Theme Park Travel News: Disney, Universal & Sandals
Disney park news and theme park travel updates: Jason, Rachel, Terri, and Myka discuss AI on Walt Disney World’s consumer site and Royal Caribbean’s 50% stake in Sandals. Hear what these changes could mean for your next family trip, plus the latest Disney and Universal updates.
Jason: No, Terry, we don't know. welcome to episode the eight.
Terri: It's like do I look ahead? Do I stay
Myka: What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to look?
Terri: really perfectly still? I don't know what to do.
Jason: For for randomness,
Rachel: What
Jason: I've I've put
Rachel: are you doing?
Jason: the usually I put the audio in separately, but the past few episodes I've able put the the intro in so we could just roll it straight in. so Terry just texts us all and said, Hey, do you know what to do during this? It's like, No, not
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Jason: really. But you when you're listening to it we're
Myka: Do do we stare do we stare at our cameras?
Jason: When you're listening to it all out there, I'm putting a nice big picture over it. So you don't know what we look like. welcome to episode
Terri: good.
Jason: 78 of Castles to Cauldrons. I'm your host, Jason, and got our co-owner of Magical Travel with us, Rachel. And we just got back off of Disney Dream. We're gonna talk about that next week with Heather when she comes on to talk about Carnival Royal and Disney Cruise Line. So that was gonna be a nice episode. And then Terry and Mike are here, so we got the whole crew. For for once in a while.
Myka: I know I feel like it's been
Terri: Yay!
Myka: a while since all four of us were on the same episode.
Rachel: That was a couple episodes
Jason: Yeah.
Rachel: ago, I feel like.
Myka: Was it?
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: Yeah. I know I'm the flake.
Jason: Still. But this this is our news episode. We're just gonna go through it, shoot the breeze, talk about what's catch up on what news has happened in the theme park worlds and the travel world. really, it's gonna stick to Disney Universal. We got a little bit from Royal Caribbean that's been we've teased at earlier when we talked about some royal stuff a couple weeks ago. and that is that Royal Caribbean has bought out sandals. I forget the price tag, but it's a pretty cool little thing for for us. It could also be a bad thing. I don't know. Sorry, they they bought they bought the majority shares. Yeah.
Rachel: No, they didn't buy out. They they bought it it's fifty percent. Yeah. Yeah.
Myka: They bought shares or something like that?
Jason: So they're they're half and half, right?
Myka: I think I saw something that said it was three billion dollars or something like that.
Terri: I I would have thought it would be more.
Jason: I kinda thought it was gonna be a lot more than what it was. You know with how much
Terri: Now is Sandals US owned or was it also okay.
Rachel: No, Sandals is from Jamaica. they it was three billion dollars and they acquired Royal Caribbean acquired a fifty percent equity stake for three billion.
Jason: Yeah, so they're major sh Yeah, so they're the major. Which is good. I think we can end up getting some
Myka: Still a lot of money.
Jason: good good little things out of it as people who sell Royal Caribbean.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: Yeah, I know that they they did announce that they're are not gonna do day passes for Royal Caribbean guests, which I think is a smart
Jason: Right.
Rachel: move because
Myka: Yeah.
Terri: I do too.
Rachel: I just that would just overrun, you know, a resort, especially during peak time. I think that that's a
Myka: Mm.
Terri: I see we
Rachel: really good call not to do that. So
Terri: When you pay for that resort, you kinda pay for that kinda secluded like you're there with other people, but Sandals never feels like completely, like you said, overwhelmed. Or but with a cruised ship full
Rachel: Right. And it Yeah.
Terri: of people, it definitely would.
Rachel: And I'm I don't think consumer facing is gonna do much. you know, Sandals has already changed the names of the majority
Myka: Mm.
Rachel: of their resorts to be easier identifiable by island, which I think is a good thing that they did. I'm I'm curious about what's gonna happen on the back end for like advisors. I'm just curious how those there's are they gonna merge systems? Are they still be separate entities? I'm just kind of curious on the back end. of that.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: But I don't think consumer facing.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: I don't think this is a bad move.
Jason: I think consumer facing what would be cool is if you can get the loyalty program combined. So if you're doing Royal Caribbean Satinals,
Rachel: I think I think they mentioned that.
Myka: thought I remember
Jason: that would be a
Myka: that being part of it, where they were talking about somehow combining. Mm-hmm.
Rachel: Yeah, the status.
Jason: And then if you're on a royal
Terri: It would be mutually beneficial for both, I feel like.
Jason: Yeah. And then if you're on Royal, you could book a bounce back type, whatever they call theirs, the next cruise. Like if you could book a next cruise or a sandals right there for a discounted rate, maybe to for somebody to try
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: sandals for the very first time, or vice versa, if you're at sandals to book a next cruise to get you to try a royal cruise for the first time.
Terri: Or you go cruise with your family and you get to bounce back to go to sandals with just your husband or your wife. And you're like, Look, we've done
Myka: Yeah, just like a adults only.
Terri: the whole family thing, now let's plan something for just us and get a twofer.
Jason: Or even beaches, you're on a cruise.
Rachel: Yeah, they call it a loyalty and travel booking. And they do ten, eleven or twelve percent, depending on your room category, to do a a secondary booking while on site for sandals. So I think that would be cool, how you can swap.
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: I think why I like that idea.
Myka: Because people don't
Jason: It's a lot of
Myka: always just wanna go to all inclusive or just do a cruise. they
Terri: Yes.
Myka: wanna switch it up. So when you're combined like that, you can still earn those loyalty points but have a completely different type of vacation. That would be cool.
Jason: let's move over to Disney for a minute. We'll go through a lot of this kind of fast because it's we don't have a lot of information. farts, the festival of the arts, which is our favorite festival just because of the name. January 15th
Myka: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Jason: through March 1st, 2027. And then Flower and Garden, March 10th through May 31st. We did have a updated schedule for food and wine. Beach Boys are out, John Stamos is in, Rachel already booked her trip. I don't remember John Stamos's
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: band's name, but
Myka: You mean Uncle Jesse and the Rippers? Yeah.
Terri: The rippers, right?
Jason: Yeah. It's California something.
Terri: he was permanent with the Beach Boys now. Is he not?
Jason: I didn't know how old the Beach Boys were until I saw a picture I sent y'all the video of John Stamos on stage with the lone survivor of the Beach Boys
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: and he's pretty much dead on stage. And it's like good God.
Myka: Yeah, he's old. Mm-hmm. They're old.
Terri: Not as bad as Frankie Valley.
Jason: No. some something that can bring some conversation. Disney brings the AI to trip to trip planning when you're in the in the website. that's a big thing for us as travel agents because it makes people feel like they can do all the planning just as well as we could for them. And in fact,
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: it's still Disney's AI trying to book you into something that you they want you to go to.
Rachel: Right. I
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: was just gonna say it's a biased AI. It's not gonna
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: be honest with you when you ask it a very blunt question. It's not gonna have feelings. So
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: I think that we as advisors still have firsthand experience with our families and you know, or just an adult only, and we can provide the that intel.
Myka: Now is AI gonna get up at five AM so you can book dining for them sixty days out? Probably
Rachel: Of course not.
Myka: not. No. Or midnight when you're trying to do bippity boppity boutique.
Jason: Right. The big thing is to remember that they try this with Genie and the whole system with you planning your day out and they would send you to the random places at offset because all they were trying to do is spread out
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: those crowds and make them look good so that the wait times weren't as good. This is the same thing. They're just doing it resort-wide and saying, look, we need you to stay here in October versus in September because we're a little bit lower in October. So let's go ahead and fill that up. And that's what they're gonna try to do is really try to push you into those places that have lower and you're gonna see less discounts because of this because this and I I'm saying that out of just if the if the AI is working the way it needs to work, why would they need discounts? Because it can push you to stay somewhere whenever you would need to.
Terri: And also it can't remember what kind of vacation you like. if you've booked a family's vacation for five plus years, their AI goes, you know, off of what you tell it. So you might forget I mean, to tell it like it's so and so's birthday or like you know that your you know, your clients have a five year old and a seven year old. So you're like, Okay, I think they should do these things. but this kid doesn't like roller coasters, he likes, you know, pirates of the Caribbean or this is their favorite character. And so as a mom, for me to sit there and pour out my brain to an AI to make sure every detail is taken care of, it's almost the same amount of work as planning the whole trip yourself. Cause you've still got to tell
Rachel: Or
Terri: someone else to do it.
Rachel: that I totally agree with Terry. And then also
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: there's a lot of people that have and that I've worked with when we have agents that work with them that have children on the spectrum or other
Terri: Yes.
Rachel: disabilities. And an AI is not gonna tell you the best course of action if your kid only likes certain things or acts a certain way. Like it's just not gonna happen.
Terri: Or like you said, it's a spectrum. So if you just say that your
Rachel: Right.
Terri: child is, autistic, it's maybe assume it's like at the highest spectrum and leave out a bunch of stuff that your kid would like, or vice versa, put your kid into situations where they're not comfortable. But if you have a personal relationship with that client, exactly their kid loves, bright lights, so let's do this, but let's not do fireworks because they don't like sounds. Yeah. And things like that.
Myka: loud noise. Mm-hmm. But also the AI is not necessarily, again, like Rachel said, it doesn't really have feeling. So it's not going to take into account certain things. It's going to look at Disney's bottom line and
Terri: Mm.
Myka: what resort,
Rachel: Exactly.
Myka: what resort is not being booked, but also we can get an extra two hundred dollars out of these people for because we're
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: going to recommend that. And that client's going to be like, because the Disney AI recommended it, we're going to stay there. When if they had someone like us that could do like Where we can compare different vacation offers or different resorts for them and be like, hey, this is where you talked about your child love's toy story, Miss Terry over here has dressed up like Woody. why don't we go stay at all-star movies? Because there's a giant Woody there and your kids gonna be so excited to see that. but the Disney AI, I bet nine times out of ten if you're putting stuff in there. It's gonna recommend resorts that are moderate to deluxe over any of the values because that's not gonna make Disney as much money.
Terri: Well, that's what I say. Like they said they'll offer comparisons, but without doing your own research, you don't know if you're really getting the best comparison. It can be giving
Myka: Yeah. Uh-huh.
Terri: you three offers, which are all great, but you don't know if one of those is really a bottom line offer. Maybe it's just
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Terri: a quick trip and you're like, I don't want to spend a ton of money. I do want just the basics. But unless you go back and check the AI, you're gonna assume that it gave you like you're gonna tell it, I want a low, medium, high. Yes. Yes.
Myka: And then you're just doing all of that work and you shouldn't be using AI in the first place 'cause you're already on the website doing it yourself.
Jason: While we're talking about disgruntled Disney, we can talk about the the price increases.
Myka: Mm.
Jason: Disney a couple of weeks ago did increase all their prices. I know I'm throwing y'all off when it comes to show notes stuff because this is further down, but I I figure it flows well.
Terri: It does. You're good.
Jason: Disney naturally always increases ticket prices.
Rachel: Not all their prices.
Jason: Most of the prices. theme park tickets really increase. You know, the special event tickets will increase next year. We just won't know until those come out. and then annual passes, food and merch, some of the some of the main food and stuff. so Magic Kingdom, the holiday ticket for twenty twenty six. So that that Christmas week, hell week, this year is two nine for the max. It jumps to two twenty nine next year. Epcot is two nine. Also going up to two twenty nine. Hollywood studio is two four to two fourteen. Animal Kingdom one hundred eighty four to hundred eighty nine. That just shows you that no one likes Animal Kingdom, Micah.
Terri: It's not true, Micah.
Rachel: It's not even that,
Myka: Hey.
Rachel: it's open the least amount of time.
Myka: It is, it is.
Jason: It is. It is.
Terri: And the hours.
Myka: I can't get over the premiere
Rachel: There's a couple of factors in there.
Myka: pass, how that went up like fifty dollars. It's like the
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: the most expensive day that you can get. It is five hundred dollars or four hundred and ninety nine dollars.
Rachel: You know why?
Terri: person.
Rachel: It's because they know they'll get it. Because it sells
Myka: I know it's nuts to me.
Rachel: out at that price. So they're like, I'll tack fifty bucks on it and make, you know, 200 for an extra family of four. Yeah, they'll get it. They'll get it.
Myka: Yeah. That's crazy. To me, I don't know, that five hundred dollars could be used on so many other things.
Rachel: I wanna
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: know what the well I okay, so it's gonna be 500 a person.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: Okay. Yeah. I'm like trying to compare it to a VIP because in a VIP it maxes out at 950 an hour, but you get all four parks for that.
Myka: Right, this is
Jason: Yeah.
Myka: two thousand dollars for a family of four on top of spending
Rachel: For one part.
Myka: for one park on top of spending two hundred and twenty dollars a person just for the tickets. So you're looking at almost three thousand dollars for like one park day. For one park day.
Jason: And Premier Pass is
Myka: That's it for one park.
Jason: Premier Pass is all back back sided stuff. They don't have to it's all algorithm based. There's nothing that has to do with you getting a physical thing out of this. So it's ninety nine percent just profit.
Myka: Profit. Yeah. That's when I saw that price, that's really expensive. That's really Lightning Lane's gonna go up, which if if Premiere
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Myka: Pass is going up, multipass is gonna go up.
Rachel: No, it said Lightning Lean wasn't going up.
Terri: No, Lightning Lane's not going up.
Myka: didn't change. Okay. Well, it wouldn't surprise me if they did
Jason: It it
Myka: though.
Jason: it probably will. Let's just be honest. Probably will end up going up
Rachel: Yeah.
Jason: at some point. And it'll just be one of those things as
Rachel: The tours went up.
Jason: it gets there.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: Yeah.
Myka: Well, some,
Rachel: Yeah.
Myka: not all. Savvy's workshop stayed the same. Droid Depot and behind the seeds all stayed the same. They didn't change price.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: it says the single passes went up only a dollar to three dollars.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: But the regular multi pass didn't go up. But then you have the dessert parties and then like the certain experiences, like Keys of the Kingdom went up, Wild Africa Trek, Savor the Savannah, Colors of Corno, the Phantasmic Dining Package even went up.
Terri: Fantastic dining package. Mm-hmm.
Myka: Yeah.
Rachel: But I mean that makes sense because they made the other pack they made the other dining buffets go up. Yeah.
Myka: the food and stuff go up. the dessert party didn't go up as much as I thought it would. compared to the other prices, five, ten dollars each, so not
Rachel: Yeah. No, ten bucks, yeah.
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: terrible. prices of food and stuff does go up, so I understand that those
Rachel: Right.
Myka: types of things need to happen. it happens at restaurants. I've I've worked at a restaurant and we had price increases twice a year. two times a year. It might just go up a couple cents or ten, fifteen cents at a time, but still it was an increase.
Rachel: I remember booking
Jason: Do want to
Rachel: Savvy's workshop at two hundred dollars and now it's two eighty or two seventy five.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Myka: Two seventy
Jason: That does
Myka: five. Yeah.
Jason: bring up this point though is does Savi is Savi and Droid is that more of a no one's doing it so we can't raise the price?
Myka: Well, when I just booked it for someone, the availability was crazy. I could have gotten any time they wanted, anytime
Rachel: Yes, I will say that. Yep.
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: they wanted. They were like, Could we do these two things pretty close together if it's available? Sure enough, no problem at all to book it. when I pulled it up, every time seemed to be available.
Jason: it's not that it's point.
Rachel: I've seen
Jason: the the
Terri: Ha!
Jason: 275, like it's expensive, but I don't think Savvy's is what they wanted it to be. And people
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: aren't going every time. They're not trying to get all try to collect them all. They just refreshed the lightsaber looks about a month
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: or so ago. And then I don't think the Droid Depot really needs anything, any reservations at all. Now you can just walk up and get in.
Terri: gonna say the same thing. I think those are almost things that once people get one, they're okay with the majority of people. Now there are super collectors, like you said, that want every lightsaber or whatever. But I think if I were doing it with my kids, we would do it one time when we went to Disney World and then we wouldn't book it again because
Rachel: Right.
Terri: I'd be like, we don't need ten lightsabers. Would it that's a lot of money and we gotta get them on a plane and go home and what are you gonna do with them when you get home? So I do think it's probably why there's a lot of availability now, 'cause when it first came out it was very novel and everyone rushed to it. And now all those people have those things and it's if they go back, they're not gonna get a lightsaber every time. It's not, a coffee mug or a Christmas ornament, it's a it's a big thing.
Jason: I think I'm gonna take Travis at one point when he's a little bit older. it might be three fifty by then, but
Terri: Yes. I think I think we taught our kids next time we go that they can 'cause the youngest will be ten by that point. And I think anything, younger than that. It's a big it's a big gift for a theme park 'cause they're Go ahead.
Rachel: Well, I always yeah, I tell people that it's not an it's not a toy, it's a collector's
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: item. they don't fold up. it is a legit lightsaber. so yeah, I'm with you. I think your kids are good ages next trip. I wouldn't do it any younger.
Terri: Yeah, but you're good and you're gonna buy them something else while you're there. So you're like this is a very expensive souvenir, so we're not gonna do this, like you said, when you're eight years old or you're four and you're gonna go home and whack it on something, maybe, if your parents let you play with it and break it or do whatever it's just I think it's a novelty thing, so it doesn't book as you can do fantastic
Rachel: Yeah.
Terri: dining every time, even though it's almost the same show, but you still love the experience.
Rachel: the the beer guine went up two two dollars not the beer like two dollars and
Terri: Not the beer guine. The schnitzel. Price of schnitzel's crazy.
Rachel: then I was
Jason: Have that.
Rachel: reading that quick service went up too anywhere from thirty cents to a dollar.
Myka: Mm.
Rachel: the corn dog is now eleven ninety nine from ten ninety nine. And a cold yeah, and then the cold brew
Myka: A dollar for a corn dog? That's a hot dog.
Terri: And sh Yeah. With the briding around it, come on.
Rachel: went from five ninety nine to six twenty nine. So it's not and then a diet coke says it's four ninety nine.
Terri: Which is ridiculous that a diet cook is five dollars. That's ridiculous.
Rachel: feel like I could for another five dollars I'll just get a case of twelve.
Myka: Right, and bring it into the park yourself. the
Terri: Well yes.
Myka: most expensive part of a drink is the cup and the straw on the lid. the actual drink itself,
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: is literal change. it's pennies for them to do it.
Jason: It it's not even that for Disney.
Terri: I do wish they would do something like Universal does.
Jason: Disney if Disney gets all the s if I remember right, the sodas, the the bottles they have to pay for. But the way the contract's written for Coca for Coca-Cola is that all the syrups are part of the contract. So they don't have to pay for the syrups. That's the sponsorship. And then if they want drinks, the bottles are everything, that's what they have to pay for. So they really are only paying for
Rachel: Yeah.
Jason: cups and those paper straws at this point, not even the syrup for the drinks at s quick service restaurants and sit down restaurants.
Myka: Well there's no reason it should be five dollars for a Diet Coke.
Terri: And you don't even get a l a lid with your cup anymore.
Myka: I know.
Rachel: Right?
Myka: You just have a cup and a straw.
Rachel: And you get a a paper straw at that.
Terri: Yeah. A paper straw. Hate
Myka: I know I I'm on Terry on board with Terry of I wish Disney did the refillable mugs like they had in the parks that it was an option as well.
Terri: Yeah. If you could take your resort mug
Myka: Yeah.
Terri: to the park and 'cause we're in I always take mine like a an idiot 'cause I put coffee or something in it.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Terri: And then for the rest of the day it dangles on a stroller or I stuff it down in a backpack or something. I
Myka: Yeah. Yeah.
Rachel: Yeah.
Terri: really do wish that they would charge you fifty dollars instead of twenty four dollars at the resort for the mug, but but
Rachel: No, don't don't put that out there in the universe. That's a lot of money.
Terri: I can fill it up for free when I'm at the parks. You know? Yeah. My whole visit.
Myka: Like for your whole visit.
Rachel: You fill it up, it's included. No, I know what you mean. It's kinda like Universal's Universal has that the the drink. The freestyle machines.
Terri: Yeah. It's like I go to a freestyle machine
Jason: That's exactly what you're saying.
Myka: Yeah.
Terri: anywhere you go and just
Myka: Well, except traversals is either specific to the resort or specific to the parks, you can't do both. You have to pay for both.
Jason: And that's only because they're two different entities.
Terri: Too many cups. That's wasteful.
Myka: Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Rachel: I I liked that when we got the the dining package before I know they never brought it back, but I mean like the drink you got the cup with it. My kids were getting icy's all day.
Terri: Yes. It's kinda like Jason said, is a lot of these price increases and like Micah said, the food is understandable because everybody's been at the grocery store, price of food goes up, whatever. But you're not getting anything to physically hold in your hand to say, Well, at least I've paid fifty dollars extra for something, but I have this janky thing that I'm gonna donate in two years when it's taking up space in my cabinet. But at
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Terri: least walking out of the park, I feel good that I have something. to show for the money I spent. Whereas right now your ticket went up, your food went up, your experiences are going up, but literally nothing has changed. Like you're
Myka: Right.
Terri: you're spending the same day in the park. You're you're not getting any extra hours. Yeah.
Myka: You're still paying for your magic band. You're still paying for your transportation from the airport to the resort. You're still now they are starting to incorporate luggage service to some of the places and they're expanding,
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: slowly expanding, but still the prices are going up, but we're n you're not getting anything extra.
Terri: Your benefits aren't.
Myka: No.
Terri: And I think that's what's frustrating to most people is that everyone knows Disney has always been expensive. It's never been cheap.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Terri: But lately, at the fast five years since COVID, it just feels like it's skyrocketing and there's not like they're taking things away as they're increasing prices. And it's getting a little frustrating.
Jason: Along a little bit with prices. Disney announced this week that they're laying off 200 employees and it's been mainly Imagineers. They're taking it from theme park division and Imagineering. A lot of people are pointing at the Abu Dhabi deal. They just like Iger said on the way out saying, Hey, guess what? We're gonna build a park in Abu Dhabi Another some people are also pointing at the second park for Shanghai, and then one imagineer who doesn't. really get a lot of talk on social media because he's not the greatest, I guess. He he thinks it's villains land as well. So Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Villains Land all on the cutting cutting block. Going along with those price increases, they're they're bumming up all those prices for us, yet they're laying off people so their bottom line looks good.
Rachel: I just found
Jason: I
Rachel: a 2017 an old confirmation. I'm gonna price it out for the same thing for 2027. Uh-huh. I'm gonna do it.
Myka: Just to see the difference, the ten year difference. Yeah.
Rachel: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna price out the same thing.
Myka: To see how much it's gone up.
Jason: I think I do that one.
Rachel: Uh-huh. I can't I'm excited. I can't wait.
Myka: You're like, I can't wait to do this.
Jason: So on the on
Rachel: Because I'm gonna looking
Jason: the layout.
Rachel: at this, it is amazing package. All Jason, go ahead.
Jason: On the layoff side of things, this Josh DeMaro coming in and and laying off two hundred people, I think that's a that is a big deal at the end of the day. Especially if they've had a handshake deal with Abu Dhabi saying, Hey, we're build a a theme park over here. And then Shanghai probably has a contract for a second park within so many years for their for their second gate. like what Euro Disney, Disneyland Paris had in their contract for what is now Adventure World. Something whatever whatever they're calling it.
Myka: Yeah, whatever it's called.
Jason: I don't think Villains Land. Yeah,
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Jason: I don't think Villains Land is on that cutting block. They've they've already started work on it in some ways. They've got the permits. If they did cut it, hey, guess what? I was right the entire time. We're not getting villains land. But I I think I think they still have it.
Myka: Yeah. We're gonna get a we told y I told you so.
Jason: Yeah. In five years.
Myka: I wouldn't like Abu Dhabi wouldn't surprise me, that the Abu Dhabi thing would get cut. that wouldn't surprise me at all because I was a little surprised when they announced that that was happening. Just 'cause that doesn't seem like a
Jason: Yeah, thing parks.
Myka: great spot as hot as it is.
Terri: I was gonna say, unless the Saudis were paying for it to lease the name and everything from Disney and 'cause that's what they
Jason: Think that's part of it.
Terri: did with the Live Tour with golf and it was like gajillion 'cause it's all oil money. They gajillions of dollars. So a lot of people tap into it 'cause it's it's free money for a lot of things. I'm like you, Micah. I
Jason: That's what Tokyo does.
Terri: don't see the Disney vision being there. But W I just wanna figure out where Disney is hemorrhaging money because Disney plus prices are going up, park prices are going up. What is where are we hemorrhaging the money out
Jason: The new errors.
Terri: that
Myka: Mm.
Terri: let's stop putting out Bad
Jason: By the rulings.
Terri: movies. Let's
Jason: Well look at so look at this year with movies. Moana came out, it was horrible. It did horrible. the only thing they really have going for at this point. Yeah.
Myka: Haven't even watched it. I haven't watched and Moana's
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: my favorite one of my favorite movies. And I haven't seen the live action.
Jason: It was free on the ship and I didn't go in there. both ships, when I was on The
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Jason: Destiny and when I was on The Dream, I didn't go watch it. Doomsday, the Encore, or not Doomsday, but in game the Encore came out. I don't know how well it did, but it made number one the first week it I was was out. It's now the biggest box office domestically. and then you have Doomsday at the end of the year.
Myka: Was that the alternate ending that was a fifteen minute?
Terri: It was only eight minutes. It was crazy.
Jason: It wasn't even fifteen. Yeah. Eight. It was so short. Just small little things. But
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: that's where the money's going. Is like the Fox the V the Fox, Disney, Searchlight, all those movies aren't doing what they were doing back in the especially when it comes down to Marvel. Marvel was their big breadwinner when it came to movies a few years ago, and they just haven't been able to do it. Rachel, what'd you find out on your twenty seventeen to now trip?
Rachel: Okay, so it's one of like my very good clients that I just pulled up because you know, like in our CRM system we have like a agent or a profile ID number.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: She's number thirteen.
Myka: Okay, so long long time.
Terri: wow. Long
Jason: Wow.
Rachel: Yeah.
Terri: time listener.
Rachel: Long time listener.
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: Yeah. Let's hope so.
Rachel: Okay. So it is for a party of three, two adults and one child age six. they're actually going on an all-inclusive next month and the kid's now 15. So it's crazy. October 28th to November 4th. So it's a Thursday to a Thursday. So it's a full,
Myka: Hello. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rachel: it's seven nights, eight days. Disney's All-Star Movies Resort in a standard room location with a six-day base theme park ticket, the Disney dining plan, which is the middle sit-down one, with the memory maker. and you had Magical Express was on here, but we can't. Okay, well, that's not part of
Myka: Mm-hmm. And you got free magic bands.
Terri: Mm-hmm. Yep, and free magic bands back then.
Rachel: that's not me quoting, lady. How much do you think that package costs in 2017?
Myka: For three people for a week.
Rachel: Three people, eight days, six day ticket, dining planned, and memory maker. And I'm gonna and this is a standard price.
Myka: Seventeen fifty. Yeah, seventeen fifty maybe? I'm probably
Terri: thirty five hundred.
Myka: low.
Rachel: Close Terry. thirty-two seventy-four.
Terri: Mm mm mm mm mm.
Rachel: Yeah. Guess what the exact package is in twenty twenty seven.
Myka: Sixty four hundred dollars.
Rachel: Close.
Terri: Mm mm. I was gonna say ten, so
Rachel: wow. Girl, I th I don't think I've quoted an all-star music at ten grand in a very long time. six thousand and fifty six dollars.
Myka: Yeah, I figured it would about double. I
Terri: Here's double.
Myka: yeah. It's up by at least ninety percent. Yeah.
Rachel: Well, because then you have to pay for transfers. Like where they were included.
Myka: Mm-hmm. No, I was just saying the magic
Terri: Yeah. It
Myka: bands were included then. Now you have to spend another
Rachel: Right.
Myka: forty, fifty bucks a person to also do
Rachel: Yeah.
Myka: that. That's crazy.
Terri: And that's only ten years. It it ha the price hasn't doubled every ten years before that. it would be interesting
Myka: And and
Terri: to price something from two thousand six now and see the difference in two thousand six to two thousand seventeen and then it might be the same, it would be less.
Myka: Yeah. increase. But they wonder why people aren't going or able to go because like a a vacation ten years ago that you took that cost thirty two hundred dollars now costs six thousand. That's a huge difference. Like huge.
Terri: Yeah. I can't imagine being a kid when I was
Rachel: Right.
Terri: a kid, my parents spending ten thousand dollars on a family vacation.
Myka: No, I remember the very first time we went to Disney. We saved for Disney by saving our change in a giant, I remember it was a giant crayon piggy bank. And we would put our change in it in dollar bills. I remember my papa would come over for dollar days. he would give us a dollar, each of the grandkids, and we would put it in there. And we were able to save up to go to Disney by saving change in dollars and then also aluminum
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: cans. you couldn't do that now. You'd have to save for 10 years. to be able to have that extra
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: money put to the side to do something like that. Right. Right.
Terri: And but it would double in that ten years, so by the time you had enough money, you wouldn't be able to go.
Myka: that's crazy. I literally remember we saved all of that stuff.
Terri: just wish they would it's very out of touch.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Terri: I feel like. It's incredibly out of touch that what what they're doing right now.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: What the
Jason: let's move through this Disney stuff pretty fast, the rest of this. But little things that happened it's for a while. The LilyPad from Toy Story Five has joined Alien Swirling Saucer. It's a new screen outside the ride, and it brought along Taylor Swift music. So Terry went down and spent a week just writing Alien Swirling Saucer so she could listen to Taylor Swift and
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: there was.
Terri: Love.
Myka: She heard I knew it, I loved you, five hundred times.
Jason: Yeah. I can never. Yeah.
Terri: Yeah. I'll let people go ahead of me until I got my song. Okay.
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: I'm not there's nothing big about it. they had just installed Lilypad when we went down there for our VIP in September. So that's how how old this is. there's no more single rider line at Everest. That's a downer for me because I used to love that at the end of the day, just go through and ride single rider. Now they're doing it like the front half is even numbers, the s back half of the train is odd numbers. So they're gonna do that to fill it up to make it nice and big. and easy for people to go through. Guardian does
Myka: That's how they already do Tron and stuff. it works well
Jason: it, yeah.
Myka: for them to be
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Myka: able to do that. Yeah.
Jason: while we're talking about those rides, holiday overlay.
Myka: That single rider was great for me and Jason.
Jason: Yes. Yes, it was. holiday overlays for Muppets, Alien Swirling Saucers, and Guardians of the Galaxy. those are coming in November. So here shortly. Muppets, I was glad to see they're getting a holiday overlay with new music. Alien Swirling Saucers is just adding to
Myka: Yes.
Jason: this to their stuff. And Guardians had one with one song that was like a Medl medley of music and now they're getting separate songs. Micah, did you have those pulled up, Terry? Who had those pulled
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Jason: up?
Myka: have rock and roller coaster and guardians. I think Terry had alien swirling saucer.
Jason: All right, what is what is Muppin's Guardians?
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: Guardians. Hold on, I have Muppets pulled up first. All right, Guardians. So it looks like the overlay for Guardians is gonna be November 25th, 2026 through January 6th, 2027. and they have three songs that they are gonna use. It's either gonna be It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Christmas Eve, which is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version. So I feel like that's probably gonna be the best one, and then Christmas Wrapping by the waitresses. I don't feel like I know that
Rachel: Mm.
Myka: Feel I need
Terri: You wouldn't know it if you heard it. It's old.
Myka: to look it up. Okay. I feel like though the Trans Siberian Orchestra one would be the most imp
Rachel: Noticeable? Yeah.
Terri: Yeah, but those are not great choices, in my opinion.
Myka: with the lights and stuff. They're not. There's so many other Christmas songs. I feel like the Muppets are gonna be fun. So I'll let Terry go next with Alien Swirling Saucers and then I'll Muppets.
Terri: Alien Swirling Saucers goes from November 4th to January 6th. And DJ LillyPad is gonna transition the ride to make it more festive. And it's got two songs. actually, Deck the Halls. Then Joy to the Swirl. So but
Myka: Okay.
Rachel: That's cute.
Terri: then two songs you've never heard of Toy Land and Swirling Swirling Saucers. So two originals
Myka: Okay. So okay.
Jason: You've never heard of Toyland?
Terri: and Joy to the S No
Rachel: No, I'm with you.
Jason: Hm. I'm weird, but we know that.
Myka: I think Jason's just giving us a hard time.
Rachel: Is he gaslighting us?
Terri: I think so too.
Rachel: Is he gaslighting us?
Myka: He always gaslights us. He was gaslighting
Terri: Okay.
Myka: before it was cool.
Jason: Yeah. If it's the song I'm thinking of, I might
Rachel: We put up with it.
Jason: be completely wrong.
Terri: I'm gonna look it up real quick. Go ahead, Michael with
Jason: All right, what's my bits?
Myka: All right, and then we have Rock and Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets is gonna be November 4th, 2026 through January 6th, 2027. And they are all gonna be featuring the electric mayhem, and they're gonna have Little Saint Nick, which great fun song. I feel like that would have been a great one for Guardians because that's like a fun upbeat song. Holiday Road, featuring Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Myka: Christmas Baby, please come home. featuring Jennifer Hudson with the Electric Mayhem and Silverbells featuring Cindy Lopper. So they do have some pretty fun singers on there with the Electric Mayhem for those four songs.
Terri: It's a great mix of singers too.
Jason: President put any Muppets Christmas Carol in there.
Myka: I know. Well they d it says original holiday inspired songs. those aren't original songs, but I guess because they added in the other characters they did that. So that's exciting. anytime they add stuff like that, I feel like
Rachel: What are listening to?
Jason: Disney's Atlantic dance hall closed to regular guest guests on October first. It's only gonna be available for weddings and special events. No big loss there. I don't think I don't think I've ever seen a person walk into that venue during the days. it does make for like if Rachel decided that she wanted to host us all at Atlantic for a AEP, we could have it for us and Big meeting space, but that's that's all it's
Myka: yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jason: gonna be used for now. It's it's a great reception area. Last bit of Disney News. the big
Rachel: We're gonna be at Cornado.
Jason: yeah, we can have a big ballroom there. last bit of Disney News is Matterhorn is a rumor, actually, so that the Matterhorn would be demoed and rebuilt in a new area for Tomorrowland Overhaul and Disneyland. I do not like this if it's true. I don't think it is. I'll say that.
Rachel: Well, I'm glad that I actually wrote it then, if it is true.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: Yeah.
Terri: Yeah. So are they gonna leave the mountain there or just take it down? That's kinda weird.
Jason: hi the history of it is that it's the first demo it, destroy it, and move the whole structure.
Terri: I know, that's weird.
Jason: I guess the whole
Myka: Mm.
Jason: the idea would be the
Rachel: What are they gonna put there?
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: I don't I don't know. I'm not imagineering. But it used used to be a picnic area back in the day.
Myka: Well, if they're just saying they're gonna expand tomorrow land, so who knows?
Jason: They could tear out Autopia and put it over there in Autopia.
Rachel: the
Jason: And build out tomorrow land closer to the castle itself. But Batterhorn's the first steel coaster.
Myka: I hope that's not true. That would be terrible. 'Cause that's kinda right in the middle too. Matterhorn's kinda in the middle. So that would not be
Terri: I suppose I say
Jason: Yeah.
Terri: Disney's real big about sight lines and everything and I always feel like big things like that, the kind of position to block things, so you you feel immersed the whole time. So if the big mountain is not there, is it gonna give a the whole land a different feel?
Myka: Well, it's also a good visual point because since
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: the castle's so small at Disneyland, it's not like you can be in a different part of the like of Disneyland and see the castle and be like, I'm gonna go that way like you do at World. But there's
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: Right.
Myka: Matterhorn is much bigger than I feel like the castle is like it's a more like it's an easy visual.
Terri: It's a statement piece.
Myka: Yeah, you can see it and it's easy
Jason: It's called a ween.
Myka: to know, I'm gonna go that way. Huh?
Jason: It's called a weenie. That's what they originally called him.
Myka: A weenie. Yeah, the the park weenies.
Jason: Where to where to they get you to gum deeper into the parks. That's
Myka: I don't like it. If it's true, I don't like it.
Jason: what they're called. You can not like it all you want, but that's
Myka: I don't like it. I don't like it if it's true.
Jason: Yeah, if they I don't see
Myka: Well, you just said you didn't think it was true either.
Jason: yeah, I don't think it's true. I don't think that the rumor is true. I'm talking about the weenie's being true. But yeah, I don't think that's that's a lot to demo in the middle of the park. That's a big solid structure. And then to move like just so okay, we're gonna rebuild it, say on the outer side of Tomorrowland where Autopia is or something like that. Then you're gonna have to close a lot of stuff to get that built again. So why just just keep it where it's at? That's my two cents.
Terri: Yeah. if they want to revamp it, by all means.
Jason: I think that's the thing though, it's hard
Myka: Make the tracks a little smoother.
Jason: to revamp it because it's it's all built into that concrete. It's the same thing they were having issues with with
Myka: Mm.
Jason: Everest. But Everest is an open trap.
Myka: They're figuring that out.
Jason: Yeah, somewhat, somewhat supposedly.
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: that's the news for Disney. We're gonna take a quick break from our sponsor Once Upon a Cozy
Myka: If you're anything like me, there is a very specific type of magic you feel when you're walking right down the middle of Main Street or stepping into a snow-capped wizarding village. But since we can't actually live at the theme parks, how do we bring that feeling home? That's where Once Upon a Cozy comes in. Once Upon a Cozy is a fantastic Etsy shop dedicated to capturing the magic of your favorite Disney and Universal Park experiences and weaving them into everyday cozy essentials. Whether you're packing for your next big vacation and need the perfect themed apparel for your park photos, or just want to cozy up on the couch in a sweatshirt inspired by your favorite castles, rides, and magical movies, they have exactly what you need. Instead of loud, generic tourist merch, Once Upon a Cozy specializes in subtle, aesthetic, and incredibly comfortable designs that let you celebrate your fandom with style. Plus, they are a five-star Etsy seller with over nine. thousand happy customers so the quality is just as magical as the designs. Bring a little bit of the parks home with you. Search once upon a cozy that's once upon a cozy all one word on Etsy today or just click the link in our show notes to find your new favorite magical must-have.
Jason: And we're back. now we have Harry Potter, Terry Potter joining us. That was weird. Yeah,
Rachel: And a fake Mr. Clean.
Terri: Hello.
Jason: and the fake Mr. Clean. And then Micah now with with orange background. I didn't change anything. We're gonna talk about universal news.
Terri: You get to see what's going on already, Jason.
Jason: What?
Myka: Jason's favorite.
Terri: Yay.
Jason: Let's talk universal. HHN thirty six. We're not even done like by right well while we're recording this. HHN thirty five still has three days left. but
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: HHN thirty six, when you hear this, is now on the horizon and we have the houses permits are out now. It's all brunch themed. So it's like yogurt, syrup, pancakes, waffles.
Myka: Mm.
Jason: So it's pretty cool. They just put it out there that. They're already working on next year. That's the best thing ever. That's the only thing you ever know.
Myka: So has that ever given c clues to a theme, the names
Jason: No.
Myka: that they use for the vermits? No. They're not they're not
Jason: No. There's a and only
Myka: as smart as Taylor Swift with those Easter eggs.
Jason: No, they're better than Tear the Swift 'cause they don't want to give away.
Rachel: Maybe they don't want people to know. Right.
Jason: There's only been one year where they announced a house
Myka: But it brings up engagement.
Jason: and it was Chucky House. They announced it on Halloween night for the next year, and that was just because of contracts and covet and stuff like that. They had to have that for that year. So they would have said, Hey, Chucky's coming. So
Myka: Mm-hmm. Okay.
Jason: I'm excited about that as usual. we we're we're talking already about next year, me and Beth, what am I doing, when I'm going.
Myka: Mm. Well, I feel like this is the least amount you've ever been to Halloween Horror Nights was this year. Yeah. You went one time, right?
Jason: It is. I've only went once this season.
Terri: I know.
Rachel: How do you feel about that?
Jason: I feel horrible. I feel like a bad fan. Yeah.
Rachel: How do you feel?
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: I'm pulling out my hair because I didn't go but one night. But I I'm pretty jealous
Myka: Well
Terri: It's okay.
Jason: of everybody. I'll do it more next year. Next year I'm planning on doing Orlando and Hollywood. So maybe we do Castles of Cauldrons in Hollywood. That'd be fun.
Myka: Fly across the country.
Jason: Yeah, just to do H H N. We could do Oogie Boogie while we're out there. Go to Disneyland, do Oogie Boogie.
Rachel: Never done Oogie Boogie.
Myka: I know. It looks really fun.
Jason: Neither have I. That's what I'm saying.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Myka: I love the character stuff that they do out there.
Rachel: I just don't want to wait in the queue for that. But All
Myka: I know.
Jason: I don't think the event sold out that
Rachel: right, go ahead.
Jason: much this year. So on to
Terri: They should do a lottery system for those things.
Jason: They used to. not in really a lottery, but it was just get
Terri: They should.
Jason: in the in the wait line and hope you queued into it. Joey Fatone's fat ones opened at Universal City Walk. This was also while we were down there for HHN for our little trip. We got online, we looked, we said, never mind, let's go into the park and eat in there. it looked good.
Rachel: Why?
Terri: They're very intense but good they look good hot dogs, but they're not your mama's hot dogs. they're Yeah. kimchi. Yeah.
Myka: It it's a lot of toppings. they have a South Korean one that was like kimchi and a bunch of stuff on there was no hot dogs for
Terri: It was only like with pizza toppings.
Myka: Yeah, there was no hot dogs for people like me and Jason that plain things. they were all
Terri: Yeah, there were no ballpark
Rachel: You would th
Terri: dogs.
Rachel: so it was like heavy food too?
Myka: Yes.
Jason: Yeah.
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: it was big and thick. Yeah.
Terri: And they're like they were a foot long, so they were big. You got your money's worth. But like I said, if you were going for just a mustard chili relish situation,
Rachel: Yeah, catch up. Yeah.
Terri: sauerkraut maybe it was none of that. It's all like
Myka: Mm mm. Mm-mm.
Rachel: Yeah.
Terri: there's a theme for each hot dog. It's six or seven, I guess. It wasn't that many.
Jason: I think Bethany was the only one that was really like,
Rachel: Well that's a waste.
Jason: let's let's eat here but
Myka: 'Cause I was just like, I really don't see anything on this menu that I'm gonna like wanna spend this much money on and actually enjoy eating.
Rachel: How much were the dogs?
Jason: I think I would have gotten a weird look. I can't remember. twelve? Starting at twelve
Myka: I'm gonna look it up.
Jason: or something like that.
Terri: Between twelve and sixteen, I wanna say.
Rachel: All right.
Terri: But you couldn't just
Jason: But I would have felt weird
Terri: take off a couple items to make it a normal dog. it was
Rachel: It was yeah.
Terri: yeah.
Jason: Yeah, I felt like I would get looked at by going up there and saying, Yeah, I just want a hot dog with ketchup mustard and some cheese.
Myka: Yeah. Yeah. I agree.
Jason: 'Cause you can go into the park and get that same one.
Myka: That's why I was like, I really don't want to spend all of this money on a hot dog.
Terri: It's a hot dog experience.
Myka: if you like fancy dogs
Jason: And what it replaced was the
Rachel: Well
Myka: like that.
Jason: the hot dog hall of fame had those hot dogs. They had the regular plain chili cheese hot dogs all the way up to the fancy hot dogs. So it was nice to have that, but then Fatone fat ones, whatever, I get why they wanted to bring it here as a name brand of somebody, you know, they wanted the Joey Fatone brand. But it's just like, come on, at least
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: Give something to the the kids. 'Cause if the parents are eating here, most of the time those kids aren't gonna eat a, spicy hot dog.
Terri: I was gonna say I was surprised that there wasn't just a plain kids option that you could dress up however
Myka: Yeah.
Terri: you wanted.
Rachel: Well, speaking of different foods and stuff, they're having Mardi Gras from February sixth
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: to March twenty seventh. So
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: that's like a you know, a nice almost two months of the festivals. Yeah. I like their
Terri: That's a long Mardi Gras celebration.
Myka: Cajun Yeah.
Jason: It is.
Rachel: and I've been there once during it. I like the festivals. you know, the parade, you can get
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: on the float. that's cool and throw some beads at people.
Jason: We we've been there the past, I think, three or four years and we love just that atmosphere. And that it's included,
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: right? It's it's you get that nice big parade with all the free, they throw the beads out and all that stuff. They have their the food like you're talking
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: about. And they could have easily said, Hey, this is gonna be a hard ticket event, just like H H N, but there's I'm like, no, we're gonna include this so everybody has the fun and and gets enjoying it.
Rachel: It's more like Festival of the Arts, Food and Wine. I think they're trying to do something like
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: Disney. So that's why I don't think that it was ever gonna be a ticketed event, nor should they charge for it. I don't think I don't think it's
Jason: Well, I'm saying it could they could have made it a hard picket.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: big enough for that though.
Jason: Well, the weekends when they have the the artists, 'cause this is when they bring in big name artists to do the that are included in
Rachel: Yeah.
Jason: your your ticket. these aren't the Disney little
Rachel: Right. No, that's true.
Jason: John Stamos and, you know, whoever coming up sing. People
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: Right.
Jason: that actually want to hear these folks.
Myka: And they bring out different food booths and stuff too, right?
Rachel: Mm-hmm.
Myka: where you can get specific Mardi Gras or Cajun
Jason: Thanks.
Myka: Louisiana type foods.
Jason: They have discount food food cards. So you can buy a food lanyard and it's like for a certain price. You go around and get the food already. annual pass holders can buy a hundred dollar gift card and it's for seventy for seventy-five dollars or something like that. So they're they make all these
Myka: okay.
Jason: great deals where you can walk around and and it's only for food, but you can still get all that trying for food and whatnot. horror makeup show. that's gonna be returning. We don't we don't have a date, but we do have a sponsorship now for it, which is really cool, is Blumhouse. Universal
Terri: Good.
Jason: is
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: pretty close with Blumhouse when it comes to releasing their hor horror movies and the HHN stuff, they've really been bringing Blumhouse movies into H H N. So to see them tag team with this, I'm
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: excited. They've they did say there's going to be a lot of the original elements to the show just with some Blumhouse feel. So
Myka: I was hoping
Terri: Good.
Myka: it would keep the the comedy and stuff to it 'cause I think that's what makes
Terri: The comedic yeah.
Myka: it so fun. you're learning about this but the comedic timing of it and everything is just so good. it it's it's really fun to go and experience it. Terry got first hand experience in
Jason: Yeah, she did.
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: the comedy.
Jason: It's great. And I think that they can
Myka: It was a great
Terri: It was great.
Jason: they can bring something to the effect of going hard into CGI at one point with the mummy movies and some of the movies right after that into going back around and saying, Hey, guess what? That didn't work as well as we thought. We're going back to practical. And then how they've kind of married practical with CGI, so it makes it look a lot better. I'm I'm excited to see what they do with this. Small piece of news is for the holidays, Earl the Squirrel, which I'm representing on my shirt, is their icon for holidays. he's going to be a balloon for Macy's Day parade, which is fun. I never thought I'd see a
Rachel: That's cute.
Jason: yeah.
Terri: Love.
Jason: So he's he's gonna be flying through his hash pr hashtag.
Terri: What was that bear that I didn't like? Coco what was the name of it?
Myka: at Epic? No. Was it cacao is
Terri: Yeah. You know how I told you that wasn't a very cool
Myka: it cacao?
Jason: Yeah, cacao, Captain Cacao.
Terri: See,
Myka: No.
Terri: this is how unmemorable and terrible that bear is. Earl of the Squirrel, now that is a mascot. You know what I'm saying? Like this, yeah, this
Myka: Yeah. With
Rachel: With the wand.
Jason: With the wand.
Terri: this star cacao bear, nobody, we can't even recall if we had like a 30-minute discussion on it. But Earl of the Squirrel is very my my hood's all off. It's very memorable. So I like this a lot.
Jason: And Earl the Squirrel has the
Terri: Not gonna stay on.
Jason: history of being in the park because he got into the Christmas tree, chewed up some lights, whatnot, and he's just been a ongoing thing. They finally made him a mascot for the holidays just a few years ago. So it's not like he's being represented on the same scale as, you know, Mickey Mouse, Pikachu, the you know, all these big characters. I think O is Garfield and Odie, are they still balloons in the Macy's Day parade?
Myka: I think so.
Rachel: I think so.
Terri: Think so.
Rachel: I feel like they're always
Jason: So I mean I
Rachel: there.
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: it's you know, to to say that somebody that's in with under five years of being representative of a resort to be a balloon, that's kind of kind of crazy. last bit of news is a little bit more industry, but it's it's still a good talking point. Universal reported at their their recent call that they had a seventeen drop in revenue for the year. at the theme parks and expects a soft twenty twenty seven and epic attendance was down as well. there's rumors that Epic is now being looked at for the annual passes. I think that's a big, you know, selling point because your
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: your locals aren't going to Epic if have to pay two hundred dollars a day to go in there if they want to go.
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: That's the big driving force
Myka: Right.
Jason: for people to go into Universal and Islands and even the Walt Disney World parks, being able to buy an Annual Pass and just say, hey, I'm gonna go in there. but for them to say
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: they're ha already expecting a soft year for 2027, like that's not not a not good when you have all this stuff on your horizon.
Rachel: Well we As an agency, we were not down in Universal this year. So that's good for me. so or you know, us
Myka: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rachel: our status with Universal. So but I can see why. I get
Jason: Yeah,
Rachel: it. My husband
Myka: Yeah.
Rachel: said this that
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: he knew about them hurtin'. So before this we before the call even happened he said it. So I don't think it wasn't it wasn't unexpected news.
Myka: Right.
Jason: I think that's the pro problem with the university. Yeah.
Rachel: it's sad. Like I don't want anything to struggle.
Jason: Problem with Universal is they put everything forward, they s they everybody knows they're working on the next big thing. And they never announce it. But because
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Jason: pit the Pokemon land they're supposedly working on, that's a lot of people that are holding out for that. if they're going to open that, there's gonna be a
Rachel: Right.
Jason: lot of people that want to go to that. So they might be holding off, like we've talked about with Walt Disney World and what. But this was back even when Universal first announced Epic, they saw this because People weren't g wanting to book a trip and then Epic come online and they wanted to see Supermo Super Nintendo World. They wanted to see the Dark Universe or How to Train Your Dragon. This is I think the same issue is they have the Fast and Furious coaster that's fixing open in USO. They have the new land that they're clearing to be built of whatever it is, whether it's Pokemon or Zelda in Iowa. They have two new attractions being built for Epic. So why would a very An expensive trip be booked so that people can go there and just go, well, I miss them opening the new Harry Potter attraction. Or I just miss them
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: op whatever attraction they're waiting on. Versus, Disneyland. And they'll open it within a year. Disney will open their Villains Line Pinston Peak and Villains Land in ten years. So you can have two trips
Myka: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Jason: to Disney World just
Rachel: But but I also think it's smart on Disney's part that they don't announce it. I know it's frustrating as a consumer, I know it's frustrating as an advisor, but as a for a business wise, that's key because then they're gonna have people not book because they're waiting for that to open.
Myka: Yeah. Yeah.
Rachel: That is
Terri: Yeah.
Rachel: why they don't give anyone really a heads up of when offers are gonna be put out because when they do that, it halts booking.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Rachel: For those days in between the offer being announced and it being released. So I can see why Disney does it, and I can see why Universal is down that percentage because of their how they announce things. I can see both sides.
Jason: Yeah.
Terri: Yeah. And I the the biggest complaint I've see with people that like when they go to Universal and they go to Disney and they take a couple of days for Universal is the whole Epic being separate and and all that and
Rachel: Yeah.
Terri: then Epic's not a whole a lot of people don't think it's a whole day park. It's expensive but it you can't spend a whole day there. So it's almost like a we're gonna do the same two parks we always do and maybe next time we'll hit Epic up because the kids really want to go on the Velocicoaster or whatever, Harry Potter.
Myka: Mm-hmm.
Terri: But they don't see the point in buying those tickets plus the epic ticket and then
Rachel: Right.
Terri: you have a half day in Epic, so
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: Well, now you you even have to look at it the revenue side of stuff with they had the three day park tickets that they were selling, but Volcano Bay is now closed for six months. So they're not
Myka: Yeah.
Terri: Mm-hmm.
Jason: they don't have that three day ticket anymore. They have the three day ticket for Epic or a a two day ticket for Epic where you can get a park hopper for the first two parks and then one day for Epic. But you you really need to bring that three day three park ticket back or that three park ticket in general back where you can park hop
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: all three parks. Because if volcano's there, it's not there, you're not gonna make the money that volcano was bringing in. Because I still I haven't been to Epic at all this year. We were just me and my wife were just talking about this. It's like, what what have we done with going to Epic? It's like you've introduced a brand new show. You've introduced you haven't really introduced a lot of you haven't introduced any new rides whatsoever. But we have not gone. And I thought I was going to be there at least once or twice this year just to experience it. I've been to Disneyland more than I've been to Epic this year. I've been on Disney cruises more
Myka: Right.
Jason: than I've been to Epic, and Epic's cheaper.
Terri: No.
Rachel: Yeah, right.
Myka: Yeah. what was the last time you were there when we were there in September?
Jason: Yeah. When all three of us went in September.
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: Yeah.
Terri: It's kinda like one and done, you you can go back, but you don't feel the need to go back.
Myka: Well, but it's hard too because,
Jason: I would love to go back.
Myka: Florida's known for rain and what nine
Terri: Yeah.
Myka: out of their eleven attractions can't run if it's raining. So, it's tough to be like, Hey, if you're going in the summer and it rains pretty much every single day, just know you're gonna not be able to do stuff there for quite a while.
Rachel: Yeah. The last time I was at Epic was August of twenty five with my family and that was a very expensive day.
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: Yeah, so none of us have been there.
Rachel: Like it's an expensive day.
Jason: None of us have been there in a year, right? Terry, you didn't go this year with your
Myka: Right.
Jason: kids, right? So
Terri: No, 'cause we did the first two and didn't wanna waste a day doing a half a day part.
Jason: I'm I'm an AP holder. I could have gone to Epic if they would have let me to have Epic in my AP. I would have jumped in for at least a little bit and walked around seen the sights, you know, enjoyed
Myka: Yeah.
Jason: eating something, drinking something, because they have some good food there. But no, because I have to pay another two hundred dollars on top of my vacation to go in, I'm not going to
Terri: Yeah.
Jason: to waste it for a couple hours. That's that's all the news we have. That was a lot of news. I I think this format's working for us a little bit better than doing news every episode. We could like just lay it all out and talk about it, get our thoughts around it for a few weeks. But next week we will have Heather on. She like I said earlier, she's gonna talk about her recent Carnival Mardi Gras trip. and we're gonna talk about the difference between Carnival, Disney, and Royal Caribbean, kind of really based off of Carnival and their name does does the rap they have deserve based off of what she experienced. So is Carnival really the bad cruise line that everybody like thinks it is? Or is it actually a good cruise line in disguise? so if you want to get a hold of any of us, you can go to magical travel dot com. Any of our great agents will be glad to book any type of vacation your family wants to go to, or if you're it's just an anniversary with you and your spouse, whatever, we'll be glad to do that too. So until the next time, we will see you on the next episode.
Myka: Bye.
Terri: Bay
Rachel: Bye.
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