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Until the Uber pulled up at the airport, and I was like, cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have an 815 dinner at the Venetian shophouse at the hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't wait.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my mom was like,
[SPEAKER_01]: If it's called the Venetian Chophouse, it's going to be fancy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was one of those like slow-mo shots in my brain, where I was like, oh, I did not think through any of this at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I packed summer shorts.
[SPEAKER_01]: I packed basically for that dinner.
[SPEAKER_01]: I packed like a pair of neon pink pants.
[SPEAKER_01]: The busiest pants anyone could have ever imagined.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I didn't even register that we'd be going to a nice restaurant.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we check in, we go to our room.
[SPEAKER_01]: The hotel is truly giving, like, mmm, Florida, like golden girls, Florida, like good vibes, sunshine, Florida, not.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, oh recently passed open carry law Florida.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's getting good Florida.
[SPEAKER_01]: This lobby has a Grand entrance you walk in and you're like, oh, I'm somewhere, which I love you know I love a good lobby.
[SPEAKER_01]: We go to our room.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were actually bust there because we had luggage Which was so great.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a shuttle which took us even though it's really like a three-minute walk But they did us a solid which I greatly appreciate and we checked into our room which was a two bedroom villa and
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, it's really nice to have space.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pearl did not come on this trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: She has gone on the last few, so it was just my mom and I, and I fully overheard my mom celebrate, like personally, have a celebratory party in her room for about 10 minutes straight.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was like, ugh, I love it, a door.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, a room, she had her own bathroom.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was thriving.
[SPEAKER_01]: We basically, when we went on that railcrew, we being crews, we basically slept on top of Pearl for a week.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, this was a gift.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was really, this was really something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very happy to have our own spaces.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, is there anything better than that feeling of your first day of arriving to Orlando?
[SPEAKER_01]: Knowing there's so much fun ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Knowing you're gonna be stopping your way through the park so soon.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so sad today to be like, I just zipped up one of my bags because the other bag is obviously gonna be full of giggins.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I just looked at my bag and was like, I just saw these walls.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I have to leave them and return to the real world sub!
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: We head down.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom is dressed in the nines.
[SPEAKER_01]: She brought like so much formal clothes.
[SPEAKER_01]: She looks like she's a cast member of the real housewives.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like she came out like fully decked out in a beautiful outfit.
[SPEAKER_01]: She at one point was like, do you want to borrow my purse?
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause I only brought theme park bags and it was like a literary handbag.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom really went for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: She looked at that part of the iteration.
[SPEAKER_01]: And look at the rest because she packed many fancy shoes and we were going to see
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry to drag you on Maine, but, um, and then I showed up looking like I was dressed by a pack of children's novelty eraser, like truly I'm just wearing chaotic pants and flopping around.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we go down to the hotel stay house.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, uh, by the way, I did tell her no leggings for dinners, and she dressed, she looked great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just looked like Miss Frissel gone wrong, that was basically, that was basically, uh, my accident, a look for this lovely little chop house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me say before we get into the restaurant this episode is not going to be all about the hotel We're gonna talk about the parks.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going in order.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so much theme park silliness ahead But this was just what happened the first day we were there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want you to think like this is just Oh, tell them endlessly.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, we're gonna get into the park So we sit down.
[SPEAKER_01]: We each order a cocktail, which we do like once every vacation and then drink a third of it and we're like whoa And as soon as the devil's juice goes immediately to my head I'm like I'm toast.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm toast.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so tired
[SPEAKER_01]: Tyre unfortunately became a small theme of the trip, kind of like a college minor to someone who majors in professionally doing too much, like my academic studies have led me to oopsies, be exhausted at all times, I mean the two kind of go hand in hand, you know, is Ian and Yang, I do way too much, I never rest and therefore, I sleepy.
[SPEAKER_01]: But please just keep that in mind that I started from, oh no, I'm sleepy when you hear how much we did these past two days.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can just kind of laugh at me in the future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, the Venetian Chophouse.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, why have we not heard of this place?
[SPEAKER_01]: I literally, I do not understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: This restaurant in the hotel was maybe one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten in at in Orlando, if not anywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why does nobody know about this place?
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: It is the purest, truest hidden gem I've ever organically experienced in Orlando easily And I'm baffled Why this is not all over my TikTok feed Like I just hear an ambient woman's voice in my head going
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are going to Orlando for the theme parks, you're missing out on the big show, the Venetian shophouse located in the Caribe Royale, they have a stake that will blow your mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what the content that should exist in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not just talking about like, oh, a good meal at a stakehouse.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool, great.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's four zillion of those around the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I started with the Caesar salad, which like always Caesar salad always good, except for like two places in a labor I've had in this been bad because they used like like not a creamy Caesar dressing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody wants that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I had that like an ideal appetizer to look forward to after basically just having a handfuls of granola and complimentary Delta airline snacks all day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing says I've arrived like a martini in a Caesar salad
[SPEAKER_01]: But the real show here, the reason I'm kind of looking around being like, why are y'all not talking about this place is that I had one of the best stakes of my life didn't expect that, did not expect that to be happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I had an unbelievable back in cheese and you know that I am picky.
[SPEAKER_01]: when it comes to mac and cheese, I have a lot of feelings about mac and cheese.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is very easy, weirdly, to mess up a good high-quality mac and cheese.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the one on the menu was a lobster mac, it had pieces of lobster and lobster biscuit in it, and I just didn't want lobster that day, so I asked if I could just do a plain macaroni and cheese, like maybe there's something on a kids' menu, maybe like if they could modify it, and or absolutely lovely waiter, was like, oh no problem, you're totally fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was not expecting this to be a top tier Mac and cheese.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my goodness, I will not talk about this restaurant forever, even though I could.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm fully gobsmacked by what happened in that place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm personally going to make Shay spends come here to, I'm going to paper his Uber to get him in here to die, so that the people know because I did not know that this kind of heavy hitter was here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a fancy restaurant, like it is a nice steakhouse in the pricing matches, but it was divine.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you end up here, if you were, I know a few of my followers have already mentioned they have stays coming up, definitely check out this restaurant because I was shocked, I was shocked.
[SPEAKER_01]: So weird dinner.
[SPEAKER_01]: And me, little miss does too much.
[SPEAKER_01]: The sitting next to the raining queen of does too much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, oh, oh, I'm like, does too much princess.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom is royalty of the does too much province.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam yam y
[SPEAKER_01]: She convinces me that our first shenanigan is starting at that moment at that night.
[SPEAKER_01]: I made one comment in the airport.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just like, I landed and I opened the doors outside of the luggage carousel and I was there and I was like, oh, I got like the wind, the wind like blew me over a little.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, oh, we could go to Zara and buy pants.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the next thing I know, I'd have to sleep, shopping through Disney Springs security in my indoor flats, going to pop in line for Gidians and shop till I potentially actually literally drop.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, Gettians, did I need to go there?
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not, I placed an order in advance.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ordered a legal amount of cookies, like too many cookies.
[SPEAKER_01]: Too many, I have half of the suitcase reserved for them, then I'm going to go pick up in about an hour.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I can fit them all.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how many cookies I ordered.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the promise of starting and ending a trip with the best cookies in existence is pretty rad.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we hop in line.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no virtual queue, just like a 10 15 minute wait.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mwah, beautiful.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get up there and I'm like, yeah, I'm going to need to be shopping a cold brew around for tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, no, like, I need to.
[SPEAKER_01]: I rarely get to go to Ginians at Disney Springs.
[SPEAKER_01]: I always like pre-order rent a car, like have some Ubershenan against to get it on the way to the airport.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was like, oh, I'm here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting that cold brew and that peanut butter cold brew.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, if there's one person in the world that I kind of want to sell out, it's Steve, because I need this cold brew more often.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need it on the West Coast.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need Steve to package with someone like to partner with someone and make it a package beverage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I need to be able to buy this at a CVS.
[SPEAKER_01]: Steve, I love you and I love the quality of the product.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, I need Gideon's everywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just need it every just so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: The peanut butter, it's like salty and peanut buttery.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's so heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's quite sugary.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I had the rest of the next morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did have a little that night.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had the rest of the next morning and I went straight to my head, but it was divine.
[SPEAKER_01]: I also got a slice of cookie butter cake, which I prefer the butter cream to the actual cake.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they were out of frosting shots.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also deeply ironic considering I just disembarked a delta flight where I refused to biscofe and then bought a whole cake slice themed to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: I contain multitudes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I got a chocolate chip cookie which I panicked ordered because I was going to dip it in the frosting and then they ran out of the buttercream frosting dips that they sell and I was like, oh, whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: But my mom, the saint that she has carried my peanut butter coffee all the way through Zurich Disney Springs while I was shopping because I needed pants.
[SPEAKER_01]: I needed pants and I had major success.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, buying pants is such a drag.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is my least favorite thing next to buying shoes, but I always find things when I'm shopping with my mom because I'll talk myself out of it and be like, no, I don't have to try it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't do it in another time.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she'll be like, just do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not gonna come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I need that type of good bullying.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I need that to complete the deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I bought, I bought God, what are they called?
[SPEAKER_01]: Baryl Jeans then they are so silly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, I'm out here buying some like Western style jeans and having a steak and I a couple of it Am I a cop?
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I a cop?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I bought there's this cardigan that I have in yellow that I always were in Disney cruise line I just always pack it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got that in beige.
[SPEAKER_01]: They sell it now on beige.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has like a ruffle.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a like buttons all down the front and then like a ruffle Ruffle and top of the buttons and a ruffle
[SPEAKER_01]: trim it's lovely and then I bought a yellow knit beanie which I love and I don't know if the coloring works for me but it's really cute and I got to spray sand this week and I think that's why it didn't work but I think when I'm back to my pale gastly self it will absolutely line up and be totally fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had most of the Disney collection there I have a skyscraper of boxes that were delivered to me while I was gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's like my new wardrobe is the Zara Disney collab so I was pretty set and I only keep home with responsible items which I was pretty pleased with before we left the hotel earlier that night We learned there was a complimentary shuttle to him from the parks at set times So we booked it just before we left just in case we stayed out until Disney Springs closed at 11 which
[SPEAKER_01]: No, we did.
[SPEAKER_01]: And having the bus they're waiting for us was so relaxing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, it's a mere situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a set schedule.
[SPEAKER_01]: You sign up, I think, like, 24 hours before.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's easy to do with the hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it really just had me missing Disney's magical Express.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it felt so nice to have a hotel you, like, will rescue a way on a mirrors.
[SPEAKER_01]: I missed that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I missed that a bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was just nice to kind of zen out on a bus before we returned back.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did stay out to late that night because, oh, did you hear that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you hear that in Mike, but the ice maker in the, I'm in one, I'm in a village style room, which we're going to get to in a sack, but it has a full kitchen with a full fridge and ice maker in the ice maker just kicked on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, we stayed out a bit too late because the next day was our big theme park day.
[SPEAKER_01]: And part of the draw of the trip was that I wanted to take my mom to epic universe for the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I visited for that media preview, I was like, she's gonna love these lands.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if she doesn't know any of the IP, and I was really curious what it would be like to be there with someone who doesn't do thrill rides.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom has motion sickness, she can't do the big screens, she can't do the big scariest, she doesn't do roller coasters, stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was wondering genuinely, like it was kind of an experiment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Will it be totally chill or will we still have plenty to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Will we be bored?
[SPEAKER_01]: Will this shine a light on the major holes in the parks attraction lineup?
[SPEAKER_01]: And the answer is, it kind of did all of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I won't lie to you on my podcast, dear friend.
[SPEAKER_01]: Epic universe was!
[SPEAKER_01]: Not our first stop of the day, oh yeah, the raining queen in princess of does too much island couldn't help ourselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: So my mom and I are like never alone in Orlando anymore, like we've had so much fun coming with pearls don't get me wrong but this was a dull time, it was just us and it's never really just us anymore, so I may have like, overextended us just to smidge.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because our first morning we didn't just wake up casually, get ready and go to epic, like a sane person would have done.
[SPEAKER_01]: We went to the Orlando outlet mall.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, in my defense, okay, everything is expensive everywhere now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are weirdly sometimes gigantic sales there.
[SPEAKER_01]: There can be really good deals and you don't know unless you pop in the first hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, unlike the time I went with my friend Ariana, like,
[SPEAKER_01]: a year or two ago at this point, things were not priced while on this visit.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were not affordable.
[SPEAKER_01]: We kept looking at tags being like, sorry, what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, do you know you're in an outlet mall?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it was very bizarre.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I mostly just played dress up at a few of the stores, sucking down my peanut butter cold brew from minions.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I ended up finding a pair of deeply, deeply discounted like a unicorn in a sea of no discounts, deeply discounted black Mary James that I really needed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have any solid black shoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I got pants and shoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do find stuff every time and with my mom's.
[SPEAKER_01]: See?
[SPEAKER_01]: She was right.
[SPEAKER_01]: She always helps me buy stuff because otherwise, oh, sorry, I'm just taking out my sweatshirt.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know why I thought you would hear that.
[SPEAKER_01]: My glass is hidden to my head.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought you'd hear that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how podcasting works.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I went up at my mom.
[SPEAKER_01]: I always get stuff done.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I just put it off forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I'm still walking on like half-broken, plastic broken stocks that are sitting in a cart on the broken stock website.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just haven't, I haven't clicked.
[SPEAKER_01]: Check out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we wrapped up there.
[SPEAKER_01]: We Ubered over to Epic around.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also like, oh, freely taking Uber's because I don't have a car seat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh.
[SPEAKER_01]: heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were over to epic around noon, and even though we had about 10 hours in the park, like the park was open from 10 to 10 that day, we missed the first two hours, which isn't a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were still moving at a fast clip the entire time, and kind of barely jammed everything in.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was this weird conundrum where I felt, I felt like so much lightning lane pressure, like, okay, let's do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to do this, and then even though we had the ability to do whatever, whenever, I just was still kind of schedule stress the whole day.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's confounding how the park strangely has almost nothing for my mom to do, but we also never seem to actually... relax.
[SPEAKER_01]: The two things I really wanted my mom to see were Cirque Arcaneu in the Untrainable Dragon, both of the main stage shows at Epic Universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we be-line straight to the circus and got in no problem.
[SPEAKER_01]: I told my mom nothing, even though she's fully listened to the Epic Universe podcast, like she's called in a voice mail about it, um, I think she just, that just kind of, all that information has already left her brain, which was nice because she was able to experience it all for the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I guess I didn't spoil it on the podcast, so that does make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that does make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: She probably retained it, but again, I did spoil it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while I love the Cirque Arcaneu, you know this, you've heard my podcast on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it, love it, love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think Epic Universe has a really big repeatability issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom loved the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was her first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: But once you know what happens in Cirque Arcaneu, in like,
[SPEAKER_01]: This little stage front fantastic beasts propaganda machine, which I say lovingly match, but it is a fantastic beast's propaganda machine.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't, once you've seen it, once you know what happens, it doesn't quite hit the same.
[SPEAKER_01]: Same with seeing Wizarding World of Harry Potter's Paris for the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom who has no favoritism towards any of these properties.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was still wowed.
[SPEAKER_01]: She walks in was like, she nailed it immediately.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was like, is this turn of a century Paris?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it just really delivered design-wise.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then after we spent time in there, she was kind of like, okay, I've seen it all, I'm good.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's not someone who's gonna buy a wand to do this stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: The characters walking around are kind of like, who are these people?
[SPEAKER_01]: And unlike some other parks, like, it doesn't really happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: We never feel like we're ready to go like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was interesting to see that happen
[SPEAKER_01]: And it really got me thinking about how there is this big chasm between epic universes properties featured in the parks and other theme parks in the area.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, my mom has gone to universe with me many times before, and my mom knows what men and black is, who Jimmy Fallon is, what Shrek is.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's very familiar with Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, Dr. Seuss, even like the comic strip Island fellas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jurassic Park too, even though that's pretty straightforward, like, it's dragons, duh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Newt Scamander?
[SPEAKER_01]: Poppin' up 10 minutes into a stage show appearing by screen and sounding like he is definitely battling a cold.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom is like, this is fun, but what is happening?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, who is this man?
[SPEAKER_01]: She did not know who he was, which honestly,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah!
[SPEAKER_01]: Most people don't!
[SPEAKER_01]: The movies take!
[SPEAKER_01]: And like, while I, like, I'm not obsessed with the fantastic beasts franchise, I, I wouldn't know this stuff if I was being tested on an either.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while it's lovely outside of the barrier of context, I do feel like Epic Universe's IP does hit a bit of a generational wall.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't want to put it this way, but I'm gonna.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you might be fooled by an AI video of cute babies on Instagram, this park is maybe not for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: No casual fan, even if you grew up with the Harry Potter films, and perhaps don't have lower back pain yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: would clock who this man is.
[SPEAKER_01]: And upon second look at epic, it's something that I thought could happen with different age groups, but something I really hadn't experienced with my own eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that repeatability issue is interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: And going to be something I follow for the next few years.
[SPEAKER_01]: The best way for universal to fix this is obviously to open to family friendly rise inside a wicked themed land and then literally every problem with this park will be solved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Literally every problem at Epic Universe would be solved by two family friendly rides in a wicked land.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please make it happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while we're on the topic, can we just Newt Scamander is the name of the character if it has to feast and the ringleader of the
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's terrible idea was that?
[SPEAKER_01]: They sound identical.
[SPEAKER_01]: Scamander and Scander were their no other names.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're all the names taken.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, why would they give them identical names?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's so confusing, especially if you don't know this property.
[SPEAKER_01]: And who does?
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you'd think, oh, they must have had a miserable day at Epic University.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, we had a really great time.
[SPEAKER_01]: The food was wonderful.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were jam packed all day with things to do, surprisingly.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just that repeatability issue that I'm kind of waving a flag on early, because if you're not drawn to these properties specifically, once you go once, you're kind of like, that was rad, but I don't know if I need to do that again.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what we did do, we loved.
[SPEAKER_01]: We went to, oh boy, don't wanna see this out loud.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cafe Leir de la Seren, the restaurant.
[SPEAKER_01]: Second resume, we're very butter.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was determined to sit outside.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a moment during the press preview where I was sitting outside and I was like, this is where I wanna come back here with my mom and I'm gonna sit here and I want us to have food and that is exactly what happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got the turkey sandwich, the baguette, me, the turkey on a sandwich, fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom got French onion soup with a side salad
[SPEAKER_01]: better than the one she had in Paris, which is a great review for Harry Potter and also a battery for my restaurant choices in Paris.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, I must have done her dirty.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my mom wanted to see the rest of his ring world and explore, but I desperately needed coffee so we popped out to the Starbucks and celestial park so I could get my sauce and then we headed back in.
[SPEAKER_01]: But while we were on the way to Starbucks, we noticed the postcard booth was open.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is one of those areas where there's different artists doing hand-it-tap tools and face paint.
[SPEAKER_01]: And do you know the letter paintings, the letter paintings, and you're like a letter painted?
[SPEAKER_01]: They also had these postcards.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just walked past it and clocked it really fast because I collect a traditional postcard every time I travel anywhere for Pearl.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I came to the opening, I literally could not find a postcard.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went to all the gift shops.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were like, oh, we don't sell postcards.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, they just don't sell epic universe postcards.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I saw this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, oh, I'll get her this postcard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Little did I know that they will paint you into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So my mom and I stood there for this painting.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like abstract painting.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so beautiful.
[SPEAKER_01]: The artist did such an incredible job.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish I remembered their name, but they were fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then my mom was like, oh, can you add pearl in?
[SPEAKER_01]: And they did.
[SPEAKER_01]: I gave the artist a photo of my child.
[SPEAKER_01]: They painted her in, like, oh, so wonderful, really great souvenir.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was 2399, which is a little like, it's a little, it's up there, it's up there, but I think compared to anything else I would have run home, I will cherish this way more.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I ran into my friend Tara, who also does what I do is also covering thing parks, and she got one too, and I was like, oh, is this a thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know this was the thing, and I googled around, and I guess at the beginning of the park opening, or maybe when they were in soft opening, they had postcards like this, and they were free.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were free, and that's also where they handed out poems if you have a vague recollection of that, like I do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I looked around.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't have time to text Alicia Sella before recording this because I'm heading to the airport in 30 minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have exactly enough time to record and then my bags are out the door to go to Gidians, but I will find out, and I'll move back once I talk to Alicia.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was such a delightful little souvenir that I'm gonna cherish so much more than a stuffed animal and I'm so glad we did it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will also hold onto it if you don't wanna carry it around and possibly bend it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But because they can close early for rain, we decided to just take ours with us and hold onto it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my mom had it in her bag and it didn't bend and I am so grateful.
[SPEAKER_01]: the weather that day was who I could do and it started pouring like right after I got my coffee so we went back to his ring world to check out the details and I got to say it really is a beautiful land even if the woman who created it couldn't be uglier inside like it's wild that the author has become such a hateful beast that she's one of the kinds of villains she would have put into her own story.
[SPEAKER_01]: What a wretched woman.
[SPEAKER_01]: She came down like it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, we walked around.
[SPEAKER_01]: I forced my mom to take photos of me, like throughout the park, and then I took her inside the Ministry of Magic, which is one of those spaces because there is a path.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you, if there's like the express express lane line, the express line, there's the regular queue, and then there is just a path to see the Ministry of Magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the same entries as a single rider line, but even if the single rider line is closed, you can still go in there and check out the Ministry of Magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I took her in there.
[SPEAKER_01]: When it's the space that I thought, she would think was super cool, even if she didn't know Harry Potter.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it just kind of made no sense, because I forgot, like, if you don't know Harry Potter, like, the wow of the Ministry of Magic is just like, where am I?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, am I in an office building?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is happening?
[SPEAKER_01]: The flu powder was still fun, the effect, the green, like, that was great, but the Ministry kind of made no sense, um, which I thought, like, I guess I just never, I can't remember, I'll like, before knowing about the Ministry of Magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I was, this is really eye opening to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: From then, we had about an hour until our big surprise of the day.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so now that it was sunny, we walked back through Burke to see the dragons, catch the sights, and I mean, I realized like, yeah, when someone doesn't do throw rhymes and they don't know these IPs, they're just like kind of not much for them, which is fine, which is fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I bring that up because there is a way.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a way if you are traveling with someone who doesn't do thrill rides who like maybe isn't as invested in these properties as you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a way to still have everyone do what they want to make everyone happy and the golden ticket for that in this park is the single rider line.
[SPEAKER_01]: hiccups, wingliders didn't have it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I imagined it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I imagined they had it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They never had it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a huge bummer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, oh, I'm just going to go on a single ride online and it doesn't exist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I take it back.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we made our way to Darkmore, which is Dark universe, and I literally breathed on two monsters unchanged.
[SPEAKER_01]: like I floated in like a spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so fast.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was basically running down the halls.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it was impossibly quick to get on that ride.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that ride is a powerhouse.
[SPEAKER_01]: The type of thing more theme parks need.
[SPEAKER_01]: The way time posted was basically 10 to 15 minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I checked, which is bananas for a behemoth of a ride like this one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I forgot how long that ride is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's huge!
[SPEAKER_01]: And the fact that you can single rider a brand new thrill ride like that with no hesitation over and over and over is blitz because the post and weights during that day were long
[SPEAKER_01]: It would require a lot of moving around and back and forth and checking the clock.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like a lot of doing that to get it all done, but if you don't want to buck up the big box for Express Pass, which oh my god, I get it, especially if you have a family or a bunch of kids, like as of so quickly, single-writer line is a tool that is more helpful here than probably anywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was recently reading this bonkers blog post from my friend Tom Brecker about how he waited in like no lines in epic, which not my experience on a random Monday and September.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hatching John, not the same.
[SPEAKER_01]: He went on a weekend and it was bliss.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what's going on there.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can check out his blog post.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was shocked by that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apparently the weekends are maybe not as busy, but that doesn't make any sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I trust Tom.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just was not my experience, but I trust him wholeheartedly.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I did have a taste of what he experienced later in the day.
[SPEAKER_01]: because single writer line will make your life a thousand times easier, but in tandem with that, putting the effort into really watching the wait times is going to benefit you greatly at this park.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take Harry Potter Battle of the Ministry.
[SPEAKER_01]: This ride ranged between 180 minutes and 25 on the same day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Seriously, at one point the general wait time was 25 minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is an attraction who had sandwiched words up throughout the park that would close early, so staffers aren't working until like 1 a.m.
[SPEAKER_01]: if everyone runs in a park closure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I personally think that's why it dropped so shockingly low towards the end of the night, because everyone's like, wow, we might miss out.
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, 25 minutes was an 8 p.m.
[SPEAKER_01]: 2 hours before a park closure.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I got in line in the single writer line, the weight was 35 minutes, I waited about 20, and the ride attendant overheard the people next to me talking about 35 minutes and was like, what the weight was 35 minutes?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like even they couldn't believe it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's how whack-a-mole epic universe can start to feel after a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: You never know what's going to go down or stop operating if the elevator shafts aren't at all working in the ministry, or what wait times will be.
[SPEAKER_01]: And everything feels a bit chaotic on the guest end.
[SPEAKER_01]: And
[SPEAKER_01]: little internally chaotic within yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: As many of you know, one of their major thrill rides is currently closed for a very good reason, one which I await more information hopefully coming out because it is incredibly sad and truly awful of a story.
[SPEAKER_01]: But beyond any impact that may be having on wait times in the park, not all the attractions here are firing on all cylinders.
[SPEAKER_01]: figures were down on monsters, untrainable dragons stopped mid-show earlier that morning, and everyone's getting doomed from the Donkey Kong ride, which I don't recommend you go on anyway, because... Ouch!
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just feel like I want to warn you that the lines here are a little random and a little chaotic, and it's kind of a slog.
[SPEAKER_01]: I walked away being like, why am I not chill?
[SPEAKER_01]: Relax, happy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm not here with the toddler, shouldn't I feel free?
[SPEAKER_01]: Even going from poncho to sweating to umbrella, to wait times, to show time, to schedules.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it just felt a lot more complicated here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it all goes back to them, not having easy rides.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a lot to see and lots to eat, but not a lot to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are no small wins here, and that is the issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, there's no easy thrill.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a reason Disneyland didn't originally have only six E-ticket rides.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a reason there are different levels of rides.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here there are essentially no slow boat rides, no rides to easily board.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's one Omni mover, yes, the Yoshi ride.
[SPEAKER_01]: But moving into the pace of an ice cube melting on a kitchen countertop while sitting in the blazing hot sun is not really where it's at.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did ride that at night, my mom loved it.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was so happy to go on something because, well, yeah!
[SPEAKER_01]: We saw the untrainable dragon, which was excellent as always, truly toothless flying above you, five stars no question.
[SPEAKER_01]: But my mom was kind of other than this park, and I just wish they had a little more to do, even though we did have so much we packed the day with.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we went back a second time and she'd already seen everything, she would want to leave within minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: We would do the carousel, we would do that, and then it would be over.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you can make it easy on yourself, utilize single-rider line, watch the cues closely as much brain space as that does take, and prepare to pivot whenever necessary, which is something Tom said in his post, which I absolutely agree with.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be nimble to pull a day off here,
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is mentally draining, but it is worth it.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least here, it actually does pay off in dividends.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were able to do everything we wanted and eat, everything we wanted, and end our night with a glorious ride in the carousel as the park closed, which was truly wonderful.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the highlight was something special in my mom and I did together, which I will tell you about after this break.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back, and I have a special guest with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so special.
[SPEAKER_02]: So happy to be here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I forced her a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you did not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I wanted you to talk about the monster makeover that we had in Darkmore at Epic Universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this is something you did not want to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Complained about it extensively.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, because I was worried about my gonna break out Is it gonna be too much makeup?
[SPEAKER_02]: I have some issues with my eyes.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was worried about everything It went so smooth.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you ended up being obsessed with it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love she who did my makeup She was amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean like just to set this scene my mom was like, do I have to do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do I have to do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: cut to me still getting my face done looking over in my mom is having a full photo shoot inside the makeup studio my mom is like transformed into a different person like visually and completely like it was like fully she was basically a photographer taking photos of my mom in all these different settings.
[SPEAKER_01]: It I cannot recommend the experience enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was $45 for each of us, which I was kind of like that's a pretty good price And then once we got it done, I was like, that's an unbelievable price because they really go hard with the makeup
[SPEAKER_02]: Yours was a little different than mine mindless different and she was such she was so precise and everything like the bolts had to be good And the scars had to be great, but when you when she was doing it, I was like I don't know how this is gonna be because I have a green face and then she outlined it in black and silver and did these little stitches And she did one side of my face and then the other side of my cheek and it was so amazing
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so they have like when you get there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really hard to find online.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they have the options online, but I looked at social media as much as possible because it every TikTok before we went.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's like 10-ish different options that you can do.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of them that my mom got is kind of like a half-stitch face, so it's like over one of your eyes and then kind of what was it like, around your mouth or like, it was all over like my headline and the one side around my cheek.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just missing the other eye.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like like a like a Frankenstein half in half.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I looked through all of them and I originally was going to do maybe like a Dracula or a bride of Frankenstein because my mom forced me into a bride of Frankenstein costume when I was a small child and made me wear it for multiple Halloween.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though I was about five and did not know who bride of Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_01]: like what I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of my friends, I was in front of
[SPEAKER_01]: In retrospect it's funny, but like I couldn't like it wasn't supposed to be a princess Which is that we have right a friend I had princess type though.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had no context for what that was she had me like a whole bride wig in second grade and Maybe first grade and kindergarten What would you mean bride wig?
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a tall.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it was like match simpson.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah Yeah, whole head piece my tiny head right and you looked adorable.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish you'd post that
[SPEAKER_01]: I do have to find it was listen, it was cute, it was cute, but also unnecessary.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I thought I was going to go in and have a real full circle moment and do the pride of Frankenstein makeup, but then when I flip through all the images, they now have an updated book and they have photos of a child and two adults for each makeup look.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of the adults looked kind of scary and mean in the makeup.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I originally was looking online at the kid Dracula and like the little kid, bright of Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_01]: and they were so cute but then these adults looked terrifying and I didn't want to be like out here terrifying random children on their theme park vacation.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I ended up going full Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_01]: So my mom and I kind of matched where she had partial Frankenstein and I had full Frankenstein face and I have never done anything like that and it was shockingly fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I started taking the mannequin to the monster mannequins and kissing him and taking pictures I did do a
[SPEAKER_02]: photo.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, you have they had they had a wall of monsters in a mirror.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I put my face in the middle and took a picture of all of us Um, they took a picture of me to keep two.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know why.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, just because they wanted to show They wanted to show um, I think their boss was asking to see different versions of what they just to see like what the artistry was
[SPEAKER_02]: So when we're taking pictures and I'd say, no, Carl, they don't smile at me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Because it was a monster.
[SPEAKER_02]: But the best thing is when we were all done, we were able to get in line and meet Frankenstein in the brighter Frankenstein and take pictures and he was so handsome.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, my mom always has the heart of Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like really messed up.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you're interested in, he was beautiful in his image.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was Frankenstein, Bob.
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you can see his features, he was gorgeous and the blind was beautiful.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could not see his features because he was Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I was like my knees were like he goes where's your vault and I'm like, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was so cute, like you just picture him and not call him.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you picture him, not green, he was so cute.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had like, he had like a friend of the same face.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was gorgeous.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, my mom has absolutely lost her mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely lost her mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: But was really, what was really, really nice.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I also like, I cannot recommend this experience enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I don't do this, but the way I looked at it was like,
[SPEAKER_01]: what like ears at Disney are about 40 bucks now this was $45 and I feel like this is so much more special of an accessory even though it is something you can only really wear that day it was fun and like people kept I kept forgetting I had it on people kept asking about it and I was like oh right I'm talking to you like I'm
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm Frankenstein and it was it was just it was a it was a more fruitful experience and I anticipated now We had the appointment at 5 30 p.m.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which I think we could have done a smidge earlier if we really wanted to like get the most out of it But I got to say I nailed the timing perfectly because we were able to take like sunset photos We got a bunch of photos in and when I did start to sweat it off they will You can actually go back for touch-ups until they close around nine which is when they close when we were there
[SPEAKER_01]: You can go in for touch-ups and they will touch it up, but I have a very, I have like a wet nose, like a dog, I don't know, I have allergies, and so I wouldn't have been able to last in the heat in it, but like, 530, it kind of stayed together.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, when we got back, I couldn't get it, I mean, I used the Neutrogeno wipes, but it took a few wipes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mine was good as gold, it was staying on.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was really, I was very impressive.
[SPEAKER_01]: and when you walked out so like here okay here's what I what I wanted to go back to say originally is that like the uh the staff there the employees the team members could not have been better start to finish excellent like uh props across the board everything was wonderful the studio space that we were in was like separate from a gift shop and it was so cool because they had it was basically like
[SPEAKER_01]: a Mac counter, but for monsters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they had all of these, and I asked them about it because I'm like the setup is so beautiful.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had it custom built, like in-house, the setup of all these paint tent, like face makeup tins and like everything was just set up so nice and get really felt like a salon.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't like a child's face painting like two minutes.
[SPEAKER_02]: This was she took it at least a half hour.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mine was 40 minutes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe mine was 40 minutes.
[SPEAKER_02]: But we were having so much fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: We lost track of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're in like an oldie time barber chair like the whole experience is done so well And the room is just us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, it's good.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be more people usually there's four chairs It was just us and then when what I thought was so exceptional and to go back to my mom's crush on Frankenstein Is that they were doing our makeup and they're like you guys look so good You have to meet Frankenstein and brighter Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us find out what time the schedule is
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you guys know like that's not really posted.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like kind of hard to figure it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: They went and asked around and found out when the next Frankenstein meat was so that we could go in our makeup and meet him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which I thought was just going the extra mile and was just so, so great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it truly has been being property boutique for spooks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's it's just like, oh, I believe it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Boo.
[SPEAKER_01]: But one of the best parts was that we walked out and I didn't know they would present us.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know that they were going to say that they walked out, they rang a bell, and they presented us to the village, and they presented us as Igor was walking by, as Igor was walking by, and I don't know what was going on that day with Igor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Igor was wondering if someone was holding an umbrella over Igor, like he was a celebrity getting into a black car after a late night talk show visit, and he was like walking through, like still talking,
[SPEAKER_01]: but he was on the go but it wasn't raining so I'm not really sure what was happening but Igor did comment on our makeup which was very exciting because Igor wasn't stopping the chat but he did chat a little bit and then we were able to go and wait truly like 10 minutes until the Frankenstein meet and greet opened up we were first in line because we knew we had insider info and we were able to meet him with fresh makeup and it was really great it was wonderful he's so cute
[SPEAKER_02]: Mom, she was pretty too, but boy, he was hot.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, my God, my God, I would go back and go back.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's banned, listen, she's banned from meeting anyone after this.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other thing I wanted to talk to you about before I go back and thank you for visiting on the mic is that we had dinner at Blue Dragon at Epic Universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we thought it was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was outstanding.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was really great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we made a reservation there because of friend of the pod and friend of both of us in real life, Shea Spence and posted a video like six weeks ago, I think that he loved this one dish there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the beef shiyan noodles, which is basically a spicy noodle dish with fraised beef and garlic and hot chili oil stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, that sounds great.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I immediately made a reservation on Shea's recommendation.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have been here, I have eaten here before, but it was at the media preview.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you go to something like that, they serve all of the food in like chafing trays and it's kind of a buffet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not how you eat at the restaurant.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how you order.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I can never like review or get a good idea, a good feel of what the menu is like in that situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm so glad we went back because we had that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ordered the beef noodles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Shea was right.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were delicious.
[SPEAKER_01]: We both split the crispy fried snapper, which was...
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it had a tie papaya salad, did not expect me eating a tie salad in a theme park with a pot sticker, but the pots my mom's Had someone I was like, you can have the rest because you're obsessed with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were attached to like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was called right snowflake pot stickers And so they were like it was basically like a a circle imagine a donut But the donut is made of individual pot stickers that are all fried in a way where they're attached on top I'm almost like a lace It was like yeah, if they had lace maybe one time
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, couldn't break my part.
[SPEAKER_02]: They were like, yeah, I was like, Chris, underneath me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, I just took the whole plate and ate it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry, curly.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I was so good.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've never had that anything like that before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was really, it was the food was really good.
[SPEAKER_01]: The food is really good at at the universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like annual passholders are going to be so lucky when they can treat this place like a mall food court.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they're really going to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was definitely make time to have a proper meal somewhere there because there, I mean, there's even other places I would have wanted to eat me in the end of time
[SPEAKER_01]: only had time for two meals.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a great decision though.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really glad we ate this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We almost didn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was almost like, let's do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought we were having so much fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're like, yeah, let's just get like something.
[SPEAKER_02]: I said no, let's sit down and relax.
[SPEAKER_02]: It rained like a little bit that day.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I needed to get inside.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was great.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Mom.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, I'm done.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you're done.
[SPEAKER_02]: I got it through.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can we talk a little more about Frank?
[SPEAKER_02]: No, one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Goodbye.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, I'm back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And can you believe that was only the first day?
[SPEAKER_01]: No wonder I'm sucking down a job freeze as we speak because it has been a humdinger.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's how you use that word and I'm just going to roll with it because I don't have time to check.
[SPEAKER_01]: Day two, we woke up and had to have to stay at the hotel to hang out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was given a tour of the property and a tour of rooms from my new best friend Susanne who works at the hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi Susanne!
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm so glad I was able to talk to someone here because I was able to learn a bunch of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know and wouldn't have found out about other rides.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I promised this isn't me giving you like a PR spiel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, the first day I was there, I was like standing by the Bellhop area and I noticed a a portrait on the wall.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I looked at it and I looked at this artist signature and I was like, that looks like Raochenberg, but why would that be in this hotel?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I kind of shook it off and I was like, nah, like interesting, but no, I must just be misreading the name.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, the person who did the interior design of this hotel, who read it all of the standard sweet rooms and is going to be redoing the villas, is like a major fan or a affiliated with Robert Rauschenberg, and there is a original Rauschenberg hanging in this hotel, Loki, nobody would have known other like I saw it there and was like, that's, that couldn't be.
[SPEAKER_01]: That simply couldn't be that museum quality art is just casually hanging here near the front,
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, we stayed in a villa, which is separate from the other rooms that I toured.
[SPEAKER_01]: I toured one of their standard king sweets and then one of their king royale sweets.
[SPEAKER_01]: And essentially, all of the rooms here are sweets or villas, period.
[SPEAKER_01]: A standard room when you book it here is a sweet, you're getting a sweet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the sweets I gotta tell you are shockingly good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm in a villa, we have a full kitchen, we have a full stove, we have time to space, we have a dining room table which I'm recording at, and a very high ceiling which I know Jeff tells me never to do, but I didn't want to send the closet for an hour, I'm sorry Jeff, I hope this doesn't sound bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm out here being like, y'all, we gotta talk about these hotel rooms, because all of them are sweet by standards, so you get a separate living room, and the living room has like a big long desk,
[SPEAKER_01]: which is separate from the bedroom, which is so good for if you're working while traveling, because sitting in that desk facing a wall in the bedroom is so sad, you also every room has a microwave, so you can have a warm, gitty and cookie later on in the week.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have like, it's just the amenities here are so good for the type of trip that a lot of us take.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're perfectly situated between theme park resorts, and I say all this because
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very impressed by what they're offering here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they have those regular sweets, King or two queen.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a fancier royal king's sweet, and then the two bedroom villas.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the only room types.
[SPEAKER_01]: No link, few straight view.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, a corner of like, no, none of that scrolling through a Mary-out website, feeling kuku bananas.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just those room types.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's simple.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all these moments that maybe go kind of, oh!
[SPEAKER_01]: Huh, like in the market downstairs, they have Kelly's ice cream, the local ice cream per bear, and they have a flavor that is exclusive to here that's like a rum chocolate that's made with chocolate that the pastry chef at the hotel blended themselves overseas, like the type of stuff you're like, we won't, what?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just a scoop of ice cream.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had this place stadium club, which I did not go to because I hate sports, but it looks very cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was invited to go there and I was like, nah dude, I'm not going to be in a football environment.
[SPEAKER_01]: but they have a lot of like simulators and golf simulators and zombie dodgeballs and the latest stuff that if you're into that would be very cool and it ends up because the kept things like huh wow that's you guys really like meet guests where they're at it ends up their family oh this one tells family oh isn't it wild I'm just kind of like you're part of a conglomerate surely no their family owns they're able to just like kind of do whatever they want and get a lot more done
[SPEAKER_01]: But if there is one thing you take away from the hotel, please don't let it be that I destroyed one of the towels after washing my face after Frankenstein.
[SPEAKER_01]: I used three makeup wipes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I used three makeup wipes and still I got some on there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if there's one thing you take away, even besides also the fact that I googled the pricing while I was here, I didn't do beforehand because I wanted to go in, just not know what anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Google the pricing and was gagged for what you would get for the price.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, like the King Vendor sweet for the price.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw like under like a son under $200 rate and I am shocked.
[SPEAKER_01]: staying here is like truly the difference between staying at Disney or being able to pay for all of your Disney tickets with the price difference.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I will be coming back here the next time I have a solo work trip mark my words.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the thing you got to take away from Caribe Royale is that they have a Starbucks in the lobby.
[SPEAKER_01]: And oh, no, oh, no, this isn't, oh, oh, we probably serve Starbucks, none of those lies.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a full, beautiful Starbucks that looks like it was plopped here from an airport or a mall just bland.
[SPEAKER_01]: Beautiful Starbucks?
[SPEAKER_01]: And they have mobile order, which means that you can hypothetically mobile orgur Starbucks without leaving property and then hop in a vehicle and go to a theme park.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that,
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the difference.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're saving time, you're saving money, and you're caffeinated and not mad at your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is kind of all I look forward to on a trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that is really all that you need.
[SPEAKER_01]: Creeper I out is a convention hotel, and I do wanna flag that I was here when there is no convention happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no event, and it was so chill.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure it's a little different when there's a lot of people here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's like a dance competition like I'm sure it is a very different vibe.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, hands up, if you aren't here for something like that, look around and try to find a time like I did because you will feel like you are like a VIP among nobody.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the pool with so chill, everything was so chill.
[SPEAKER_01]: So try to time it for that and you'll basically have the hotel to yourself and it is rad.
[SPEAKER_01]: We spent some time in the pool.
[SPEAKER_01]: The weather didn't fully comply with our plans, but we had a cute little lunch.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got to drink out of a coconut.
[SPEAKER_01]: The highlight of any time I spent outdoors period.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I caught wind from a follower on Instagram that the best place to take an app is behind the waterfall.
[SPEAKER_01]: They just dry again to the waterfall.
[SPEAKER_01]: My body was just like the waterfall.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a gas in this beauty.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm, and the, I wish I had time to nap behind there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It sounded, oh, it's like the perfect white noise.
[SPEAKER_01]: It sounded so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was able to because we had more shenanigans to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sidebar, if you are traveling here with a family, they have a splash pad, which is next to a playground under a shade canopy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, they get it here.
[SPEAKER_01]: They get it here more than even the theme parks do.
[SPEAKER_01]: We hung out at the pool and could not decide what we were going to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom wanted to go to Magic Kingdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom and we were fighting about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I let the people decide when they decided with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now did I guilt them into it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Did I guilt everyone who follows me online?
[SPEAKER_01]: I sure did, but it was the right choice that I knew in my bones because we got there and everything broke our way.
[SPEAKER_01]: flight of passage was a ten minute posted wait they literally put a one in a zero up on the board there wasn't another zero after it it was like ten minutes come on in it's an open house and i was walking the queue like speedwalking being like i did not see this in my future in anyway no way did i think i would be breezing on to flight of passage which my mom the only thrill ride she has actually done in bino king with
[SPEAKER_01]: We were able to do it together, which I, again, never.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought we were going to like go on the safari and that's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were able to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were able to walk right on to Navi River journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we did, we got popcorn, duh.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we finally made our way to the goal of the day of the safari.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's not often many times where I go, I need to go on the safari today.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I felt it in my bones.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I was so adamant about animal kingdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I knew I must have had a premonition because it was...
[SPEAKER_01]: y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the best safari I have ever been on in my entire life.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so good that even our driver was like, yeah, this is not normal.
[SPEAKER_01]: It felt like if I had never been to Disney and I went on the safari with no context, I would be like, there's no way these animals are real.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're all animatronics.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we saw everyone.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to post a video, but like we saw every animal, a zebra walked in front of our truck.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we just got to watch this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We walked
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I can't believe this happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a real bucket with a moment that I never thought would happen to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never seen a lion on the rock.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've toured the rock many times on the safari, Kilimanjaro safaris, it Disney's animal kingdom, toured the rock, and they're always like, oh, like, sometimes a lion will be up there and like, oh, they cool it so that it's refreshing for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never seen a lion.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw three.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw three lions.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom just walked in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mom, do you remember the lions?
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember the three lions?
[SPEAKER_01]: It was crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the best so far.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't even think I can go back on the safari because it will never be as good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't remember this forever and I can't wait to show you all of the animals we saw.
[SPEAKER_01]: We, at this point the part was closed, we puttered around the shops, also cramming a theme park in this tiny trip was wild, but we crammed into it too.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing it like the Bob Iger.
[SPEAKER_01]: Star Wars.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're building too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing like the two fingers right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and by the way, animal kingdom closing time is really something.
[SPEAKER_01]: The weights are nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so chill.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love that it closes it six, which is not going to need to be say open all night, but it's really nice that like, I don't know you can like get a lot done and then know that there's the promise of another park if you have a park on ticket.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were leaving and I booked an Uber and then I was like, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, what if we add a little more chaos?
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see what buses are there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we walked over and of course, in the last spot, there was a bus, two boardwalk, yacht and beach.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my thinking was already, I was like, okay, okay, I know what I want to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know what I want to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got, I kind of want to go to the hotel and enter through the, there's a little showcase instead of entering through the front, because it would be a longer walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like my wheels were
[SPEAKER_01]: and we got into the bus that we were able to be dropped at Yacht Club and then walk in, which was perfect, because we entered F-Con from the back, we grabbed maple popcorn, which my mom wanted so badly that was her like one food of yesterday that she desperately wanted, and we really were able to play it by ear.
[SPEAKER_01]: We walked through the UK, which we never do, we never go in those shops.
[SPEAKER_01]: I spritz some perfume at the store on, and I like still smell like it, like I'm at it to buy it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It smells really good.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I don't want to, oh, I don't like sing words.
[SPEAKER_01]: Penfaglions!
[SPEAKER_01]: I once said a British word once to a British person they laughed in my face and I will never forget it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a friend, it wasn't like a random person.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm a little nervous while saying things a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think it was Penfaglions.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, the perfume, whoo, had it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got an ansoren, which was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't often get to go together because of Pearl.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's not tall enough yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was nice to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we were like beyond time of needing food.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, all I've had that day with it, like in that afternoon, since we had lunch was popcorn and sweet popcorn.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I, you know, pretended I was going to eat a festival dish, but of course I ended up in Mexico quick service.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lock container, my home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, we grabbed a table and we were able to stay there during the nighttime show, which was actually so,
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I keep conflating it in my brain with harmonious, which I openly hate it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I resisted that show because I never properly reviewed this one I just keep being like, oh, yeah, I saw a part of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It rocked.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, oh, I saw a few minutes It was cooler like, oh, I saw this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was walking out in really spectacular.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why did I say it in like this?
[SPEAKER_01]: I never said it in like it I was wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was just conflating the two of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did say it in like harmonious because that show stuck
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, we had a really nice sit.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to enjoy it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got to see that like military grade fireworks thing that comes out at the end.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's like a like a microphone.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a stick and it's like like endless fireworks that was wild.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we had a blast.
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom saw the show and was like, now this is worth the money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like she really was like this makes an Epcot day.
[SPEAKER_01]: We
[SPEAKER_01]: walks around a little more, my mom went shopping, we made our way out, we made our way back to the hotel, and now I am in the room and about to close my laptop because I need to head to Gidians and then to the airport.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was my wonderful 70-hour whirlwind of a trip to Caribe Royale.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had an excellent stay.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have any questions about the hotel, I'm beyond happy to answer them.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really feels like, oh, I found a secret, like, oh,
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a great hotel, like I didn't know what was not on my radar at all and will never not be on my radar going forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, thank you to the Korean Royale team for having me for knowing I would love it, knowing I would love it and making this a dream of a trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: Usually they would have been like you're playing paddleboard from 11 to 12.
[SPEAKER_01]: At 12, you're going to go do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's what a lot of times with PR people do, they didn't do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were like, go to the park have fun running around and tell people if you like it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you don't like it, okay, um, they didn't say that, but if I didn't like it, I would
[SPEAKER_01]: I would have told you, there is one thing I don't like and it's, there's like a perfume in the room, it's like a scent, they're right when you walk in you're like, ah, but we've been here for a while now and I don't smell it anymore, so it's not really bothering me, but originally I was like, oh god.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a strong scent, that is my only complaint.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you to everyone for listening, I gotta go to the airport.
[SPEAKER_01]: Love you, bye!
[SPEAKER_00]: I, Carly, this is Julie calling from Delaware.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to pause the episode of the pot-taps ranking at the same park because, yes, Hollywood Studios absolutely deserves a zero.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never gotten to the Winchester Banchid, but I don't know if you'll become pretty sure Hollywood Studios is created by the same mad woman.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you open a door, no, it's staircase.
[SPEAKER_00]: What, but what is that park?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I love Mickey and Minnie's railway.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually do like a carrot cake cookie.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, the rice is like super weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: So totally backing you up, a zero is, it might even be too high.
[SPEAKER_00]: Negative one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, bye.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for this call.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while I want to say that I appreciate you calling, this is a perfect phone call.
[SPEAKER_01]: Julie, you get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You absolutely get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to just very quickly yell at everyone who is not used.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Julie, chill out for a few minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: What, nobody?
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody called about my very aggressive episode, which either means Julie's the only person who called about that episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get more calls for episodes which are not as opinionated and intense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I guess like and people listen like I know I know people listen I guess people must agree with me
[SPEAKER_01]: Which is very exciting that I said a lot of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was going to get screamed at for and people agreed with me We were all out here just Racking out Hollywood studios were never saying it out loud.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why not?
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like California Adventure gets a lot of the like California Adventure Hollywood studios people like really went quiet on that park after the first round of facelift happened and now we're on the second round But like I don't know I don't know why I guess maybe we got it all out with the muppets, but nobody Julia the only one
[SPEAKER_01]: And I thank you for agreeing with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also the wishes are just re-app.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is like what is going on in that park and makes no sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people texted and did reach out that they were like, yeah, I'm right there with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like, yep, magic kingdom food, but well, I really thought I was going to get some serious Star Wars stands screaming at me banging down my virtual podcast door and really just
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, like, egging my, egging my house on none of that happened, none of my digital trees were teeped, I am really blown away.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am glad we all, we all agree if I'm wrong, give me a call.
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I didn't, I mean, I didn't expect that ranking at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a very fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to put it together.
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, Hollywood Studios is like kind of a mess, and I think we need to talk about it more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you Julie for agreeing with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for like walking in there and turning towards towards Toy Story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like always just put the shiver down my spine.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like, what is happening?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and I have like no true nostalgia for that park and yet it still just kind of messes me up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where I stand I stand behind everything I said.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, maybe I just said people so much they stopped listening.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: They listened, but I mean, they didn't they didn't call about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all okay, just wanted to make sure nobody everyone agrees with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah, it's kind of universal that the Magic Kingdom food stinks and Hollywood Studios is a mess And they have the best themed restaurants, but there's really not much else redeeming them truly the only thing I look forward to doing there is like Oh weird character meet and greet that feels very out of place.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like in the bowels of the park that Olaf meet and greet and then the Mickey and many one on the other side It's like where am I you're like so indoors.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know which structure you're in it the park is this joint did, but they have fun dining
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they've got that going for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And fantastic, even though it is where you can't see the water, why can't you see the water?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why can't we see Fent Hazmick?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, okay, I'm not gonna rehash the episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for calling, and if you have any other thoughts, I want to hear them, because I'm genuinely shocked that people were not calling for my hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, love you all, but not not Hollywood Studios.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love everything, but Hollywood Studios.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, bye.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's our show!
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you all for listening to this episode for going out in this wild wild world end of a journey along with me Thank you to Karibroyal for making all this happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I truthfully wholeheartedly recommended and like oh my god If you're going on with a solo trip or a trip with a friend like those those hotel rooms are nice Those hotel rooms are nice if you want your separate bedrooms you've got a villa They got it all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really genuinely love the hotel and I'm so grateful for them for making this happen
[SPEAKER_01]: You can rate or even follow very infusing on Apple podcasts and rate and follow us on Spotify.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can also give us a call whenever it's 747 Churros.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can text us too, but I'm really slow to respond on text just because I am.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you want your question answered for real for real, give us a call.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are thinking about planning a trip to Disneyland,
[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't you, Royal Crimin, Epic universe, Disney Crisline, any and all of it reach out to MEI MouseFan travel.
[SPEAKER_01]: They help make this podcast happen, they will do their best to save you money on your trip, and they will handle all of the annoying work that it requires.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is truly a gift from the heavens, travel agents, we love them, they do all the stuff we don't want to do, and they do it for free to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So please reach out to
[SPEAKER_01]: Any eye mouse fan travel, mousebandtravel.com slash amusing, they will hook you up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also sometimes that URL doesn't work all the time, so if you run into any trouble, just tell them I sent you so that they know that you are one of the very amusing community and they will take very, very good care of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can follow me at Carly Guys L across the internet, join the foblingitfacebook.com slash group slash Carly Guys L. And subscribe to my Instagram 99 cents a month cheaper than cold foam.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will hook you up.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually what I learned cheaper than protein.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can get two months of a bunch of nonsense for me, for less than the price of one serving of protein cold foam.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a pretty good deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, market rate, I ate weeks of me is the same as one blog blog of protein cold food not bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: And a bit, I praise it as low as possible.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't think it's, I think that's a pretty good deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a pretty good deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening.
[SPEAKER_01]: See you real soon.
[SPEAKER_02]: Disneyland was like the only car I went to as a kid.
[SPEAKER_02]: I have such great memories of the eat ticket books and the penny arcade and the submarine ride and the original skyliner.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was so much fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: I also love to see the characters when I see them.
[SPEAKER_02]: I like to keep up rides and other people are just going on the same rides.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're so fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's more intimate, I think, at the Disney Land one.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I also love Disney World.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that pack, my favorite ride.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I've caught a story.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love where it's truly, I love Frozen.
[SPEAKER_02]: Those are my favorites, but I really like the popcorns.
[SPEAKER_02]: More than anything in the world.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you saw anything, I went to Canada, bought the maple popcorn, and I bought it in boxes.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember walking around as we were rushing to a ride.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said to you, oh my god, look at that sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're playing.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're so good.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then we walked by the big ball.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, oh my god, look at that sand.
[SPEAKER_02]: They're so good.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, you know,
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe one time we'll just come here and relax and listen to music never going to happen.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have so much on our play.
[SPEAKER_02]: We can't wait to do and say everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is so much fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: Animal Kingdom blew me away.
[SPEAKER_02]: Blue me away this time.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I can't talk about it yet.
[SPEAKER_02]: It will be on next week's episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it was so good.
[SPEAKER_02]: I also love more than anything recording with you.
[SPEAKER_02]: And let me tell you, I don't get a heads up on anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is for the moment.
[SPEAKER_02]: He does not tell me what we're going to talk about.
[SPEAKER_02]: You just say, OK, this is what we're doing.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's it.
[SPEAKER_02]: It works out.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's so honest.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's so true.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's so real.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Great episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: And can't wait for the next week.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you so much, Carly.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you so, so much, Carl.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bye.