So You Went To A Theme Park On A Holiday

On this weeks episode of The Theme Park Podcast, Scott discusses his trip to Disney on Presidents Day and gives some tips on how to have fun even amongst the crowds. Plus he issues a challenge involving a certain kitchen sink themed ice cream dish. Then in the news a real farewell to the NBA Experience, old Soarin' returns and Mel's Drive In gets an updated menu!

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
From the theme park Capital of theWorld, Orlando, Florida. This is
the Theme Park Podcast. Wait podcast? Is this on the radio? Why
does everything gotta be so messy onthis station? Anyway? Here's your hosts,
Stickerman, Jimmy d and Scott Harris. Welcome in to the Theme Park
Podcast. Stickerman. Here there isJimmy D. What's up? Field?

(00:24):
And Scott Harris? Hello, Hi, what's going on? I heard one
of us went to a theme parkthis week, which is somehow a rare
occasion on this show. One ofus went to two theme parks on a
holiday. Ew, yeah, thatwould be you, skat Harris, I
did tell us now, seeing isJames. I don't know the last time
I went to a theme park.How about yourself? I think it was

(00:45):
like Halloween time. No, Ijust went too long ago. Yeah,
I don't remember going for a whilenow. Just before Mega Con, I
went to Hollywood Studios. Oh,well, good for you. You went
for your birthday. No, formy birthday. I didn't do anything but
that you bought. I don't remember. I went to UH because Ashley Eckstein

(01:06):
was at Hollywood Studios before Megaicon,and I showed up to UH to meet
her and get like a picture andstuff, and they were given out like
a page of the script from Rebelswith you know that she had signed.
And I got there and I gotin line for that and I was three
people too many. I missed itby three people. You should have thrown

(01:30):
a fit and I did not dothat, but you should have. But
the person who was ahead of mein line, she pitched a huge fit.
So I just stood around to watch, and I was hoping to uh
because I had been chumming with her. I was kind of hoping that she
would drag me along with her ifthey you know, when they acquiesced to
her. They did not. Theydid not give They did not. They

(01:53):
sent out a manager that only worksthe front of the park and he was
less than useless. Oh yeah,yeah, so yeah, he was actually
uh. When after he walked away, I turned to the original cast member,
I was like, he did nothandle that well. He really handled
that very poorly. It's the guythat we saw at the opening Galaxies that

(02:15):
she's been promoted. He lost control. What they've lost control of is quality
control and their managers. So yeah, well, Disney, maybe they need
to revamped. But Disney University thatguy at Disney Institute. Yeah, yeah,
that guy floated through Disney University,paid the average, paid, no

(02:37):
attention whatsoever. All right, nexttime Ashley X teen's in our in our
workplace, I'll try and get aheads up and let you know I want
to I want to meet her whenit's an appropriate time to meet her.
I mean this would be appropriate.Will it kept a security guard? No,
I we we have the ability todo other jobs if needed. I
just I want to be in asituation where her that it's appropriate to be

(03:00):
a fan. I don't want tobother her when she's on vacation. I
don't want to take away from herwhen she's visiting six children in the hospital.
Now, okay, fair enough.I just thought, maybe you know,
she could use some guidance from anemployee. Well, I will say
I wanted to see her at MegaCon and I physically saw her. I
did, But her line was likeone hundred people deep the entire weekend.

(03:23):
It was like twenty minutes before closinga megaicon on Sunday and her line was
still like one hundred people deep.It's great, that's awesome. People just
love her. Good for her.Yeah, or in his own. Yeah,
very successful, and she's becoming likea mogul. Yeah, that's exactly
the word. I mean. She'slike if Luke Skywalker and Vasaci had a
baby, she's like, Yeah,I mean her universe in our universe.

(03:46):
Now, who doesn't. If you'rea Star Wars fan who doesn't own at
least one piece of material from them, it's gott do to you own any
of our universe or her universe.I was close to buying something and then
it wasn't on Sala box lunch,and then I forgot about it. Have
I was going to I have somethingrecently I got from our universe. Oh
that that Drax hoodie from Guardians thatthe universe. Yeah, I remember you

(04:10):
wore that and I thought the sleeveson it were weird, and then I
realized it didn't have sleeves. Sleep. Yes, it was just the T
shirt I had under it to hidemy giant muscles. Mike drags. Have
you worn it yet without any shirton it? No, that's not I
mean that's how you wear it.It's a hoodie. Let me say,

(04:32):
the guy on hot topic had ashirt on under it, so in the
in the picture, So that's whatI went with, Now, you're supposed
to wear it no shirt underneath,not zipped up. How does drags wear
it in? Uh? The rewindhe's probably got no shirt on, but
he doesn't have noodle arms. Imean that's what kind of noodles you're talking

(04:53):
about? Yeah, yeah, Imean if it's ramen ones. Scott,
tell us where you went this lastweek, what your experience was. We
went to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Wow in one day? In one
days to travel? Buy a monorailbetween the two? Yes, what color
monorail? Lime? Nice? Nice? That is great. I haven't That's

(05:15):
That's one of the fun things aboutEpcott and Magic Kingdom is you can write
a monorail. It's still atrocious totry and get to Magic Kingdom, but
it's at least somewhat fun in parts. Yeah. So we get to the
park. How to buy a ticketbecause one of the I have a pass,
so we need another ticket. Youbought a day ticket. Well,
here's the thing for one day parkhopper ticket. We were well, well,

(05:39):
we go to the ticket booth becauseI'm like, oh, let's see
what happens if we just buy itthere? Get up there. Yeah,
we want to buy a ticket.Should we get park Yeah, let's get
park Copper. And then the castmembers like, well, we're running a
deal. So for two and fortyfour dollars you could get a one day
park opper, but for two andfifty four dollars you can get a two

(06:02):
day park opper where you get twomore weeks. Oh wow, to go
back. It was too good ofa deal to not get. Yeah,
that's fifteen bucks and you get asecond day exactly. Yeah, yeah,
no, that's I mean, that'sthat's great. I mean the fact that
annual passes used to be one hundredbucks more. But I know you guys
are gonna call me old and talkabout Wooden Nicholson such. Yeah, and
the fact that you have an annualpass that is sitting there that you refuse

(06:25):
to actually use or pay us backfor. But yeah, it was a
holiday, so it was a madhouse. The lightning lane for Frozen. The
lightning lane for Frozen was into China. Oh my god, that's how.
That's how busy of a day itwas. I'm it's president. It's not
even like a real holiday. Hey, banks and schools, man, everybody

(06:47):
just goes to Disney Banks and schoolsare off. Everybody just like, okay,
we're gonna go to Ebcot. Imean geez. So we did.
Here's what here's what we ended updoing. Well. First of all,
we went to Canada did the CanadaShow because it's like, let's just do
things we've never done. Yeah,we've been here enough times and the Canada
Show is relatively new. It's yeah, because Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy who

(07:10):
do the Canada Show. So Ilearned a lot about Canada. Pretty cool.
Uh. Then oh, let's goover to Beaches and Cream for lunch.
Excellent choice you had that, it'syep. Yeah, we got chili
cheese tots. Okay, I feellike you should get some kind of actual
food. Yeah, sure, theice ice cream is perfectly good enough.
And then we got the No WayJose. I have had that before,

(07:35):
of course you have. Of courseyou have ordered that together. What why
did you just put your hand onyour I went to the hospital that night
after my heart attack. But thesecond we walk in the somebody ordered a
kitchen sink and it was the tableright behind them. Oh yeah, tell
me how far did you get intothe No Away, Jose? We got

(07:55):
like three quarters into it before yourbody just kind of tap. I can't
take any more, so let's stop. And the waitress is like, you
guys did good. So that waslike, yeah, see the mistake we
made the first time we went,not knowing anything other than the kitchen sink.
I always heard about that. Well, we each ordered an ice cream.
Oh no, we didn't get anywhereclose to finish. Yeah, our

(08:18):
ice cream dishes, I usually getthat like it's like an orange Sherbert like
float or like I don't know whatit is. It just it's got orange
Sherbert. And then they took thepiece of orange candy and stick it on
the edge of the cup. Ialways just get that and that's enough for
me to finish on my own.Yes, So when we went, we
got one of us got the NoweJose and the other one got some shake

(08:39):
with that a whole piece of pumpkinpie inside of it. Oh okay,
God that we didn't finish it though, So h review on Beaches and Cream.
It's great and it's like bigger.I believe they've like modeled it so
they stretched it out some huh.Yeah, they used to be an arcade
next to it and I think theytook over. Still exists, but I

(09:03):
think more of the restaurant has takenover. Makes sense because it's always packed.
I mean it's always packed, andyou know what else, there are
people in the pool. Yeah,it was fifty degrees outside. I don't
the British people do that. I'msure they're British or from Minnesota. We
hate for this pool. We're gonnause this pool. I will say that
there were more lifeguards watching the poolthan there were people in the pool.

(09:24):
I like it when it's like that, there's just a million guards and the
lifeguards are wearing like yeah, they'relike, you better not make me get
in this water. So we didthat, and then we went back into
Epcot, like, let's complete thelap and then we'll bounce over to Magic
Kings. Really, we look atthe weights, like all the weights aren't
bad at Magic Kingdoms. Did youeven attempt Guardians of the Galaxy to have

(09:46):
cutt No, because by the timewe got in the park, we missed
the drops for it. So that'sstill on the freaking thing. If it
was a virtual que ride, itwill still be on the virtual queue.
My gosh, But how long didI haven't I've been to Disney in like
two years and it's still the sameway it was exactly. So we did
so we like you checked out,like, oh, let's go into the

(10:07):
Japan store. Let's you get someNo, we did not know. But
we looked at samurai swords, okay, because I feel like I'm at the
right age now where I should owna sword. It seems a odd thing
to sell at Disney, if ifit's a sharpened blade. There's two countries
that sell swords. Interesting, yeah, interesting, China and Japan both sell

(10:30):
swords. They don't let you takeit in the park. I think they
mail it. They mail it toyou. There's enough signs to tell you
that's what they do. I gotsome martinis over in Italy along the way.
It was also the last day ofthe Festival of the Arts okay going
on, and so they immediately justdropped the new banner as soon as the
night ending. Yeah, pretty much, flower and guarded. The next day
it was like boom, here wego, it's flower Garden now. So

(10:52):
but I got a chance to walkaround, Oh we did. I did
the Journey to Water Okay, Yes, so that I did that. That's
kind of cool. Yeah, Idon't understand how it has a line because
it's just a walk through. Yeah. Yeah, I've heard. I've heard
good and bad about it. Thewaterfall thing is already broken. Oh man,
they broke that already. The yeah, the doorway, yeah geez,

(11:13):
already closed off. But there's somestuff where you like wave your hands around,
like water moves and stuff like youyou control it, your ma wanna.
Okay, it's pretty I mean,it's fun to it's fun to do.
I could definitely uh see doing thaton a hot day. Yeah,
yeah, fifty degrees maybe not somuch exactly. And it was still a
little chilly at that time because wedid it was the first thing that we

(11:33):
did when we got in the park, so then we kind of like walked
around. It was like, sowe're looking at a bunch of the arts
and stuff that we're being sold.Bounce over to Magic Kingdom. Yeah,
now the party starts. Take amonorail and then we took the ferry.
Minutes later. You're at Magic Kingdomfor me, yeah exactly. And then

(11:54):
it's like we get into the parkand it's just like everyone has now come
to this park. Oh oh,you're so you're short like this is this
is the worst. When you you'reat a park, you see another park
with good lines, so you say, hey, let's make the jump.
Yep, everybody else makes that samedecision and they'll jump at the same time.
Pretty much. Yeah, but it'slike, let's hear, let's there's
there's Friar Nooks Restaurant something is aplace we've always wanted to go, but

(12:20):
it had weird hours where they wouldclose it like three o'clock. Okay,
but they have like hot dogs andlike I think there was a time where
they had like a buffalo chicken hotdog. Okay, they don't have that
now. We learned this as wegot in the line. But they have
like a bacon mac and cheese hotdog. This is after Beaches and Cream.
This is after Beaches and Cream.We've walked, you know, around

(12:41):
Epcot and now walked you know throughMagic Kingdom. But here's the thing.
We got to Magic Kingdom, gotto see the parade. We found a
great spot to watch. We gotwe got trapped, so we had to
watch the parade and you're stuck watchingthe parade. But it was it was
fun to to like, you know, watch the parade and then it was
like, was that at the endof the night parade or is it like
the midday It was the midday parade. I think this was like three o'clock

(13:03):
in the afternoon. Just like beingone of the little people, That's what
you were thinking. I'm one ofthe little people. I'm gonna be here
and do all the tourists thus,I mean, it was just like,
what do you like when you've beenhere so many times in all of the
lines are so long, you findother things to kind of like amuse yourself
with. Like we walked by doll, we did Tiki Room. It was

(13:24):
like, hey, teaky rooms rightthere. Saw water moving in the Journey
to in Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Okay, yeah, so they're getting along Tiki
Room. I still owe my daughtera visit there because she we would tell
her we could go once a yearbecause I hated it so much. I
have not done it so long thatI didn't realize that Iago is not a

(13:46):
part of anymore. Oh yeah,yeah, it's even more boring now.
Well it's the original. It's backto the og version of Yeah. When
they opened up Trader Sam's at Polynesianthey moved that that tiki guy that used
to come up in the Go show. She's in there now, and that
was like the bridge. Only goto that place if you want to be
bullied by the way. Oh yes, he's still upset about his h yngling

(14:11):
that he or absolutely I am.But it was like it was it was
just fun to kind of just walkaround the parks and then we bounced back
over to Epcot's car. Was thereforty five minutes later you're backing Epcott and
we did the China Show. There'sa show in China. Yeah, it's
it's it's a it's a three Da three sixty thing. Oh okay.

(14:33):
The only difference is, like wherethe Canadian one has been updated, the
China one is original, I thinkto Epcot, I didn't even know there
was a show there. Yeah,it's in the big building like when you
walk into Yeah, if you're ifyou're standing in front of China, like
on the walkway, it's like liketo the right side and it's the big
like octagon. Shade Red kild nevergone in there. Yeah, but it

(14:56):
was. It was fun. Andthen as we were leaving we got to
see they started doing the not theCastle, the ball they were doing Rainbow
Connection. Okay, so it wasthey were doing that on the ball,
So it was really it was.It was good. It was just a
good day to be at the park. Yes, it was busy unless you
wanted to ride rides. Unless youwanted to ride rides. Legitimately, I

(15:16):
don't think we did see we didnot do a single ride. But it
was still a fun day. Asa poor tourus. It comes here and
like saves like the whole year becausewe're gonna go to Disney gets you gotta
spend money on the lightning lane.That's what it is, and then the
lightning lines sell out like it's miserable. I feel like lightning lanes sell it.
It's the genie plus that sells out. Yeah. Yeah, I think

(15:37):
it made things worse. I thinkI'm going to believe they need to limit
those or quadruple the price on them. They need to price people out of
those. Yeah, I think that'sgoing to be the solution, or just
get rid of it. I feellike things work better with fast pass.
Yeah, that's well, they willnever go back. It works so much
better, though, I know,but that was free, I know,
but they know I've said this dothe Universal Studios model charge it charge for

(16:03):
FastPass? Mmm? Yeah. Ialways felt like Universals, even though it
was paid, wasn't as good asDisney's. I feel like I waited long
at Universal than I would at Disneywith a fastback. But they capped it
so you bought it the day ofand by like it could be noon.
There's no more FastPass anymore. Youcan'no buy this anymore. It's expensive to
It's like forty bucks, right yeah, yeah, so yeah my review,

(16:26):
it's want to go to parks,it is unless you want to ride rides.
There was there was a period whereI was going and I would time
the rides and I'd come back andtwelve minutes to get That's the thing.
That's the thing that we have beenspoiled, especially going like in the post
COVID reopening. Oh I remember that, Like I didn't go in the very
beginning, but like there was therewas nobody. You could take a picture

(16:47):
and there's nobody around you at all. Yeah, Courtney went on Hagrid six
times in a row. Get off, get back on, get off,
pick a bike, Like that's great. I mean did that with Vlosa Coaster.
Yeah, I went to Epcot.Like the it was either the date
opened or like the second day itopened, and it was run of the
park. Yeah for the most part, but there were still like five people

(17:11):
wide walking down the side. I'mlike, come on, man, come
on, there's no reason for youto do that. Oh we gotta this
is how we walk. Do youwant some news, Yeah, it's just
new quick news. Okay, SoSoaring right now is doing soar and over
California. Yes, it's going togo back to Soaring around the World.
Okay, so uh if you wantto see Soren over California, go soon.
Uh yeah, yeah, a coupleof days, except for the lines

(17:33):
are long, because on February twentyeight, he goes back to Soaring around
the World. Here's the thing.The ending will be the same. Oh,
because they land in in uh Epcot. Epcot, Yeah, which has
been remodeled. Oh yeah, that'strue. They need to reshoot that.
Well, it's still not finished.They should be able to reshoot it pretty
easily with the way drones are now. Probably true. Disney has filed permits

(17:56):
for the demolition of one of Jimmy'sfavorite Disney attractions. Cause the only person
I know that has done this whatNBA experience. Yes, and technically I
was there before it opened, Soan attraction that was open a little more
than two hundred days. Yeah,that that did not work out for them.
That did not work out at all. What we got rid of,
like the video game place for it? Right, I have an idea question,

(18:18):
how about they replace it with anindoor interactive theme park. Maybe it's
got a whole bunch of the videogames inside of it, classic and new.
Yeah, some new ones too,that'd be great. Yeah, maybe
call it like Disney Quest. Thatwould be awesome. And could you pay
like one price and play all thegames. Yes, that's a great idea.
As long as there's like a threeD pirate Ship thing I want.

(18:38):
I'm in That ride sucked. ThePirate Ship was fun. No, it
was the rafting one that sucked becauseyou just went and circles the entire What
about the Aladdin one? Now,Oh that was the kidding. It is
the future right there. That's whyApple Vision process up right there. Aladdin
was awful. Put on this VRheadset. Now, the Pirates of the
Caribbean was like the best attraction inthat building. That was teamwork ride.

(19:00):
Maybe I'm thinking a ladd and youget to shoot a cannon, or you
have somebody using the wheel on apirate chip. Okay, what I would
do is make it back. Therewas one cannon. It was really close
to the steering, the steer,the what do you call that, the
wheel wheel whatever. I don't know, I'm not an aut person. The
boat turner, yes, that thing. I would drive the boat and shoot

(19:23):
that cannon at the same time.And you also had to do the throttle
up and down. So it wasfun. I only went once and it
was with you guys. Oh,I loved I went. I went all
the time to that place. Iprobably went to Disney Quest probably yeah,
six seven times. Yeah, thatplace was fun. A former Disney imagineer
says a third ride at Galaxy's Edgewas planned but budget cut for. But

(19:45):
it was pretty far along a man, come on. It was basically a
Bantha ride through the land. Thatsounds cool. Yeah, we get that
back along with something at the StarCruiser. Who knows, man who?
Who does? There's a new photopass at the Tree of Life called the
super Zoom. So basically it's likea camera like almost like within the tree

(20:08):
that takes your picture that's cool,and two new universal things. They have
partnered with McFarlane Toys to make newcharacter figures. I love big far McFarlan
makes some great stuff. Well youcan how about this? Let me let
me gauge your interest on this.The first wave, right, we got

(20:29):
Jake Blues from The Blues Brothers.Okay, would you buy that? I
know Andy Stitzer from The Forty yearOld Virgin. I like that movie,
so you know you're gonna buy anaction figure of that. No, the
dude from The Big Lebowski. Iknow people that would buy that. Here's
the thing. I didn't realize thosewere all universal movies, and I'm like,
really, that's your first wave.There you go. I mean the

(20:52):
dude's going to be a big seller. He's going to be a big seller.
Yeah. I don't know who's runningout to buy the Steve Carell character
forty year old for this his hairremoved from his chest. I don't know.
Okay. And Mel's Drive In isabout to reopen. That's been closed.
Yeah, I remodeling. Okay.We've got a couple of food items
though, chili, cheese, hotdog, okay, delicious, big big

(21:17):
bopper burger with cheddar, cheese,bacon strips and onion rings. And this
is that, Mels. This isthat Mels. I don't think I've eaten
at Mell since nineteen ninety three.I've never eaten there. I ate there
once, I didn't enjoy it,But I like it when they call it
Mels dying during Halloween hornets. Oh, yes, this is very true.
Yeah, yes, they turn offlike six lights. It's hilarious that that.

(21:37):
That is good enough, that's good. So yeah, that's uh,
that's going on over there. Soyeah, burgers at theme parks, let's
just tell it like it is.They're always terrible. There's never been a
good burger at a theme park.The starlight is it starlight? Yeah,
cosmic rays trash. No, they'vegot good burgers there. No, they've

(21:59):
got good burgers right, just sincethey took away the cheese trash. Dude,
you're just about they took away yourtopping bar where you could just make
salads. Well, I did bringmy own food and did take toppings,
including the hot cheese. Yes,so basically he would show up with two
slices of bread. Yeah, I'dmake your own grilled cheese. No,
we would bring chips. And makenachos cheeses. You are the exact reason

(22:25):
why they had to take the cheese. O. The cheese got taken away
because people are stoopid and got burnedby it. Oh cheese, let me
put it almost, sir, stopeating it like it's a slurpy. Well,
you were ladling it into your mouth. So I would get a couple
of them little cups and you know, make the most of it. Hey,
look, we're a frugal family.At the time, I worked in
radio. You know how much moneyI had. None. Were you doing

(22:47):
that thing where you ate a chipand then you pour the cheese into your
mouth? No, I've never donethat. I don't believe you. I
think he just had like a Dixiecup full of cheese and he would just
crumble some chips on the top.Simon Simon at at At Jason Staley,
we get the coffee cup of theice cream and just fill up the coffee
cup as opposed a little tiny scoop. They would that it was me that

(23:07):
did that, okay, And it'ssmart planning right there? Are you kidding
me? Take a coffee cup ofice cream? I am proposing, though,
I feel like the three of usshould do a kitchen sink challenge just
three. I feel like you needat least a fourth. No, no,
no, no, no no.We each get our own sinks,
each get her own. Yeah.How far we make it? That make

(23:29):
a mini sink a whole can ofwhipped cream? Yeah, I like it.
There's sirens that go off, peopleare yelling. Yeah, yeah,
there's a lot there. There's alot going on. Forty seven dollars ice
cream, it is. I gothey, I got the Ebcot pyramid for
like thirty seven. I think whenwe went for our anniversary the other year.
It is thirty eight dollars. It'snot bad. Serves four, that's

(23:51):
not bad. Yeah. I thinkthat's what I paid for that, that
giant pyramid cake. Yeah, fairenough. I'm down for it. All
right, just about of time.So if people want to find us on
social media, Scott to get upthe latest breaking food news very quickly.
If you were not at MegaCon,you can catch our MegaCon show wherever you
find your podcast, so that isavailable there. So that's now live for
people to hear. Now live forpeople to hear, or if we want

(24:14):
to watch it, it's on ourYouTube page. You don't want to watch
this unless you just focus on Scott, like have one of those zoom features.
I mean, I know, Scott'sthe pretty one. But it was
a good show. Yeah, okay, it was a good show. You
could follow us on Twitter at themePark Show, Facebook, Instagram, and
TikTok at the theme Park Podcast.You could watch at the theme Park YouTube
dot com. And the show comesto you live from the Laurencampbell Realtro dot
com t Bogasbo Studios for Jimmy andScott Harris. I am Dickerman. Until

(24:38):
next time, We'll see you outof the parks. This has been the
theme Park Podcast. Follow the showon Facebook and Instagram at the theme Park
Podcast. To catch up on previousepisodes, check out the themeparkpodcast dot com,
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