State of the Theme Parks 2024

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It's a beautiful day. Okay, hey, okay, hey. It's a beautiful day. Music. Welcome back to another meeting of the Gold Key Adventurer Society. My name is Dan Leonard. Hi, Dan. And joining me this week in the studio is Heather Strait. Ahoy, hoy. And Mr. Jeff Williams. Hey, now. Hey, now. Our show, as always, is brought to you by Key to the World Travel. Key to the World Travel is a full-service travel agency specializing in theme parks, cruising, and destinations around the world.

Head to www.keytotheworldtravel.com for more details and a no-obligation quote on the vacation of a lifetime. Time, time, time, time. Lady and gentlemen, the state of the theme parks is improving. I think, maybe. Well, it would be hard to go downhill. Ooh, burn. For certain, there's a lot of activity going on out there. They've got a lot of refurbishments coming up, some construction going on, and the return of, I guess, some beloved perks for guests.

And some construction finishing up, thank goodness. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to dig in and explore the developments that we want to keep our eye on. Months. Starting off with a couple of big ones that just took place over the

last couple of days as we're recording. Hot off the presses. Yeah. First off, we knew this was coming, but theme park reservations are no longer needed for most guests at Walt Disney World. Most guests. Yep. Yes. Those pesky annual pass holders for some reason. Yeah, of which there's gotta be so many thousands of those people.

Well, that and any kind of comp ticket, any ticket that's non non-dated is still going to require park reservations and there's quite a lot of them floating out there that people are showing up and getting surprised at the gates that they still needed to have although surely with nobody else making reservations they're going to be easy to make you would think let's just call it that yep yeah because something's it's always easy um and And then on top of the reservations,

park hopping is now open all day long. It's back, baby. Hip, hip. No more waiting for 2 p.m. That's right. So if you make a park res, though, do you still have to go to your one park first and then go? Yes. If you are on a ticket that requires a reservation, yes. And this stuff is all, we're just talking about Walt Disney World here. Disneyland has not rolled any of this back. Although their hopping was already earlier. Much earlier. 11 a.m. 11. Which I'm not even in the park by then.

Or much later than. Small window. I can get to the Emporium and get back out. That's right. To accommodate all that extra park hopping, interpark buses are going to start running at 10 a.m. They're back. You could hop immediately, but you can't use Disney transportation until 10. I also thought it was interesting that from Magic Kingdom to Epcot, they're not providing a bus. It's only monorail. Not right now, yeah. At least right now. What about Epcot to Magic Kingdom? I would assume it would

be the same. Monorail. Monorail. Monorail. Monorail. Yes. And then if you're in the back of the park, just go out to the hotel and take the bus.

Or stay there all day. Right. Yep. So that's exciting. Yeah, I'm really glad to see that happening. I know people found it all terribly annoying to have to make the reservations all the time. Yeah, in theory, it was a great idea. And they have good-to-go days now, right, for pass holders? Yes, good-to-go days are starting pretty soon. I don't know exactly what they are. Lower attendance, typical attendance times, they won't have to make a park res.

Right, and they're only releasing those a couple of months at a time, so we don't even know that far out. That was my next question. How far out are we going to know these dates? Not very far out. They did release the first batch. And then isn't there something for, oh, isn't there something about you don't have to have a reservation after 2 p.m. on weekdays? It's after 2 p.m. during the week, correct. Oh, that's nice. I would bet as a local that would be when I would be going.

A lot of after school stuff. I know parents love that. Pick the kids up and go to the parks. Yeah. And honestly, the real, true local APs don't want to be there during the high, high traffic times anyway. Week between Christmas and New Year's, spring break, that kind of thing. They tend to avoid it. I know, I would. I don't blame them. So I think that's kind of like the best return of a perk that we've talked about.

Yes, definitely. definitely held back another thing that people were excited for but it kind of comes with some, caveats here i love caviar i know you do especially on top of an egg thing that looked awfully fancy i'm just gonna well i'm a fancy bish. Yes you are uh also recently returned as we record just just over a week now

uh the disney Dining Plan and the Quick Service Dining Plan are back at Walt Disney World Resort. It is back, not to a whole lot of fanfare. It's taking some time to catch back on. I think people have forgotten the convenience of it. Yeah, and maybe young travelers just didn't really even know. Yeah, but on top of that, there's the price change and then the inclusions have been reduced. used. So wait, are you telling me that Disney is charging more, but giving you less?

That is correct. That doesn't sound right. It's shocking. I know, but. You know, this is something that we couldn't wait to have back. And now it's just, it's not taking off the way we all hoped it would. And I think it's because of the price and the cut on what it includes. Yeah, I'm honestly shocked that they picked the hill to die on of we're only getting one snack instead of two. Like, yes, that was that was a low stakes thing because, you know, people were wasting those snacks.

We're not using them. I didn't ever use them. And then I'd wind up getting a bunch of garbage from the little store in the hotel before I'd leave. Like Goofy's candy stuff. It's a terrible exchange rate. Honestly, it's a no brainer way to make it look like you're getting a lot for for less money. And taking that away just, I don't understand it. I really think Disney's got some real bozos that are advising them on some of this stuff. Some of this stuff just makes no sense.

Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see if they tweak that. Well, I can tell you it's not selling well and they know it. So. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then, and that, that kind of, you can see that from what the next thing we were we're going to talk about was the return of free dining, which has not generated the demand that it has in the past. It's just not there yet.

Yeah, it's insane to me. I mean, this is a little bit inside baseball, but every time they release any promo at all, it kills their booking engine. The website goes down for a day. The call centers go down. Yeah, the phone lines are full. My tennis This elbow flares up. It's terrible. Nothing this time. Crickets. And for free dining, which people have been begging for since 2019,

it should have been doomsday. It really should have been. What do you think is the thing? They tied it to Disney+. Yes. People are tired of that. Quit shoving your Disney+. Disney Plus, quit shoving your D down our throat. Yeah. They tied it to Disney Plus. They set a kind of high threshold for the number of days that you had to stay for it. And then people are realizing that the value isn't there on the Disney dining plan with the changes.

And so they opted for the room discount instead, which they dropped at the same time. And that one's doing pretty well. That's been generating some interest in park visits. But the free dining just has to. I would definitely do free dining if I was booking a trip. But would it make you book a trip if you hadn't planned on taking that trip? No. I don't know. That's hard for me to make believe like that. That's the other point that you mentioned is that it's all for summer.

And that's always a lower season there because it's so god-awful hot. And getting hotter every year. Free dining promo didn't used to be tied to summer months, did it? It would come out around this time of year. Yeah, it was often in the fall. There was for a long time one that was good for early part of the year. Stay Play and Dine was always for the beginning of the year. That's when I used to go when it was that. That was in February every year. Nicer weather, for sure, than peak summer days.

I hope they're learning from things because they're trying some things. They're walking some things back and all this. But when it doesn't have the effect, I hope they don't go, well, we'll just get rid of dining. I hope they'll realize, no, we need to make it better. And they came back with only two dining plans. And they're watered down. We had just that tiny little window of that new dining plan that had such great flexibility.

You could choose how to use your credits, quick service or table service. It's called flex dining, right? Good value, and it was the COVID killed it, like many other things, and then they didn't bring it back. Like my grandma. Too soon. Oh, well. Thanks, Jess. But yes, that one didn't. I was really hoping when they

talked about dining coming back that that one would not be left behind, and it seems like it has. Twir. The price went way up. They really wanted to point out how they kept the pricing of the child plan the same. But you threw all the increases into the adult plan. And it's about the cost of what deluxe dining used to be. It's really expensive. I haven't even priced it. Yeah. And deluxe dining no longer exists. So people like that because it made it easy to do things like get a whole bunch

of character meals. Character meals, yeah. Extra. Yeah, so it's extremely expensive and includes less. And until they fix that, I don't think it's going to catch on again. This has been a theme with us. We've been talking about this for a year now. So somebody's got to be the adult in the room and say, hey, guys, this isn't working. Maybe we need to bring the value back. Yep. Start bringing back the things that made people think of it.

And they need to start with Magical Express or some sort of easy to deal with ride. Charge me 10 bucks, whatever. Add it to a package. Click a button, add it to my package, whatever. You know, everybody kind of, everyone accepts that a Disney World vacation is not cheap. You know, that's just the, it's kind of the whole understanding of everyone. It shouldn't cost what going to Paris costs. Yes. But it used to be, it used to feel like a good value for what you were paying for it.

And that's where we've gotten lost. We've lost the value proposition. And they seem to be very reluctant to bring that stuff back. And that's what's really going to drive the new customers, especially if you're talking If you're talking about getting new young families to start loving vacationing at Walt Disney World, then you've got to have the value for them.

The people that are going now and the apologists for Disney raising all the prices are the people that got hooked when it was affordable. And you've got to find a way to start hooking those new families and show them the value that they're going to get an amazing vacation with all of these things included, like transportation. Make it feel like a package and all-inclusive. And until that comes back, it's a hard sell these days. It really is.

But dining was a good start, so we'll see how that goes. Yeah, and it is. We try to point out that while it is expensive, and we can't deny that it is, it is a great way to get all of that stuff planned in advance. And then you can pay your vacation off over time. If you book for enough in advance, you can make payments on it. And then when you get there, you have already paid for all of your meals. The convenience and that, that's always been the dining plan's best selling point.

And it still is. It still is. You're not going to have to take your wallet out and pay for every meal. You've already done that. So I still think it is a great thing. Oh, hey, does it include a beer like it did before it went away? It still does, yes. It does, yes. That's going to make dad happy. Maybe after this summer when families that are booking this use it and start anecdotally telling their friends, maybe it's going to fire back up. Kick back off. Yeah.

I think offering more choice than just the two plans would help that too. The quick service dining plan is still there, which is great. But I got to say again, a plug for that. The plan where you could decide whether you want a table service or quick service, that one seems like a better value. Then you can get your character meals in, and it can be a little less expensive. Well, they're not interested in value. Not yet. Not yet. Hopefully soon.

We're getting there. Baby steps. The company's only been around for 100 years. Right.

Yeah. I'll make up in the next century. Speaking of things from the last century, and this is something that at first I chose to be optimistic about, but I am less so now. So Country Bear Jamboree is going down for a very long refurbishment on January 27th. It'll be open sometime in the summer. They haven't said when. They announced back at D23, or Destination D, I think it was.

We talked about this a little bit. They are reimagining the Country Bear Jamboree show to bring it into the modern era, which means for Disney, they're filling it up with Disney songs. Woke. Yeah. IP, IP. That's right. So they're getting rid of most of the songs from the original show and replacing them with Disney songs redone in various styles of country music.

They did mention in the latest press release about it that there will be one Easter egg included, or there will be a familiar tune for fans, which makes me think that probably, yeah, Big Al is probably going to interrupt with Blood on the Saddle. I really hope so. Yeah. Yeah. The clip, they released a little teaser of the band and the voices recording Bare Necessities. Sounded great. I think it'll be good.

I'm not so attached to the old stuff. But as long as they keep the character and the flavor of it, I'm okay with it. And honestly, a bunch of kids will love singing along with songs they know. That's true. If it gets butts in seats, I'd rather do that than they tear it down. For sure. Or put in an extension of Tiana's co-op. Yeah, get in there and package corn. We're getting there right now because along with the announcement about that, they also teased.

Let's see. Let me open up my link. They said in their announcement about Country Bears that, you know, We've been talking a lot about we're going to be doing more improvements at Magic Kingdom. And stay tuned because soon we're going to have something to tell you about Frontierland. Do we think this is going to be a Tiana restaurant instead of Pecos Bill?

Yeah, I'm thinking Pecos Bill is getting... I have seen the rumor in multiple places that they're going to full-on do a New Orleans Square area in there that would extend from Pirates down to Tiana and then back the other way a little bit. So sort of take some of Frontierland, but not all? Is that what you think? I think it's going to go the length of Pecosville. And I think Frontierland will. See, here's the weird thing, though, because New Orleans Square then splits

Frontierland because of Big Thunder Mountain. Yeah, right. But I think that their little New Orleans area will be Pecosville and stop at Country Bears. And then I think that area, that kind of walkway that you go around the far end of Pagos Bills towards Pirates might continue that New Orleans flavor. I think Pirates, I think once you get around the corner into Adventureland, it's got to stay Adventureland because of that.

Yeah, I just mean like the path between where you come out of Pirate's Gift Shop and hang a left heading towards what was Splash Mountain. That's a dead zone. That all makes sense, yeah. They did a little bit of New Orleans there and then make it look, they could add a couple of little stores or kiosks at least and give it some flavor. Putting the money into refurbing country bears so they can't get rid of Frontierland. It doesn't make sense to do that. And Big Thunder.

It's all just the way that it's laid out in the Magic Kingdom, it's harder to split that stuff up into New Orleans Square-style area and Frontierland. I'm curious to see what they come up with. You're right, though, that area back there between Splash Mountain and when you're headed to Pirates, there's like that little Pirates, the place where you pick up the map to do the Pirates interactive game. And it's where the French fry cart used to be a hundred years ago.

Yeah. You could sell beignets out of that little spot. Absolutely. Yeah. And just put some facades of new Orleans up and some trellis work and hang the Mardi Gras colors and give it a little flavor between there and Tiana and then over to the new Tiana's place, taking over the Pecos bill. That'd be great. Yeah. Then you go through there, I guess. Yeah. I don't know to get to big thunder.

I don't know if they kind of like I'm not going to rename and re-theme Big Thunder but if they kind of rename the area that it's in I don't know how they end it you sort of can like there's a there's those two separate bridges that get back into that area one that's right in front of Splash and the other one that hugs the waterfront so you can still Tom Sawyer kind of goes along with the New Orleans-y vibe too but also Frontierland-y vibe both. It kind of...

Well, Tom Sawyer was Mississippi. Yeah. It sort of fits better in Frontierland to me, but it's also right there in Disneyland. It's right across from the New Orleans Square stuff there. Because it's got riverboats. Mm-hmm. Which the Mesa does not. Right. Maybe the walkway that's closest to the water stays Frontierland-ish. That's what I'm thinking.

The walkway closer to Tiana's Bayou Adventure gets some wrought iron lights and railings. Yeah. New Orleans, and then you've got that fixed there. They'll just have to add a flyover to get to the big Thunder Mesa back there. You know, it overlaps a little bit in Disneyland, too, because Splash Mountain is way back behind Winnie the Pooh. It's by Winnie the Pooh, and you have to pass the Haunted Mansion to get there. And it's pretty far from New Orleans Square, honestly, out at Disneyland.

So it's a little bit mixed up and meshed there, too. Yeah, people get all bent out of shape like we're doing now. But, like, no kid or nobody thinks they're in these places. So let's get over ourselves as long as the attractions are themed. And we've stopped and listened to the strolling pirate band right in front of New Orleans Square singing sea shanties and had no problems with it. Well, yeah, I mean, they're part of New Orleans for. Yes, that's true.

Technically. But and I mean, we can we'll hop ahead in the timeline for a second here on my outline, since we're kind of talking about it. It's going to make a little bit more sense at Disneyland there. They're going to be expanding that plaza that's in between Tiana's Palace and the Haunted Mansion and make it more of a park-like area. That's a great idea there. Pushing New Orleans out. They're going to have space for live entertainers there.

And then they're also the queue area of the Haunted Mansion is going to be opened up more and they're going to decorate it so that it's like you're walking through the gardens and the grounds of the Haunted Mansion. And the whole Haunted Mansion is shutting down for a while for this refurb, isn't it? Yeah, because they're redoing the whole queue area and also somewhere, it wasn't super clear, but they're building a new building on the grounds of the Haunted Mansion.

It's going to be the Carriage House. Gift shop, I bet. Aha. The Carriage House is the gift shop. They're also building a little greenhouse or gardener's kind of shed that's going to be part of the queue area that you walk past. I'm excited for all of that. Yeah, it's really going to kind of add to that area a lot. And they sort of teased that this will be done in time for the holiday overlay at the end of this year. So hopefully we see it all done by...

When do they usually get that up? Right before Halloween, right? Yeah. They didn't say exactly when it's going to be done, but yeah, it's going to be later this year, they said. Yeah.

They have a lot of, they have, while we're there, we just mentioned Halloween. They're, well, no, we'll get there later. Never mind. Ignore me. Something else is going down for a long refurbishment. Back to Walt Disney World. And this is a little bit surprising. Rock and Roller Coaster. Again. They're having some mechanical issues or something. It's when the launch system is having problems. Just last year, it went down for a long time while they worked on it.

And they're doing it again. And every time they do this, it feeds fuel to the rumors that they're finally taking out Aerosmith. Yeah. Especially since just, you know, a few months ago, there was more allegations against Steven Tyler and he's back in the news. So it feels like a good time to do that. It feels more and more every year like it's inevitable that they eventually will.

Right so i wish they'd kind of do it like the uh hollywood rip ride rocket make it where you can choose your own adventure choose the songs that you do too because their speakers are right in your thing anyway it could still be a ride through la and you pick your song go into a concert or whatever although i will miss steven tyler screaming in my ears at the launch yes it counts you down 100 it was shocking gone too and you know the rock and roller coaster has been completely rethemed in paris

they've already pulled the plug on that one so right yeah i'm still which makes sense because where where it sits at disneyland paris that whole area they turned into a marvel themed land apparently it is very wildly unpopular and everyone hates it and they're They're already planning to redo it. Awesome. Sounds great. Because it's, you know, that coaster sucks.

For anybody that's been there, it just beats the shit out of you. Yeah. It's a terrible coaster. It's not a great coaster. It's nothing at all like the Rock and Roller Coaster here, which is smooth and awesome. A little bit more construction, new things at Magic Kingdom, although this one's not that exciting, I guess. But there's a DVC member lounge that they're going to be building at an undisclosed location somewhere in the Magic Kingdom. It's going to be in Club 33.

There's one in Epcot and there's one at the Contemporary, right? The Contemporary has the Bay Lake Tower at the top of Bay Lake Tower has a lounge. Oh, that's right. Yeah, the Villains themed lounge there. So they're going to have a third DVC member lounge there. It's kind of interesting to me. If it's like the one at Epcot, it's just like a place to park your butt for a minute and cool off. Yeah, the one at Epcot is underwhelming to say the least.

I have a feeling that the Magic Kingdom one will will be also but it'll be i mean maybe it'll be in the treehouse.

We went i went on the i went to the top of the treehouse uh in december when we were there for key con it there wasn't a line but it was full oh good it was packed i literally packed up between christmas and new year's too but everything is packed yeah the park was so busy that people People just wanted to feel like they were doing something, I think. So that's what that was. But I was surprised. Let's see. Scaffolding is starting to come down from Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom.

They're kind of finishing up all the exterior work and the landscaping. That mountain is covered in green. Like you can't, it does not look anything like it used to. I like the way it looks. It looks pretty. I don't know why they didn't put What's-Her-Face's boat up there, like the original drawings.

Mm-hmm. that's a good question mama whatever her name is mama yeah i i bet you it's got something to do with budgets no where it didn't fit in the co-op theme all right, We'll deal with that later this year once the ride opens in Rio. I'm sure the ride is going to be fun, but what a weird theme. I don't know. I reserve judgment. Is that gift shop that used to be Splash Mountain going to be like a health food store where I can go buy some carob chips?

Jeff, I bet you they're working on a partnership. Oh, yeah. I bet you there's a sponsorship there. Some nice vegan treats. We're going to hop on over to Disneyland now. We've got some stuff there. Coming up very soon, January 30th, the transformation of Paradise Pier Hotel into the Pixar Pier Hotel is going to be complete, and that's the grand opening date, is January 30th. It's coming up quick.

That looks like that's going to be good. It's a heck of a lot better than Paradise Pier was. Yeah, there was really no theme to Paradise Pier too much. This looks really nice. It looks like a Hilton version of the art of animation. Yes. That's what I would say. Like the way the lobby looks with all the art and everything. Oh, yeah. It looks like an upscale version of that. Art is great. Did you see even the art in the exercise room is like these huge

paintings of Mike Wazowski and Sully in front of each other. I love it. And the pool area looks like it's going to be really nice. Now, they have a rooftop pool, which is always pretty cool. And then you can watch fireworks from up there, too, and see World of Color.

Rooftop pool, really cool splash zone for the kids there did you see the cool fire pits that they have out there they're big cement, they've got anger and Jack Jack oh I haven't seen them and then the fire because in both of their movies at some point fire comes out of their heads so the fire bowls are oh that's great the restaurant there looks really cool too and it was it needed to be redone It was so stuck in the early to mid-80s. It was awful. Never saw it put in there.

Yeah, it was. I mean, drop ceilings. The draw to it was the character breakfast, but it was not nice. I mean, they really need to redo Goofy's kitchen as well. It's not great. Yeah. Well, it doesn't need to be. Well, it doesn't right now. I mean, look at the thing everyone loves at Disney World is the- Chef Mickey. Chef Mickey, which is- Yeah, that's fair. Like a Ryan's Hot Bar level place. It's true. It's true. Old country buffet with characters. Yeah.

Well, Disneyland's going all in on Pixar to celebrate this hotel opening, basically through August or to the beginning of August. Middle of the beginning of August, yeah. Yeah. April 26th to August 4th, they are welcoming back Pixar Fest. Pixar Fest.

Yeah. So they've got some new things. There's going to be a statue at the front end of Main Street USA with Pixar characters.

Um there's going to be a brand new daytime parade at disney california adventure uh pixar parade they just keep getting new parades well we got nothing they do i know uh and then disneyland park is going to have the return of together forever a pixar nighttime spectacular very cool do we think we'll ever have a nighttime parade at walt disney world, not anytime soon i don't know what like what what's going on i don't know dan

i'm asking you i don't know i mean there was i mean at one point there was rumors that they were going to send over. What was that one at disneyland the when can we do this again one with the light paint the night paint the night i they were going to send that back there was even rumors that they were We're actually going to send Main Street Electrical Parade back to Orlando.

My favorite thing is then, I guess this came from Disney execs or experts or I don't know who, but they were like, oh, we can't do paint tonight here because a couple of the floats are too tall. Well, how about you build two floats? Come on. Right. Yeah, yeah. Make them shorter. Make them less wide. Whatever. There was also the issue about the bridge in Liberty Square that it had to all go over, or not being able to support some of the bigger floats.

Yeah. Yeah, they're too heavy. So while you're spending $60 billion, or you're talking about spending $60 billion, perhaps widen the road there, whatever. Right. Add a couple of support beams to that bridge. Yeah. We need a parade. Yes. Yes, we do.

So, yes, that's going on at Disneyland throughout the summer. May 24th, Disneyland's Fantasmic is finally coming back. Oh, good. Good. With less fire effects. I'm going to guess probably no fire. Zero fire effects. It's having new special effects. They have one of their favorite words. They have reimagined the final battle between Mickey and Maleficent. And also they're bringing back the Peter Pan scene on the sailing ship Columbia. So that's one cool thing. That is cool. Yeah.

Apparently they got rid of it at some point, but that's coming back. So that's exciting. I love that show there. I can take it or leave it at Walt Disney World, but I love the one at Disneyland Park. And it's mostly because of the big sailing ship parts. That is so cool. That sailing ship is awesome. I love just seeing that during the daytime. You walk past and there's this tall ship floating by. Really cool.

Really cool. Still at Disneyland. Run Disney. Finally returned to Disneyland. Finally back, yeah. Yeah, we had a bunch of agents that were out there for that. This weekend, it seemed to go well. Yeah, it looks great. It looks like a fun event. That was before COVID, right? They stopped doing races? Because when they were having their kerfuffle with the city, right?

Yeah, they stopped because they were going to be doing a lot of construction there in downtown Disney, building that new hotel that was supposed to be straddling the road there and taking up the parade or the running route.

Out but alas that is no more yes that is and then covid so there was that and then covid and i guess this now was just the time yeah i mean people have been people been clamoring for that so and they're such money makers and did not did i read that there's going to be a new disneyland run disney race that's halloween themed that's right september 5th through 8th But they're going to have a Halloween half marathon weekend, I guess the kickoff of their Halloween party. The beginning of September.

So, yeah, and there wasn't a ton of details about that other than it's going to feature, it sounds like, pretty heavily Haunted Mansion themed and other stuff. That's going to be very popular. That thing's going to be selling out in time flat. But it looks really cool, or sounds really cool. It'll be fun to see all the runners' costumes. I love Disneyland. I expect a lot of hitchhiking ghost runners. It'll be cool.

For sure yeah so that's well let's see we covered new orleans square expanding here's so we spent 40 40 some minutes speaking talking about walt disney world and disneyland, i have for you a whole one update for all of universal oh no estimations and experiences for the year 2024.

Now i understand actually i have two i forgot to link one but there's not not a lot of details on either of these so we've got two things for universal first of all sometime in 2024 we don't know when dreamworks animation land will be replacing woody woodpecker's kid zone, that's gonna be great that that will be a really great upgrade to that park yes i mean i love woody woodpecker but But we got to bring it into this century.

Yeah. So there's that. And then also, I believe they said sometime in 2024 will be the opening of the Fast and Furious roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood, which is going into is kind of an interesting spot. It's where they had those two stage show areas right near where you go down the escalators to get on the backlot tour. Never been. Or trams. So this racing roller coaster is going to be on the side of the hill.

It's right there on the hillside. And they're putting track in place as we speak. Yeah, it's not surprising that Universal doesn't have a ton going on because of the big project that's opening in 25. So this year is going to be slim pickings for them. But I am glad they're doing that DreamWorks animation. All those properties are so huge, and that play area is badly needed in a very adult park. So that's going to be killer.

And the two new hotels they're building over there where the new park is, those things have come up out of the ground, and they look awesome. Awesome. I cannot wait for those things. Yeah. Yeah. I did hear, we don't want to get too far into rumors. Have you seen that it's not looking good for the Simpsons at Universal? No.

What's the kerfuffle? Because Disney owns them now. Yeah. Well, originally they had said that Universal was planning on not renewing the contract to use the characters, but that doesn't go end until 2028. Now there's talk that they might be gone this year because apparently they have stopped training ride operators on the Simpsons. Oh, my. They're not hiring anybody new to run it. Yeah, I had fully expected all that area to stay until they lost their license to it.

So the rumor is that it's also just not popular anymore. Yeah, that's fair. The rides are not at all. People are walking around. I mean, people love to get the Duff beer and the big donut.

Yeah the food there is popular but the ride the attractions are not honestly that um i mean they've only got the one spinny ride and then the uh other one and that thing makes me sick yeah a lot of people have a problem with uh screens on that one it never bothered me but um does the cold bother you never it doesn't bother me no i'm not gonna break out in a song either i can't get me williams.

I love The Simpsons and I like that area. I'll be sad to see it change, but I'd also be thrilled if they turned it into something really cool. Because I don't love that ride anyway. Right now, the odds-on winner is Pokemon, so I don't know how you feel about that. That makes more sense. It does make more sense. It is popular. It surprises me that it is still so popular.

Right. But it really is. i don't get it but my my sons are crazy for the pokemon yeah that's uh that's a weird one that that is still that's probably more popular than ever right now yeah well and a big part of it is like grown-ass men my age are still into pokemon cards yeah i think part of him when when trading cards in general got super popular during the pandemic and uh dudes started dragging out their a Pokemon card collection scan or something like that. Yeah, I guess.

So that's that. And actually, I kind of cut out a lot of the Disney stuff. We didn't even talk about Disney Cruise Line has, like, their island coming online soon. New ship. New ship. New Japanese market ship. That's right. So we just stuck with the theme parks. But there's a lot of developments coming out this year. It'll be interesting to see if we do a retrospective in December what panned out, what worked out better than we thought, What was a bust?

Put it on the notes to do that. All right, put it in there. Hang on, let me... Okay, got it. Take a note. Commenting so the algorithm will bring me back. I'm going to say thanks for hanging out with us again this week.

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