[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and welcome to very amusing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your one-stop shop for the story's secrets and shenanigans of a popcorns-yield theme park journalist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Curly Waisel, and while my voice is not completely back, yeah, it's been a month, if you've been counting.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has been a month since I lost my voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is some sort of steroid I can go on, but like I don't want to take a whole steroid and affect my whole body because my voice isn't back yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to heal things naturally, but we may have to bite the bowl and do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, my voice is not back, but we are back.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like my voice is back like 75%, but we are back a hundred percent because it is 2026 and I am so excited to bring you, don't don't don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first episode of the new year!
[SPEAKER_01]: We have so much in store this year, especially our very first group event, our group trip to Disney World and use the Palooza is literally days away, and looking at it to do list, written down on paper, and on a whiteboard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Things are moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Things are happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am as we speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am waiting for a new phone number that I purchased.
[SPEAKER_01]: I signed up for a cell phone plan, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I signed up for a new cell phone plan to be able to set up a WhatsApp group chat for everyone going to the event.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they dedicated phone number exclusively for a music loser like it there's a lot happening I'm ordering merch.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting things done.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's maybe even a little craft.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so much happening So if you were not able to go to this one for which I still feel Boulders worth them guilt just truly.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just like bogged down by the guilt I feel for people who wanted to go and couldn't and you were not able to get in which was my fault and I apologize deeply for if you Couldn't make it to this one because of timing money travel schedule, etc
[SPEAKER_01]: We will have more in the future.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope I pray, um, things seem to be going great right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So stay tuned for more 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to be a huge year, which is why we are doing a bucket list episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did one of these last year and there are so many more things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I just want to raise a little vacation flag about and be like, maybe you should travel here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I should all travel here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god, maybe a future group trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, stick around.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I hope your new ears and holidays were great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mine were great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went to Colorado.
[SPEAKER_01]: My child's skied for the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: She was scared of snow, which is shocking for someone who watches Frozen and consumes Frozen content 247.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did not think she would be scared of snow considering her passion at love for Elsa and yet it happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: She also went into her first roller coaster.
[SPEAKER_01]: She went on, I was called her barnstormer, but it Disneyland, it's Gadgets Go Coaster.
[SPEAKER_01]: She went on, was not scared, was not scared, sat down and I kept being like, okay, we're going to go up, up up, expecting her to lose her mind when we got up there.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, she loves it, we got to just set again again again.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to go again.
[SPEAKER_01]: My child loves it through.
[SPEAKER_01]: She loves a popcorn.
[SPEAKER_01]: She loves a theme park.
[SPEAKER_01]: What can I say?
[SPEAKER_01]: She is my flesh.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when I went to a football game, I went back to the final night of the holiday's made here activation at Warner Brothers Studio to Hollywood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Was incredible.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, if you don't follow me on social media, I did a guest episode on Scott Patterson's podcast and we'll say Luke Daines's podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I did a little episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: The podcast is called I am all in again.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do I keep thinking?
[SPEAKER_01]: I am all in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, oh, he's just called I am all in with Scott Patterson, but the actual podcast name in the little image is I am all in dot that dot again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen I am not I am but a journalist who needs to get the facts straight about the gumwork rolls podcast anyway I am I did a little episode there.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll check it out My two weeks of being a gumwork rolls reporter have ended and now we can talk about themed entertainment.
[SPEAKER_01]: So
[SPEAKER_01]: And can't wait to see you every week in 2026!
[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, see you on the other side!
[SPEAKER_03]: Bye-bye!
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello and welcome back to our bucket list, 2026 episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now on this podcast, when I say I am popcorn fueled, I'm not just using that as like a euphemism, I'm not just joking around.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am on my third bowl of popcorn this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, not even noon yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're at Bill of Popcorn and Morty is standing underneath my desk like literally red D for a piece of ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will give you one.
[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you're supposed to feed a dog popcorn when he loves it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, lobs, it's so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't help myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is a big bucket list episode, because this is the second time we have done this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And last year we played it a little differently.
[SPEAKER_01]: We definitely stuck closer to theme parks.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about how we were looking forward to Epic Universe, which isn't now open.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh, how exciting.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about, we kind of like ruminated on how some Disney experiences can be taken away.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we should try to like see those before it's too late, which I have done.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I now believe I've been hard into two.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something changed in me.
[SPEAKER_01]: when the walls went up at both Muppets courtyard and over in Magic Kingdom by Rivers of America.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something changed inside of me when both of those walls went up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know I think that I am just uncalist, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't know if you can hurt me anymore because so much change has happened so quickly and walking mazes of walls and theme parks for 10 years now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm just used to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm used to things being taken away.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that doesn't hit me as harder.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something that did hit me hard when I listened to last year's episode is that I did say verbally out loud 2025 is going to be the year that I'm going to make it to dolly one.
[SPEAKER_01]: That did not happen as we all know.
[SPEAKER_01]: So dare I say no dare I tempt fate 2026 will be the year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I'm going to make it to Dollywood.
[SPEAKER_01]: The trip is booked by the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: We booked it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Airfare.
[SPEAKER_01]: Booked.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Booked.
[SPEAKER_01]: tickets.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're about to buy them.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are going back to Dollywood 100% full stop.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is happening this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: If Delta Airlines will follow through on their promise, yet again, to bring us there.
[SPEAKER_01]: But essentially, we just talked about a lot of random stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And nothing about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't even want to talk about lessers episode because this is this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this year, this year I wanted to do it a little differently.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got seven, wait, yes, seven.
[SPEAKER_01]: I originally thought it was eight, and I just realized my math was wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got seven domestic American low cows that I desperately want to visit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to really fun about this episode is that we're not talking about Disney.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are not talking about universal.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are talking about locations throughout the United States of America that I'm obsessed with that I desperately want to go to that I want to encourage you to go to and based on where you live on either coast, you are likely why close to one of these.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like one of these could be possible for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's two hours away.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's three, maybe it's four.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is possible to make a trip out of one of these no matter
[SPEAKER_01]: where you live in the country.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you live in the country, if you don't live here, come visit our beautiful country and visit all these places.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they seem really great.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we are going to discuss these seven places.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am itching to go to in 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: starting with the national museum of toys and miniatures in Kansas City.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I did not even know this was a place.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not know this existed until the algorithm praised the algorithm.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, people, the algorithm we've complained about it for years and years and years, but you know what it has done now?
[SPEAKER_01]: It has given me exactly what I want.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I open my feet and scroll, I'm like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I like that dress.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I like this girly style.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I want to go to this place like it has figured me Out and I'm using it to my advantage because it has brought me this place that I did not know about the post that got fed to me was a little video of a bunch of bears on display.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was behind glass.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like an old school padding to bear a vintage
[SPEAKER_01]: was a bit unsavory for these airwaves.
[SPEAKER_01]: It had to do with a dream rotation.
[SPEAKER_01]: But are you kidding me?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you joking that there is a toys and miniatures museum in America?
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not know about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This place looks absolutely incredible.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that because I lost my voice, I can't reach my high highs that I typically vocally reach, but know that while I am in this register,
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, my feelings are up here!
[SPEAKER_01]: I just can't hit the notes right now, but I am so jazzed about this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, it looks incredible.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, which I didn't really realize, I kind of grew up seeing miniatures and museums.
[SPEAKER_01]: We would go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our parents take us every year.
[SPEAKER_01]: We took a family photo there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every single year we went all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have this deep hazy memory of their being this thing that I looked up and it's called the calling it more fairy castle.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll put a link to it in the show notes, but they've all these little castle rooms and all these little miniatures and they're so sweet!
[SPEAKER_01]: And while looking up and trying to refresh my memory of this deep memory that I have, I also realized they have manyatures at the Orc Institute of Chicago.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, are my memories blending?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was my whole childhood just going to a museum and seeing miniatures?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is Chicago kind of its own miniature museum?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you haven't been to either of those museums in Chicago, you have to add those to your bucket list for real.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I spent my whole childhood there and so now I'm
[SPEAKER_01]: They seem like they have historic toys, iconic toys, um, I will say the website is not giving me the visuals I crave.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their Instagram could really use the careful touch of an aggressively online 22 year old, but from what I understand, they've got like happy meal toys behind glass under the guise of it being educational.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is what I'm looking for.
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like an absolute must the next time I am in or near Missouri.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you live nearby and have seen it, please call in.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to go to this and you go to this this year, please let me know.
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems so sick.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just can't get enough and I need more because there's nothing much I lied about and I don't know why.
[SPEAKER_01]: Similarly, a museum, I am dying to go to.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dear we say, the Muppin Mecca, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this has been in the news lately because in case you didn't see it on, let me double check the date in November, so like just a few weeks ago, the family of Jim Henson announced that the current the frog statue that was dressed is Charlie Chaplin that was outside the lot where the Jim Henson company was headquartered until very very recently in LA.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know him is Kirby.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, whenever I drove down the brand saw him, I'd go,
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'd wave at him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is gone on a ballet heartbreaking for me personally very very upsetting But they are gifting that to the center to the center for puppetry arts This is a big deal because this place is not only like the go-to place to honor puppetry and basically all of the Jim Henson companies Creations, but now they have something that was an iconic piece of LA sightseeing and it will be at this museum
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't worry about like, ah, the curb it's gone to give you some like in general information.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a big discussion that is happening in LA this week and like the past few weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a story that just came out in the LA times about the lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: Essentially, the lot was sold where like the Jim Henson company was based.
[SPEAKER_01]: The lot was sold to Mick G, who's a film director and John Mayer, who you may recognize from ever listening to music inside a CVS or
[SPEAKER_01]: appreciating his guitar skills because that dude is very good at guitar.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, Mick G and John Mayer purchased this lot and when they purchased it, the name changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I believe it's chaplain studios.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like honoring it's heritage.
[SPEAKER_01]: It felt a little like, ooh, like the Kirby's being taken away.
[SPEAKER_01]: But on the lot front, they are doing an incredible job.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was lucky enough to mask out of the podcast, Jeffrey Epstein comes up every time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was lucky enough to attend a mptf next gen.
[SPEAKER_01]: fundraiser with Jeffrey who he, Jeffrey's on the board of MCF next gen, and they do wonderful work for everyone involved in the film industry.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went to this event on the lot which was hosted by Mick G, and so much care has been put into this lot, so much like energy and preservation, like they really, really, really care.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a second when they were selling this and we were like, oh, no, they're going to put up a high rise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: But
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so grateful if you haven't heard many details.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just know that the lot is okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: The lot is good.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is being cared for.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a historic piece of Los Angeles and Hollywood history.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is being cared for.
[SPEAKER_01]: But while I was heartbroken, the Kermit was being taken away from what?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is something to look forward to beyond what they already offer at this magical, magical locale.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm going to be so real with you guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not know what is inside the center for puppetry arts.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not know because I selfishly want to be surprised, which is rude and inconsiderate of me as a journalist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will admit, but why is of me as someone who is a diehard muppets fan and loves to be surprised and wild by things?
[SPEAKER_01]: What I do know is this.
[SPEAKER_01]: One, everyone I've spoken to who's been there has talked about it positively and love their experience.
[SPEAKER_01]: Two, they claim to have the world's largest collection of Jim Henson Poppitz, huge, huge in my book, and three, they actually have in person puppet shows at this museum, and the 2026 lineup looks bonkers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I keep calling it a museum.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a, I guess, an orct center, but if you have a big bird behind glass, you're a museum.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take my money.
[SPEAKER_01]: I cannot wait to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of these puppets shows that they haven't 2026 tales of Edgar Allan Poe, the stinky cheeseman, and other fairly stupid tales.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something I can lately forgot about until I saw them in the calendar and was like, oh, that!
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be a puppet show there.
[SPEAKER_01]: This place seems like heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like home, and I just need to be there sooner than later.
[SPEAKER_01]: The third location on our bucket list is Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is one of those many locations that has been on my travel shortlist, and particularly my chaotic girls trip travel shortlist for years now.
[SPEAKER_01]: But a kitschy infamous store experience hybrid known for attracting millions of visitors every year is right up my dream vacation
[SPEAKER_01]: I have never been to South Dakota or anywhere in that region, really.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like one of those trips that I think will happen one day.
[SPEAKER_01]: One day I will see Mount Rushmore.
[SPEAKER_01]: One day I'll eat fresh fudge and look at a gigantic T-rex animatronic and a massive gift shop.
[SPEAKER_01]: One day and I kind of want that one day to be sooner than later.
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked into it a bit and I didn't know this area has prairie dogs all over the place like you can just see them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just there blowing my mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I watched some videos and read some stuff about wall drug and it is bananas.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a ton of history here about them basically offering cold water to people traveling through.
[SPEAKER_01]: But now it has expanded into a behemoth.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is tons of Western art.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a homemade ice cream in an ice cream parlor.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a multiple cafes and donut shops and all of these things inside.
[SPEAKER_01]: Florida ceiling decor.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have hot beef sandwiches that they're known for.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, don't us that they're known for.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw a photo of the map of this place and it basically feels like a store cosplaying as an amusement park.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got in a pothocary museum, they have storefront ex-seriors in the indoors which will be a theme in this episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is better than a storefront exterior that is indoors.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give me an outdoor feel while I'm inside.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I care about as someone who loves themed entertainment.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this ain't just a store, no, no, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wall drug has animatronics.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got animatronics, baby, and they are creepy.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got some real freaking robots up in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a, oh, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dr. Feelgood and his wall drug tonic, which will cure all.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he, once he put a bunch of coins in the machine, kind of talks, and it's extremely terrifying.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have ever said ill-word, I'm about the Walt Disney animatronic that is a Disney.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kiss it!
[SPEAKER_01]: Just look this up and you will be on your knees thinking Walt Disney Imagineering because this thing is terrifying and everything that we are used to in theme parks is Light years better everything It is so creepy dude.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is so creepy.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a robotic cowboy orchestra like this could be a horror movie I'm sure people have written one about it, but I gotta see it with my own eyes
[SPEAKER_01]: the things they have go on and on and on much like the store and i i mean looking into this i like now i need to go even more this may have to be our twenty twenty seven girls trip in may have to be because i i know i have friends who will go here with me and i i kind of need to cash in on that similarly something else that has been at the top of my list all through twenty twenty five that have been like oh next year next year's gonna be the year next year's gonna
[SPEAKER_01]: I went here as a child.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was I think seven or sixth grade.
[SPEAKER_01]: We went on a big trip with our class, and we like all went to Washington DC, didn't museums, did colonial Williamsburg.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only thing I remember from here is a woman-shurning butter, and the fact that we could buy this sparkling cider, it was just like sweet sparkling apple juice, but it was such a thing on this trip, and we could like go back to our hotel room with our friends and like drink our cider, and we would be so excited about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I remember about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: is the cider.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I looked into it and it's way cooler than my memory was letting on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I also thought it would be gear just toward little children on school trips, but no, there is a ton of cool adult stuff here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're not familiar or if like me, it's been a minute.
[SPEAKER_01]: Colonial Williamsburg is essentially a living history museum that is over 300
[SPEAKER_01]: acres big that's huge I just view this entire place with shiny nostalgia glasses as like the midway point between a theme park and a museum which is coming up quite often on this list I am itching for fun themed educational stuff in case you couldn't tell here and from what's to come
[SPEAKER_01]: But really at the end of the day, if I'm gonna drag myself on an airplane, if I'm gonna travel, if I'm gonna spend the money, if I'm gonna spend the time, what do I want more than to walk around outdoors on a beautiful day and learn something?
[SPEAKER_01]: And to see the 20 historic trades and skills on display, I just want to fart around and talk to some artisans.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to drink a cold beverage and learn about carpentry and blacksmithing and tin play
[SPEAKER_01]: All of Colonial Williamsburg just feels like an entire theme park land.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very Disney's America.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you know, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you can fully learn how people just would make bricks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fine, to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people like to go to Mexico and run on a beach, me, I want to learn a new skill from someone who is pretending to live in a different time period, and it's not just that, it's not just the whimsy of it all, it's not just the history of it all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you know, because I did not know if it's until the day, did you know there is a nice hotel and colonial buildings were like a fancy fancy luxury for real hotel and colonial buildings were I looked into it And I was like, please tell me this dining room has a classic afternoon tea because I couldn't find it at first and oh, oh, it doesn't you know that that cucumber sandwich it is gonna hit
[SPEAKER_01]: They've also got a fancy little bar with like a full menu of zero proof drinks.
[SPEAKER_01]: They also, you don't want to stay there or some of the other hotels.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have authentic 18th century accommodations, like little houses that you can rent with own little little little little house.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like spending the night.
[SPEAKER_01]: Inside the American Adventure Pavilion.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just seems really quaint.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is really scratching an inch that I didn't know I had And dude, I just want to wake up on vacation Get some like educational history without being in the confines of like a dodgy old museum like I just want to feel the Free him and the immersion of a theme park to feel the outdoor air while also learning
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to do caradrides.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to buy weird homemade jams and stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see the leaves in the fall.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see the leaves in the fall and walk around and drink a cider and I refuse to ever say that phrase leaf peeping there.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I just want to soak up those autumn vibes and have the added bonus of learning something new.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just seems dope, dude.
[SPEAKER_01]: It seems really dope and I really want to go there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just located also near Bush Gardens Williamsburg, which isn't my vibe to intensive coasters.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm done with those in this lifetime.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you wanted to make more of an amusement park trip out of it, they have that.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have water park.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's tons of other stuff nearby.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to go just to talk to the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to travel.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just to talk to people living in another time.
[SPEAKER_01]: This place fascinates me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to go back and nay.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will go back and from what I was talking to some friends in New York when I was last there being like we got to go to colonial Williamsburg and one of them is like, oh, I I read something where there's a chef or someone who works in the culinary industry They go there to get their knives because they are made like by hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're forage.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're made the right way and I want to go shopping in colonial Williams We're gonna see what they have to offer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I already scoped out the coffee shops.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a pretty cute quaint neighborhood like one in the town square
[SPEAKER_01]: and I just really want to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really want to go to Colonial Williamsburg.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's not the only thing on my list for 2020's X.
[SPEAKER_01]: For my future vacations and, you know, just plant a few little seeds of where I think you should go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Stick around after this break, we'll get into the rest and trust me, there are some doozy's ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back and I don't want you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to acknowledge the elephant in the room But my voice is not back 100% as you can tell and it's really hard to emphasize how freaking excited I am about these locations when I'm all squeaky and I can't go up here I can't I don't have the full range and it's frustrating me and I'm doing my best But please know if my passion is not coming through the way it typically does it is just my current vocal hemorrhage limitations And I will be back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I will be back
[SPEAKER_01]: I was supposed to go, I think I mentioned it a few weeks ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was supposed to go on vocal rest, sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was supposed to not drink caffeine, not getting a happy end.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then at some point during the holiday break, I was just like, oh, we were in a rental.
[SPEAKER_01]: We went to visit family in Colorado.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's too many people to be in the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we were in like a little rental condo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for days, I would just like be like, Pearl, come here, Pearl, Pearl.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to get dressed, Pearl, we have to get ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to get ready to go to ski school, Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, don't touch that, Pearl, don't touch that, put that down, put that down.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after days of that, I was like,
[SPEAKER_01]: No wonder my voice is not come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: How can you possibly parent a child and have your voice come back?
[SPEAKER_01]: How can you parent a child without caffeine and while being silent like in impossible?
[SPEAKER_01]: Impossible and so I'm doing my best.
[SPEAKER_01]: I apologize.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm hoping my next week I will be at my full range of joy capacity and the higher octaves But for now just know that inside I'm so excited even if my voice sounds a bit monetized
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the next place, you will probably have never expected would be on this list because we have mentioned this state a lot, a lot, I'm very amusing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have never mentioned this location, because it was not on my radar.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is the Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine my shock, nay, my horror, to discover hiding inside this Wisconsin Museum in a city I have been to plenty of times with something I am obsessed with.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about it already, and we're going to talk about it again.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's outside buildings on the inside.
[SPEAKER_01]: Extereers in the interior is one of the best themed feelings you could ever feel, and I love it so much, and I did not know it was here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I came across this from the most unexpected of sources.
[SPEAKER_01]: A tweet.
[SPEAKER_01]: from no one else.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Tricksie, Matel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, their childhood dream was to visit the fake city inside this museum and if they did not share that publicly on Twitter, a platform I am never on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, it would never have become my adult dream as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got cobblestone streets.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, you can walk on brick inside and feel like you're going in different stores.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have little signs that are burned into my brain.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a street car.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you have not been to Milwaukee, there is no time like the present.
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, the slogan of this museum.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you ready for this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you sitting down, are you ready?
[SPEAKER_01]: Harvest Curiosity and Connection exclamation point this museum is on our level.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, they're slogan ends in an exclamation point Harvest Curiosity and Connection that if that's basically I should steal that that is wait That is I've been like trying like I shouldn't need I need to update my Instagram bio.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's me
[SPEAKER_01]: harvesting curiosity and connection that's all I do that's all I do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to like hold hands with this museum and be like we were destined to be friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the reason it is pertinent that you try to visit this year if you can.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said that the Milwaukee Public Museum is moving in 2027.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is the last year to visit them in this building.
[SPEAKER_01]: See this in this iteration.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the new building looks nice.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks
[SPEAKER_01]: But I got to see this thing and it's old dusty glory before it's too late because this museum has not to go full stif on us on out, but it has everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has bugs.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has rain forest exhibit.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has global exhibits.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a foe European village.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like extreme Epcot Germany, Pavilion, beer garden vibes up in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not even what we're coming for.
[SPEAKER_01]: They truly have a little bit of everything, which is cool, but it ultimately
[SPEAKER_01]: for the streets of old Milwaukee and I don't know if you, I don't know if you do this, I don't know if you have the same brainworms that I do, it's basically what I'm trying to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if I'm a Disney land and I'm on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, all I want to do is get off the ride and go into that little town, the little town near the dispatch at the end when you, oh, I just want to go in that little town, I just want to stand in that little town.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is what this feels like to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, like a different time period of location, yada, yada, yada, yada.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever, but what's so incredible about this is that it's essentially an immersive experience from over 50 years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: This has been around for that long and I just need to see it with my eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: We also have our second creepy figurine in an old pharmacy like building of the episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's a lot of crossover in my interest here.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Trixie knows what's up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trixie truly knows what's up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this place kind of feels like if you were standing inside the carousel of progress, but it was an entire city street.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if we cannot make it to the shopping mall inside Barbara Streisand's basement, we can make it here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you don't know what I'm talking when I say that, I'm sorry if you don't want to talk it about when I say that, do a little Google good Google Barbara Streisand's basement shopping mall, you're welcome for the most blissful 20 minutes of your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying I have to walk these faux cobblestone streets before they get moved, it has to happen in 2026, and if you need more reasons to go to Wisconsin, let me shout them out for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Milwaukee, incredible city, incredible city.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go to a brewer's game, see the sausage race.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah,
[SPEAKER_01]: They have mascots dressed like different hat dogs and sausages racing, they have great merch for it, it's incredible.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're very close to Wisconsin Dells, one of my favorite places in the entire world, and I won't get into Paul Bunions even though I feel like all roads lead back to Paul Bunions.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I am now needing to plan my summer around this, as I must do, and I think you should do it too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who knew?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who knew the Milwaukee Public Museum?
[SPEAKER_01]: And Milwaukee Wisconsin was something we were traveling for, but alas, alas of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we have two more spots, my lovelies on this bucket list, bucket list trip episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you are, you know, like, not residents, none of these places are like, ooh, I should maybe book a ticket, see where I'm going.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe one of these two, we'll stick with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the next one,
[SPEAKER_01]: is a long dream I've had, a long time dream that I've had.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in, to stay inside the world's biggest, vast brochops at Big Cypress Lodge in Memphis, Tennessee.
[SPEAKER_01]: My friend and colleague Terrow went this year and made an incredible video about it on Instagram.
[SPEAKER_01]: I reposted it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will put it in the show notes, but truly, what a dream to sing in a pyramid.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we're starting with a pyramid
[SPEAKER_01]: stinging hotel room and the balcony overlooks this store.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can just see boats from the balcony while you're inside.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's also an underwater themed bowling alley where balls come out of the gator's head.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the heck, there is so much happening here and it's made me realize that there are two people in this world.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people who are like, um, I need to stay in like just like a nice hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just need to be in like a nice, no frills hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to know what I'm getting and you need to hotel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are people who dream of sleeping inside a mall or a store or a place you're not supposed to sleep at, which begs the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did we all see something in our childhood that like awakened this in us?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I know the listeners of the podcast are very interested in this type of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that was like the nexus event for all of us being obsessed with things like sleeping inside a pyramid shaped store with stuff in it?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is that?
[SPEAKER_01]: But I am the type of person who dreams of waking up and looking out inside a store and I need it to happen for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to her video and what I've seen, they have stuff like activities for the whole family, they have huge aquariums, I want to go in that elevator, they have a view of Memphis, but like honestly no offense Memphis, I don't care I just want to be in the pyramid, I just want to be in the pyramid and why I was looking into this, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I was looking at rooms obviously dreaming, daydreaming,
[SPEAKER_01]: I discovered the governor's suite, the governor's suite in this hotel that I would commit across this day in.
[SPEAKER_01]: The governor's suite, the average rate is $600 a night.
[SPEAKER_01]: $600 a night for this suite.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now for a regular old hotel room, that's a lot of money.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this room is so big it has three bathrooms.
[SPEAKER_01]: $600, like if we're talking Disney money, you're not even walking into the Grand California and getting away with $600.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe deep January, weekday, unlike a Tuesday or Wednesday night, maybe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you can get under $600, but $600 for this room that has a king and two queens, and a full freaking kitchen, and a woodsy living room, and a dining room, and multiple fireplaces?
[SPEAKER_01]: This might have to be my 40th birthday trip, which is not next year, but is after.
[SPEAKER_01]: But still, I like I am so obsessed with getting this room now.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has become a hyper fixation of mine within the last five minutes, and while I was on the website
[SPEAKER_01]: I also discovered that they have a walk through virtual tour, which we are going to do together.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been waiting.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been patiently waiting so we can do this together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I pulled up the link.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will put it in the show notes so you can do it yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is room 357.
[SPEAKER_01]: Room 357 and we're about to walk in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh you guys, okay, as the first thing I'm seeing is antlers everywhere, antler, lamp, antler, chandelier.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a deer on the wall, which I don't usually love, but when it's part of the theme I love, I see antlers peeking out from another room and this virtual director I can't even tell.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are in the living room.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a fireplace.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like the Grand California lobby almost only you get to stay here by yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as you walk forward, virtually, of course, I'm just clicking on buttons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh!
[SPEAKER_01]: We're through the wall and we are looking inside the pyramid at the store.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing boats.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing water.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing swampy old trees.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing all the other rooms.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm seeing a truly gigantic balcony.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a table you can have breakfast at.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are four rocking chairs.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so much furniture.
[SPEAKER_01]: in this governor suite okay we are moving forward wow it's like a wrap around situation this is pretty boggers okay i'm entering one of the bedrooms wow wood carving stained glass everywhere more animals mounted which i don't think my child would be cool with but that is fine um this is a queen room oh they got a bathtub oh they got a lot of a bathtub we're moving back through the living room oh there are photos of woods and a man with a gun and then a burn on the wall don't love it but i love the theme
[SPEAKER_01]: gigantic kitchen can fully cook a meal in here like what like I can just cook dinner inside a bass pro shops in my room and then eat it on the balcony wild king room themed beautifully fireplace under TV from the bed I just want a rock there there's desks I can work I can move in this governor suite is so good and I need to stay there once my life I need to stay there once my life and like the price point is less than Disney hotel so I think I'm gonna make it happen
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm going to have to make it happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now at the last item on our list to refresh your memory, we have done the national museum of toys and miniatures in Kansas City.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've done the Center for Puppetary Arts in Atlanta, Georgia.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've done wall drug and wall self Dakota.
[SPEAKER_01]: Colonial Williamsburg and Williamsburg, Virginia.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm also making sure I counted correctly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bass Pro Shops Big Cypress Lodge in Memphis, Tennessee, and the seventh and final option, not a museum, not a fake town.
[SPEAKER_01]: But kind of in a way, is Lego Land, California.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have gotten dozens of questions about Lego Land California and I have somehow never been there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have never been there and I am recording this in real time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I'm recording this a couple days before you will hear it and they are there is some sort of like media event happening in the next few weeks and I email them was like, I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think I can attend and they were like, what if we give you a hotel room and now I'm like,
[SPEAKER_01]: What if you give me a hotel room and I go?
[SPEAKER_01]: What if I just, I don't know, whim, cross this off my bucket list in like the next 20 days, just to go there and come back for the night to outside San Diego.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's in Carl's Men California.
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, I'm not from here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not from around here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how far that is from San Diego.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's near there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's in it's quite near there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have heard only incredible things about Legoland.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have visited the one in Florida for a story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, didn't people thought that was weird?
[SPEAKER_01]: People thought I was weird.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, it was my job.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like drove there on a work trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: I drove all the way there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ran into the car.
[SPEAKER_01]: I forget it was maybe a travel leisure story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I was given a tour from some work there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to like, behind the scenes walk through like I did all of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, um, I didn't have a kid at the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I didn't have family who would travel that far.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I went.
[SPEAKER_01]: and it was a work trip, a real work trip to Lego land, and staying there alone was a lit, in the vibe was not the going slow to Disney, great blissful, going silly to Universal, fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Going slow to Lego land, not the same, feels a little strange, everything's very themed for like, oh, certain genre, and that genre is young child, and if you don't have one with you, it's a little off, but now that I have one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm hearing that Lekoland is the spot for young kids, because they can go on everything, and I have really, really been dying to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to go last year, I really want to go this year, and this might happen for me, like, imminently.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bro, wait, I'm on the website and they see they're an hour away from Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is That is simply not true.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is like in a world devoid of traffic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me check right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold up Sorry to make you listen while I do this but my Google does not know where I live because I don't want it to drag me
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, at two and a half hours right now in the middle of the day to get to Legoland not an hour an hour if you know other cars don't exist Two and a half hours.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a normal amount of time to drive because to Disneyland right now It's probably an hour and a half Did you do sorry to make you listen to me typey typey to Disneyland hour and a half and an hour more to get to Legoland to please haven't been before
[SPEAKER_01]: But the reason I'm so HECBENT, I'm going to Lego Land California Resort, is that they are opening a new land in March 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to have an indoor family coaster called the galacticoster incredible name They're gonna have new rides and character encounters and everything I've heard about this park is fantastic
[SPEAKER_01]: It just seems like there's so much to do, so much to enjoy, they have a waterpark element, there isn't aquarium to see life aquariums there, but they have so much stuff and they have legos, and they know that they're really, really good about having areas for kids to play freely, to play with legos, there is like a build your own legos center, we can just like sit and play with legos all day, which is like that's a child's dream, to have a bunch of legos and to not have to clean up after them, that's a parent's dream too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm going to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't even looked at the calendar.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know if I could do it, but there are so many rides here that young kids can do.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for me, that is so important and a main reason why why I want to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's like it was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think like it was great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think fact of Legoland exists is great.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I guess I guess we may be crossing that one off first because I want to see that coaster.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that coaster real bad oh wait what is this Lego city deep sea adventure you want a submarine I am not willing to go on the submarine voyage a Disneyland even though my child has been drawn to it lately I'm like oh they only let tall children on there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really don't want to go on it
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to be trapped in them, I don't like it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to look at the little Legos and let her play the Lego playgrounds and go in the Lego coaster and see many land USA!
[SPEAKER_01]: Many land USA!
[SPEAKER_01]: The things they do with Lego are incredible and I want to see them, yeah, but this is going to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to happen with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully I hope everything on the list happens for me, the Lego land is in my near future.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's also a really good chocolate chip cookie nearby, which I think I probably mentioned on my recap of our Disney Wonder Sailing last March when I took the ship out of San Diego for Pearls birthday, but yeah, this is going to happen and that for me and that's
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's our bucket list episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I just wanted to plant a few seeds for trips that weren't, weren't what we always focus on.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are things I dream of doing, of course.
[SPEAKER_01]: The, uh, what is it called?
[SPEAKER_01]: The Venice is simply orient express, whatever that fancy train is that's been in my feeds for years.
[SPEAKER_01]: I dream of doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not really realistic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that's flying overseas.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's spending a lot of money, like a life savings amount of money to be on a train.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that is a big big trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are things I'm desperate to do that are
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of in some of our backyards.
[SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully there is something that's near you or near-ish to possibly a trip you're already doing this year that you can tack on a little adventure if you end up going to any of these places.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please tag me, call me, let me know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanna live by Carey's Lee through your journey and I wanna know if you have any tips.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've been to any of these and you love them and are like, no, no, no, you have to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please call my Wisconsin listeners.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please let me know that I missed out on so much ring on my many, many summers in Wisconsin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I need to go back this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to go back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just want to wish you a happy travel planning.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's so fun, January, so fun, because there's a whole year ahead of us.
[SPEAKER_01]: So much can happen, and there's so much potential for all of the joy that you can have ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year, as you know, I traveled too much, travel a little too much, travel a little too much from my own health and my own good, but at the beginning of the year, I had no trips on the books.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is really a month of possibility looking forward to all that can happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I hope you have a wonderful, beautiful start to 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you're first week back at work.
[SPEAKER_01]: If that applies to you has been smooth and not absolutely so crushing because inboxes be busy, busy.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you left a lot of stuff for this week, like I did, I'm silently holding your hand, saying a prayer for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I hope you do the same for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, if you were attending a musical Luza, staging for more updates, we have so much that is happening so much as in the works and I'm wrapping things up as we speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, thank you for listening today, and always we have a lot of fun episodes coming up the next few months, and this huge massive group trip that is just less than one month.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wait, stay tuned.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I love you all, and have you new year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my goodness, hello, Carly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Lindsay from North Carolina.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to start off with just saying a huge thank you for all the work they put into the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am currently training for my first marathon and listening to your podcast is like literally the only thing that keeps me going.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, a huge thank you to you for all the work that you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a quick question about Tokyo Disneyland.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be going to Japan with my parents and my husband later in twenty six.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't been there twice before and we've seen both Disneyland and Disney seats.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this time we're only going to have three days in Tokyo.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm thinking of doing a half day in one of the parks.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was wondering if you had any advice on just doing a half day at Tokyo Disney.
[SPEAKER_00]: which park you would recommend any tips that you have.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lindsay!
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi!
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, first of all, before we get into your question, I just need to once again acknowledge and praise all of the runners who listen to this podcast and who make currently be listening to this while you run.
[SPEAKER_01]: running to me is a maniacal workout.
[SPEAKER_01]: I cannot run.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ran cross country in high school, simply because they would have like endless panera bagels and I was like, oh, see me if I like run two and a half to three miles, you will just feed me bagels nonstop, which is my only motivator for running.
[SPEAKER_01]: but as an adult I cannot do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I physically cannot do it like my old bones will not support running.
[SPEAKER_01]: So whenever anyone is running these Disney races or training or just jogging around at home for fun, I am so impressed by you in the fact that I get to be like your bagel on your journey is truly fascinating to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, running, I ran like,
[SPEAKER_01]: three blocks because I was running like to a workout class the other day.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, how do people do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: How do people do this as they're workout?
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys are champions?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm impressed by you and I am so grateful to be on your journey while you are running.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope my I feel like I should be talking faster faster so I can like keep up your pace but still I appreciate it and I I'm very impressed by you and that's all I wanted to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, to answer your question, this one's easy, peasy pie because
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm always like, why am do I make noises when, like I thought I was ambying background noises in this podcast?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's because I'm wearing so much freaking jewelry.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all clinging together at all times.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, your question, you got over the largest hump of the issue, which is I'm going to Tokyo for three days.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do I do something besides go to Tokyo Disney Resort?
[SPEAKER_01]: And the fact that you are already, you like, you figured out the main problem, which is that you are going to dedicate a half day to the parks, which means you're pretty much golden.
[SPEAKER_01]: The main choice you have to make now is do you want that to be an early start weight in lines, get there early, blast with a park and then leave in the afternoon half day or do you want this to be a start in the afternoon and stay till evening, get less done but more enjoy the ambiance type of day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Since you have been and I don't know from your call, I'm not entirely sure what your parents, thresholds or interest in seeing Tokyo Disney Resort is.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I would recommend if I was you going in with the knowledge I have is that I would recommend you buy one of the early evening passport tickets for yourself and your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is a ticket they offer at Tokyo Disney, which can give you access to a park from 3 p.m. on words on weekends and holidays.
[SPEAKER_01]: They also have a weeknight passport from 5 p.m. on words on week nights.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are, I believe, available for Tokyo Disney.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, and Tokyo Disneyland.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm double checking that as I say that out loud because I'm not entirely sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it should be, but it would just depend on if it is sold out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, they do sell those for both parks.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just depends availability.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking right now and there are tickets available, endlessly, so you should be okay if you buy them in advance.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that is what I would recommend to you because if you're there with your parents, you're on this big trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're overseas with family, like you're doing a lot, you're battling jet lag, you're seeing Tokyo in a matter of three days.
[SPEAKER_01]: waking up extremely early.
[SPEAKER_01]: I almost said a profane word, but waking up extremely early and waiting in lines with people who are not gung-ho about like, yeah, we're gonna run and gun it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That might be a little too intense, a little too intense for the trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I say,
[SPEAKER_01]: get this afternoon ticket or just buy a regular ticket and show up, you know, like, noon and then leave whenever you want.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you don't have to buy this later when I'm just trying to save you a little bit of money.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I would recommend doing the afternoon move and I would actually give you my main toddler rule for this trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now my toddler rule when visiting a Disney park is to have one thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: just have one thing where if you accomplish this goal you did it everything on top of that is gravy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really helps to set expectations to make sure that you don't leave disappointed and to kind of guarantee you get to do the one thing you really, really, really want to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It helps you like edit mentally before you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would recommend that for this trip, and Tokyo Disney C is such a robust, beautiful park, that even walking around it to see everything, maybe only going on one ride, maybe only doing one experience, but just being there in that park is experience enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is, I think, also a cultural icon,
[SPEAKER_01]: of Japan so I think it is worth dedicating time to and going with your family just walking around, which is what I did with my husband on the last trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did blast through many, many rides if you've listened to that episode, but we really just walked around and it was really really nice to be in the different spaces.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would recommend that for you, find the one thing that your whole family you want to do together, try to plan around that, but otherwise enjoy the vibes, like what a gift to be overseas with your family and be able to just walk through those
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you're going to have a wonderful trip have so much fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me know how it goes, call in.
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I would say whether or not you buy that afternoon evening ticket, I would keep it easy, keep it casual and kind of do end of the day instead of the early chaos of the day.
[SPEAKER_01]: That would be my vote for your trip because there's going to be a lot going on on that trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this way you can at least kind of relax and unwind while within the Disney bubble.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you have so much fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you keep up the good running.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that, what do you say not like break legs that's for stage?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the running equivalent?
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you meet your pace goal and thank you for calling.
[SPEAKER_01]: Really, I'm so excited for your trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanna come!
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, got that one, my voice isn't going back, but I got that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you all so much for listening to this bucket list episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope I may be planted a seed of future travels.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're interested in going anywhere, or doing anything in 2026, of course, please make sure to reach out to MEI Mouse fan travel.
[SPEAKER_01]: They help keep this podcast going.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are the reason we are doing a group trip, and we'll hopefully do them in the future because if your girl was planning it,
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just say it would not come together.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are masters at the detail, at the execution, at the planning, at the organization.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are simply who you want on your side when you're planning a vacation because they will do it all for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: For free, they literally, they will not charge you and they will help you plan your trip.
[SPEAKER_01]: That, a free personal assistant who's an expert in Disney, like, what else can you hope for?
[SPEAKER_01]: Had to mouse and travel.com slash amusing for all of your Disney Universal Cruise Line travel, et cetera, any of your out and about needs.
[SPEAKER_01]: This year, in 2020, since.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can rate your view and follow via your music on Apple Pongasts and rate and follow us on Spotify.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can even leave a comment on Spotify.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can give us a call at $7.47.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to say, I got to hand it to all of you, that our last episode, the last episode of the $0.25 was a show's hotline episode in that, I tried to give you all a pep talk.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, listen, treat the show's hotline as like an exercise in us picking up the phone and calling, because here's the deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: My niece for for holidays for I don't know why I forgot the name of Christmas When you celebrate Christmas my niece for Christmas and the honk I guess for the holidays I guess the holidays was the right answer after all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, yeah my niece forget about house My niece got a thing called a tin can if you
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably heard of this at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is pretty mainstream.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a children's version of a landline phone.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the kids are obsessed with landline phones, which means that even though all of us in this safe space right now, grew up likely with landlines in our homes, and then now have selfies.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not used to landlines.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not used to calling.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're used to placing food deliveries on our phone.
[SPEAKER_01]: P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P
[SPEAKER_01]: This younger generation is now used to picking up a phone and dialing a friend and talking.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we are going to be the lost phone generation, and I want to make sure the church hotline is your safe space to get back in the groove and back in the swing of things of picking up a phone and calling.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I wanted to say I want to acknowledge and praise all of you because we got a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, a whole lot of Turtles calls after that one, which means that it's working, it is working, and more than a handful of them called multiple times, which is what I want from you guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to feel safe, I don't want you to feel pressure of like, oh no, I gotta get it right, I gotta get it right, hang up and down right back, I'm owning and listening to the newest one, I got you, we're in the struggle together.
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you for hitting the call for really like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Feeling like safe like you go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking at these calls.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many calls and I'm so grateful that you guys felt a little more comfortable.
[SPEAKER_01]: A little more comfortable to pick up the phone and dial.
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, the younger generation is going to catch us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to be better with phones.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm bad at it.
[SPEAKER_01]: My job is to talk out loud.
[SPEAKER_01]: We all have to be better.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am with you on this journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let the trolls hotline your safe space to get you to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And thank you for all of you who did call.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, seven for seven trolls anytime date or night.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll be happy to answer even the
[SPEAKER_01]: You can follow me at Carly Whizel across the internet, join the foamily at facebook.com slash group slash Carly Whizel, and subscribe to my Instagram 99 cents a month.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am going to be doing even more there this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have some goals so I want to make it more of like right now it's just me posting at least once every 24 to 48 hours but I post more than that usually I just post a bunch of bunch it's basically like
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't see a lot of posts on my Instagram stories, because a lot of them are unsubscribers, just because it's a nice little community, and I love it a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really love that there's this little club house there that I get to entertain.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to be doing more in 2026 with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you haven't subscribed yet, consider subscribing now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, 99 cents a month.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ladies and gentlemen, these days, that's practically pennies.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though, did they get rid of the penny?
[SPEAKER_01]: Did I imagine that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like they got rid of pennies.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I just went, when I was in Colorado a lot of the businesses were like, we don't have pennies?
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it was, yeah, I think, nationwide maybe they don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: The news is going too fast, and I can't remember things, but, um, I could cobble together all this pennies and use 99 of them to subscribe to my Instagram.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks so much for listening.
[SPEAKER_01]: Happy 2026.
[SPEAKER_01]: See you real soon!
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, let's talk about Star's Hollow.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't believe I've never been.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you've been three times.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't even believe it.
[SPEAKER_02]: But you took a picture of what the adorable got better than Luke.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, my God.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's not even the first time you talk to him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Remember, when you went through a while ago, and you faced time him on someone else's phone?
[SPEAKER_02]: He knows you now.
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't believe I can't even believe it.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, please don't be upset.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I love Harry Pro's little voice more than anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: That was so adorable, but best amusing ever was when she did your intro.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was so cute, I love it so much, I died.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, about to Ella, I don't know anything about anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: All I know is that we went on a Disney Destiny and we picked a villain to dress like.
[SPEAKER_02]: And of course, I chose Kerala, and I won full blown Kerala.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was so good.
[SPEAKER_02]: I picked Kerala because she is my favorite villain.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not sure if it was the black and white coat made out of Dalmatians, but, you know, you're left to believe that, but I have no clue about anything, but she did tell the housekeeper who she gave her her baby, if she gave the baby to.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_02]: She's a dog, but I just flexed her hair so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, such a fun episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that you shared us with the shopping effort.
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, what is an email?
[SPEAKER_02]: Whatever.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm having a blast shopping on the U.S. shopping
[SPEAKER_02]: Lots of Dusty.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is going to be very expensive, but what else am I going to do today?
[SPEAKER_02]: So fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just want to wish everyone a very happy Hanukkah and a very Merry Christmas.
[SPEAKER_02]: But most of all, a happy and healthy New Year.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you, Carly.
[SPEAKER_02]: I love you, Pearl.
[SPEAKER_02]: You're so adorable.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bye.