Disney World/Travel News May 2023

Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:30] We all have those bucket list trips, once in a lifetime destinations that we'll get to someday.
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[0:39] Music.

[1:07] Welcome back to another meeting of the Gold Key Adventurer's Society.
My name is Dan Leonard. Hi Dan.
And joining me this week in the studio is Heather Strait.
What is up? Inflation levels, am I right? Zinger as always, Dan.
Oh, gotta keep up with the times. Mr. Jeff Williams.
Hey, that's me. Hey, Jeffrey. Sure is.
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It's the end of the month, and that means it's time to catch up with May's travel news.
Let's dive in with a story that sent us all to the ferris couch last week.
Disney announced just a few short days ago as we record this that the Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser will make its final voyage at the end of September.
They cited... Too soon, Daniel!
I know, I'm crying inside too.
They cite high operating costs and a failure to meet expectations for performance.
You know what else it is? Nice excuse to write down $300 million in a year when you need it.
That's right.

[2:32] I'm very sad. It was one of my favorite things that I've ever done, especially when I went with my family. They, watching their reactions to it, they had such a great time. I just, I struggle to call it a failure, at least as far as the experience goes. It certainly was not. It met, the expectations of those of us who are Star Wars fans. It did exactly what we wanted it to do. And I know there are a lot of us who enjoyed it that would have happily had repeat journeys.
Oh, yeah. Shortly after, a day or two after the announcement, Josh DeMauro was talking to, some people, and he made the point that it wasn't a failure as far as the experience.
Correct.
In fact, it's consistently in all guest surveys with one on it, consistently exceeding expectations on the experience.
100%. It was just simply, he said, a failure to perform, which is, honestly, it's on the booking side, or not booking, I'm sorry, it's on the marketing side of things.
It is, yes. They failed to show us what it was.
They didn't clamp down on every news outlet calling it just the Star Wars hoax.
That was a problem. They probably could have gotten guys, said, hey guys, how about you knock off putting the price in every single headline about it.
Yep.

[3:53] It's a very difficult experience to describe, even after I did it twice.
And when I described it to friends and family that weren't with me, it's very hard to describe it.
The best way that we on this show even could come up with was like, mystery dinner theater, choose your own adventure. Like, it's really hard to put a finger on a succinct way to describe what it is you're doing there. I could see from a marketing standpoint, how to put that in a 30 second stinger, right? Bad. It's hard to do as much as we often hate influencers. I think that from a marketing standpoint, the way to have gotten this on off the ground on the right footing is before you even have any pricing, you know, starting at whatever, before any of that was is released, they needed to have people experience it and talking about it so that the very first headlines are what an incredible experience it was before you put the pricing out there.
Because no one could get over that intro pricing and then you had all of the, let's face it, all of the haters who wanted it, yes, who wanted it to be a failure.
That is what they come on to.

[5:14] Yeah, I've never seen anyone root for a product to be a failure. Like crazy. And I.
That a lot of that probably came from clickbait wanting the clicks and it was a great you know, great headlines to put out there to get some traffic on your crappy blog. And it worked.
And it did come at the perfect time when the whole go woke, go broke thing with Disney people hating on Disney and almost rooting for its failure at every level was happening too.
And on top of that, Star Wars has notoriously toxic.

[5:48] The worst. Yeah, that's fair. There's so much gatekeeping, there's so much, it's just really rough to be a Star Wars fan.
Yeah. And talking about the price, let's just put it out there. It was expensive, and that is true. I'm not going to deny that.
So are a lot of things. So are so many things. Not everything is for everyone. Jeff shared a great post on social media that someone put out comparing it to the Super Bowl and the fact that while the NFL fandom is for everyone, the Super Bowl, that game, isn't for everyone.
Their average Sunday night game is also expensive, but more accessible to more of the fan base, but the Super Bowl is not. It's something that's what, I mean, I don't even know.
It's a four-hour game, it's one day, and like the actual face value on tickets was anywhere from $1,200 to like $8,000, and that's face value.
That's a one-day event that, you know, it's essentially a four-hour game, and that's not for everyone. Not everyone can go to the Super Bowl, and that's the thing.

[7:01] And I don't see constant articles about what an outrage it is that the average NFL fan go to the Super Bowl. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it's meant to be. Not everybody talks about how they go to the Super Bowl all the time. Time you went to the Super Bowl with your dad was an amazing experience and I hope in the future my son talks about the time that he and I went to the amazing Star Wars hotel. It's a privileged thing and we understand that it is.
Yeah. And to be fair, it's two full days. All of your food is included.

[7:40] You're getting a lot more value, in my opinion, than you are from one game.
And it's a 24-7 on-deck experience with actors, role-playing.
Yeah, I thought that was a really good analogy that it's okay that it was expensive.
Missing the point and people were like they should have just turned it into a regular hotel with theming and, Those are people that obviously never saw this thing. It was backstage. It's.

[8:11] Ugly, honestly, it's it's in a backstage access area. It's not pretty It was built to be like you have just shuttled in there.

[8:20] The inside of it was amazing, but the outside of it was never themed to be like a pretty deluxe hotel, It's a hidden backstage experience.
You're almost sheltered from it until you see the inside of it.
That's how it was always meant to be. Very small.
It's a boutique hotel. It only has a hundred rooms, I think they said.
It's a hundred rooms. There's one dining room. I mean, look, it's not a hotel.
Right. It's a spaceship experience. Could they build just a hotel that Starburst themed?
And they still might. I honestly think they will. I think they learn some things from this.
And would it be sold out all the time? Yeah, probably.
But that wasn't what this was intended to be. It wasn't supposed to just be the Star Wars hotel.
I think this whole thing was a bit of a research and development experience for something we may see later down the road.
It could be a dinner theater that's still that may wind up being not this exact thing, but the technology use was could be a dinner theater that winds up being something they build on to Galaxy's Edge or something in the future, or a themed hotel.
They wind up building a more public version of down the road because there's plenty of expansion room at Disney World. We shall see.
That's one proposal that I saw from a couple of people that I wanted to bring up because they.

[9:36] Did say they're going to learn from this experience. They're going to use it, what, they've learned in the future. And I saw some suggestions that, build out Galaxy's Edge because you need some more space in there. Yeah.

[9:50] The front of the Star Cruiser. Build a facade so it looks like the Star Cruiser's dock there and then you can make that a really fancy meet and greet or you can make it an upgrade to a ticket.
Pay a day rate to go in and experience Star Cruiser. Obviously the light version is not going to be the full storyline and all that but they could utilize that to expand galaxies.

[10:14] And make extra money with it. You know just the talent of the actors was incredible.
It really was full immersion into Star Wars. And I saw people that were clearly not fans, you know, grandmas and grandpas who were coming along for the experience, who did not care about Star Wars, who fully got into this. I mean, several times I had in the small interactions, someone would say to me, you know, like, I've never even seen the movie, but I am having so much fun and that's what's getting me is that it was so unique and so wonderful and I am sad that we're losing that because it was an extraordinary experience. I'm glad that I got to do it.
Frankly, if I had the opportunity to go back before it closes on September 30th, I would, do it in a second because I think they're going to sell out all these.
I really do. We are getting a lot of interest in now filling up the remaining sailings. The final sailing is already full. Yeah. So there's nothing but the left.

[11:22] Yep. I'm so glad that I got to experience it. I was able to go twice and it was a completely different experience each time. I think even with the same storyline, I could go back a third time and make it a different experience. That which was what was so incredible about it. And I really do hope that what they've learned, something great comes out of this. It'd be cool if they just opened it in a year and it was Marvel something. The same kind of thing. Yeah, just use that space for experimental something every couple of years. Yeah. I mean, there was reports that, the Imagineers were in there just a couple of weeks before the announced closing, working out new additions, working out how to fix some special effects.
Like, they were actively working on it up to the moment they announced it.
And in fact, the cast found out the same way that we did.
That's awful. Sadly. Yeah. That's classic Disney, too. Yeah.
Yeah. That really sucks. Sadly.
And is some of this affected by the fact that it was developed and launched in the JPEG era? Like, were they being cheap with the talent, which was his?

[12:34] Yeah, like right some of that. I wonder about some of the things that wound up in there were things they had talked about being in, galaxies in Live actors and all that maybe though, you know, maybe they'll put their restaurant experience, They need to sit down restaurant in Star Wars town. So maybe they'll have Gaia performing at a, Reservation restaurant in because that shows cool. Yeah, it is Yeah, she deserves a chance to perform considering they just put out her album on May 4th.
I also wish they would have given promos a little more time to work.
I mean, we didn't have any real solid, decent...
They gave her two weeks, Heather. Right. And it was very limited.
It was what, DVC, annual pass holder, and Disney Visa. There was never a broad, just anyone discount.
I think they were at the point, I think, honestly, it was the shareholders were pissed off over all the Disney Plus stuff and they needed somewhere where they could find extra money.
Yeah, that's fair. This is the easiest. It's a shame, but like you said, I'm really happy that I can say that I got, it. It's the best thing I've ever done, honestly.

[13:48] Yeah, it's the most fun I've ever had with my kids in an apartment. Just hands down.
Weirdly, being a travel agency owner, that's the only boy trip I ever did with Chis Wyatt.
Oh, I'm so glad that you did and we those pictures will live forever because you know badass, That's true. And he liked that. He got to be a promo model for key to the world for yes, You're famous kid for one month.

[14:20] They closed it my least favorite news this month, but there are other things that were better. Oh, yeah Yeah, some exciting stuff.
The Disney dining plan is returning to Walt Disney World next year.
Finally. Mostly intact, too. I'm surprised they didn't strip this thing down.
They did a little bit. They cut the snacks.
Just a little. Which, I mean, if you like me have been in there at the end of the trip trying to fill up your cart with Goofy's Candy Kitchen treats, you know, that was too many snacks.
Right. also removed the highest level of the deluxe. Yes. And we have a moment of silence for that perfect combo.
Disney dining plan that it was out for what?
A couple of weeks, like a month or something before the pandemic.
The Disney dining plus where you could use your credits for either table service or quick service, however, mix and match that you wanted.
That one was, yeah, that was the sweet spot. You could just... either or.
Also, let's be honest, if they want to find a way to make some extra money...

[15:31] Maybe giving people the option to get the quick service level of food for the same price as what they would pay for table service would be a good way. Yeah, I'm really shocked that's not the one they came back with. If they could charge you $18 a meal for a $9 meal, I don't know why they're not doing that, but whatever. We don't know just yet what the pricing is going to be. We'll know that when 2024 opens up May 31st. Next week. Now has when we air right? Yes, however it is my understanding that it's going to be about what it was before they took it away. The children's version is not going to change much and the adult version maybe a little bit you know a few dollars more but not much. Yeah we were told it would only go up no more than 95% so that's good.
So let's go over some facts and figures real quick. So we've got the two tiers, the quick service dining plan.
Everybody on the reservation age three and plus receives per night of your stay, you, get two quick service meals, including beverages.
And when they're available, guests 21 and up may choose beer, wine and cocktails.
Yes, they're keeping that. And those not 21 can get on a different kind of specialty beverage.

[16:52] That's right, special milkshakes or whatever specialty beverages they have.
It also includes one snack credit or extra non-alcoholic drink per night of your stay.
And everybody gets one of the ever-shrinking resort refillable drink mods.
Yes, but those are coming back.
Yay. I guess they have all, they've been, they've still been available.
They've always been back. They just have to pay for them. They've just been downsized. Yeah.
Just a little. They get a little skinnier. Don't we all want to get a little skinnier?
Yeah, it's just more trips down to the… Which helps you get skinny. Right.
That's right. Doing those stairs, value resorts. So anyway, then we've got the Disney dining plan.
Again, everybody on the reservation age three and up receives per night one table service meal credit and one quick service meal credit, including beverages and including the alcoholic beverages where applicable.
Then you also get the snack credit for extra drink and the resort.

[17:54] That's all we know. And there was much rejoicing. There really was.
I mean, people just want this so bad, and it's nuts.
People just really want to pre-budget their stuff. And I always loved this as a traveler, even if I wasn't saving dookoo money.
It's some savings for sure, but just the fact that I didn't always feel like I was getting my wallet out.
At the end of it, you're like, whoa, look at what this would have cost me.
That's what I loved. I was like, I've already paid for this, because you get that thing, and it's like your meal So it would have been $350 for the four of you, and you're like, I didn't pay for that. Love that.
Yes. That is. And then on top of that, dad also got a free beer with the meal, or it felt free.
It's like, that makes it feel, it's the closest you can get to that all inclusive feeling.
So kudos Disney for making mom or dad or who's ever paid for this thing feel like not getting.

[18:48] The wallet out and having a beer instead is better.
Give me a beer and let me keep my wallet in my breeches.

[18:54] There you go. Yeah, that's always good. We also got a little bit more good news at the same time they announced that dining plan.
Guess what? No more theme park reservations for most guests. This is great.
Very exciting. Most guests being packaged guests, all the ones that are.
I mean, I don't mind the park reservations so much. I never really had trouble with it.
But if it means I don't have to listen to people complaining about park reservations anymore, then yes. that. It was just another pinch point. Just another thing to have to deal with.
Yeah, there's a lot of homework on the planning of a Disney trip list and so that takes one thing off. I take some limits off. Annual pass holders will have to make reservations still, although they're going to have certain days that they have dubbed good to go days where you can enter the parks reservation free.
And of course, they already removed the reservation requirement for after 2 p.m. during weekdays, for annual pass holders.
So you know, that's, that doesn't impact you quite as much. That's pretty great.
Cause I would think a lot of annual pass holders are going when the kiddos out of school, getting, out of school, pick your kid up and go spend the afternoon in the park.
So that's pretty great.
Get out of work and just go for dinner and something. Yeah.
So, so yeah, so that's not that, not as much of a.

[20:20] Terrible thing it's something you might think I said.

[20:24] Did it seems like they throw extra reservations and all kinds of stuff at the pass holders anyway?
So shouldn't be a problem getting it and it's not like the park reservations are really selling out a couple of days occasionally Yeah, I know they notice less fewer and fewer people are going into the parks. Oh, wait a minute Yeah, we want it to be easier to get. Yes, we forgot we made it a pain in the ass Yes, we might want to make it easier.
Maybe it's time to make it easier.
Yeah, so yeah, they've definitely noticed that it's time to make things easier.

[20:56] There was that same talk that I mentioned before that Josh DeMauro was talking about the Star Cruiser.
He also said that theme parks are going to look for more ways to simplify the theme park planning experience because people complain that it's just complicated.
It's not... This is something that also came out along with the dining plan returning, a very sort of vague announcement that they are looking to make Genie Plus and the theme park planning easier. That's right.
Mm-hmm. Which to us, as seasoned Disney travel planners, says you're going to be allowed to make advance.
That's what we're all thinking, yes. Just like the old Fast Passes were, so what's the difference now except for you pay for them? No.
I'm thinking some combination of what FastPass Plus was and what Disney Genie Lightning Lane is now. I don't know. Yeah.
And frankly, either with Genie Plus, either bundling that somehow into your package, it's, again going back to the people are tired of having to get their wallet out for every single extra thing.
World has always been an expensive vacation. Let's face that. It's never been cheap.

[22:12] No. But we've lost all of the things that were bundled into it that made you feel like you were getting a good value for all that money. If you're still paying the same amount of money, Or more, really.
But all that stuff has been stripped away.
Now I think they have finally hit.
The wall where they've driven down attendance. They found America's flinch point and then just.

[22:41] Went right on past it. Way past. And the thing of it is last year it didn't drive down attendance, but that was wholly linked to the fact that we'd been trapped in our houses for two years and everybody wanted to travel and had money that they hadn't spent for two years on travel to spend and Disney World was a domestic destination where you didn't have to wear masks, you didn't have to test, you didn't have to do a lot of things that were keeping people from getting back on a cruise ship or going to Europe. Disney World, Orlando theme parks was it, and people flocked there and threw money at them in a huge way. And we all saw that was not going to be the new normal.
There were too many, it was a grand experiment. There were too many things happening at once.
So every year we've all gotten used to, they're raising ticket prices, which always raise package prices.
Makes sense. We're used to that. Package goes up and up.

[23:44] But they started shrinking the package too. No one likes their package to get smaller unless you're in the pool.
But so not only was the package getting higher and higher, but they started just taking things away and as they took things away, so your package gets higher and higher, but then you're also having to pay additional once you got there. So the inclusions, you know, were less and less.
And that starts to get ridiculous. At the beginning, I've always been a, you know, diehard Disney fan. And I was an apologist at first for some of the things that they were, either taking away or starting to charge from for undercover of COVID protocols. And that was, they started charging for parking and they have walked that one back. That's back to being included.
But when I really started to, I'm at the point where I can't be an apologist.
But we travel a lot. So we're used to saying, you know, you go stay in a Chicago or New York hotel, they charge you sometimes $65 to park in a, in an urban hotel somewhere. And you're like, Oh, okay, it's no big deal. They're charging 20, $25 park, but it's just nickel and dime. But I made a list of the things that you used to have included in your package price that are either now an extra charge or not included at all, or watered down extra magic hours. I mean, we're down to what? A half an hour, 30 minutes, which.

[25:11] What are you going to get on one attraction in that amount of time to get back to fancy land and maybe get in line for buying trains so that you might be able to get on into the queue for for Peter Pan.
Magic bands, they still exist, no longer included. You have to buy them. Now, sure, there are alternatives. You can use your phone. I find that's a lot more difficult and I don't feel like digging my phone out of wherever I have it stashed while I'm walking into the park.

[25:42] And it doesn't work very well. Yes. And it takes longer to open your door because you've got to get out your phone, open the app, navigate to that spot and hope that it works. So that's another thing. FastPass Plus.

[25:58] Was free and part of your resort guest perks was that you got to book them a little bit earlier than everyone else. That's now gone and Genie Plus costs money and you don't know how much it's gonna cost. Like because of that dynamic pricing, you're not sure until you're there how much extra money you're gonna be paying. And it can be a lot of extra money. Yeah, it's not an insignificant amount. Yeah. That's it. Yeah, the flux pricing on that is crazy. What's it gonna be today, Dad? I don't know. Especially when it's not guaranteed to give you the things you actually want. Or anything at all. This is Magical Express. Now you have to make your own transportation outside of your package price which This one really kills me because I think if they had kept it and just added like add to the package if it was costing you too much money. Add a- Ten bucks.
Yeah. Make it transparent and say that if you would like Disney's Magical Express, it's going to be $10 per person or whatever number. But at least allowing that to be prepaid.
Keep it the exact same as it was but add ten bucks.
Yeah, because here's the weird thing on that. Sorry to sidetrack, but So, it's the same people running the system, right?
Yeah. It does not work nearly as well as it does. I know. It's run poorly. Poorly now.

[27:20] When it had Disney's name on it. Yeah, but I think because they don't have to report to Disney now, it's not run well.
But it's the same thing, but you have to pay for it.
The service isn't as great.
Well, now they may throw you in a van or whatever, so they're trying to...

[27:37] Also ran with Mears is not just buses but buses shuttle cab they're trying to throw you in with all of the different mini services that Mears runs not just their buses and then resort airline no luggage handling yeah no luggage handling on the front end and resort airline check-in is gone so you can't check your bags and go spend the day in a park now you got to worry about go you can you leave your bags at Bell services similar to the Star Cruiser thing rather rather than let's charge 10 or $15, they just went, cut it.
Yep, done. And some of the stuff, I understand why it went away during COVID, but someone looked at, oh, look at what we're not spending, let's not bring it back.
But what you've now done is stripped all of the extras out of the package, but you're charging more money for it.

[28:28] And as much as we will try to push and sell, I mean, that is our job, this is our living, we are going to try to market it, and we're gonna, as travel advisors, we're gonna pick up the slack in helping you do your.
Your transportation and all of those things to try to make it as seamless as possible.
But we still can't say, this is what you're getting.
Frankly, I'll just put you at the JW Marriott. Yeah.
Honestly. Because there's no difference. It's a better hotel at a better price.
It's just as close. Jeff shared with me this morning a commercial from, I know, what year was that commercial from?
Really cute, jazzy. Not that long ago. Song and dance, yeah, of, these are all the things that you get for staying at a Disney resort hotel.
I'll tell you when that was from Heather. They premiered that commercial at the first, D20 destination d23 that we went to. Oh, okay. Yeah. So that was not that long ago.
Maybe 2017 2018. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sitting there watching it and everything he lists. Nope.
On and it is really stark realization that I can't defend them on this anymore. I can defend you about the parking, but a package is now a hotel and a ticket.

[29:46] And that's not really a package to me. Now, dining plans are coming back and I applaud that.
That's a step in the right direction, but they've got a long way to go.
I mean, but then you look at other things that were extras that also haven't come back.
Mickey's Backyard Barbecue, a luau, which will never be back.
The water sports, those little tiny speed boats you could rent and all of those other things that people were willing to pay for that, even though they've paid for this expensive package.
But you get there, you've already paid for all that. And now you're willing to pay for this stuff, stuff you'd spend money on.
You book a seven day trip, stuff you'd spend money on your maybe five days of parks and two days of doing other stuff.
Now they just want you to go shop at Ron Jon or whatever.
We could market a much longer vacation because of all of those extra things that are now gone.
Yeah.

[30:46] And people were willing to pay for them and pay for things like Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique and all of those money makers because you're not getting out your wallet to pay for every meal or, a taxi or all of these other things. And it's just become so much more difficult to market it as as a great family vacation destination.
It's so much easier to say, you can go to this luxury resort in Cancun that's gonna cost you less and includes a lot more.
I would have to think spa services are gonna be suffering.
All of the ads. No extra money. No, this is, I'm no businessman.
I'm just a humble podcaster.

[31:31] But for a long time when people made the suggestions other companies might buy the theme parks. And other Disney theme parks around the world aren't owned by Disney. And it starts to make me wonder, would the theme parks be better off owned by somebody else and just licensing all of Disney stuff? Because as it is right now, every time Disney Plus stumbles and loses subscribers or a Marvel movie doesn't do great.

[31:57] Money comes out from the theme parks to make up for that business loss there.
Maybe. So, I don't know if greedy American companies shouldn't run the parks.
The successful, amazing parks are run by, it seems like, governments, like Chinese government, or whatever.
They're not run by capitalist companies.

[32:20] I think what we lost was too much of a focus on the capitalism and we stopped focusing on the entertainment and the all of those aspects of it, letting people who be in charge, who really appreciated that that was the value of the parks. That's where the gold is.
And I'm hoping, I hate that, that how, what of a, what a big dip we're seeing in people wanting to go to the theme parks, because the honest truth is that people are spending money on travel. Travel is not down, it's theme parks that's down. We are up in every single other segment, but Walt Disney World, Disneyland, it's down, and they know that, and they're seeing it, and I'm hoping that this is where we get to claw back some of that value that we've lost.
And we'll keep saying it, we'll keep shouting it until, you know, finally someone with the business sets, they're going to have to come up with something because the 25% off rooms is not doing it.
We've got a new ticket offer that I think they're hoping is going to help.
I don't think it's going to do it. You got to put the value back.
You've got to put all of those value add things back.

[33:40] And if it's expensive, find a way to roll it into the price.
I mean, I think they do understand that.
Magical Express, getting rid of Magical Express was a mistake, and I genuinely think they know that.
They brought back the dining plan, so clearly they know that was an issue.
Now let's start getting some of the rest of this stuff back.
It's getting difficult. Janitorial would do it. It's getting difficult for me, for them to keep saying, oh, we can't hire anybody, we can't hire anybody.
Well, quit laying people off, start with that.
Right. Yeah, maintenance, the rides are always broken down, and they want to talk about how they're going to expand and build beyond Thunder Mountain. Maybe fix the stuff that's on this side of Thunder Mountain first. Yeah, right. Yeah, we were so excited about that 17 billion dollars that they say they plan on spending. Spend 11 of it on this side. Yeah, start hiring some folks, or how about the billion that they're not spending on moving Imagineering to Florida?
Yep, yep, yeah, it could go a long way or some fixing of some rides start with genie plus two. I'm sorry But if we're getting rid of Jpeg era crap, let's get rid of that, Make it just an electronic version of fast pass plus or what? I don't know what so fast pass plus. Yeah.

[35:03] Just something that if they want to make it work like genie, however, just quit charging for it and make it, dynamic or I don't know what. Yeah, I mean there are other examples of that, exists right now of where you have a version of something that's for everyone that is included and then you have a premium level of it that people pay for.
The way that the FastPass system works out at Disneyland Plus, Disneyland Paris, not Disneyland Plus, is they have levels of that and if you want the unlimited all you can all you can care to enjoy Fast Pass Line you pay for that There has there's got to be some better ground than no Best plus but it's three bucks a pop. Yeah, you don't pay 15 for access to maybe get some, there is a medium between free and, very expensive and changing every day, that's, The dynamic pricing just made it worse.

[36:04] It's at least in the beginning when it was a price that we knew what the price was going to be, people could be prepared for that, and in the beginning we could add it to their package, and they were not having to pay for it at six o'clock in the morning every morning of their vacation.
That's relaxing and fun. It's just, it's a nightmare.
Somebody's tasked with waking up early and trying to get it, and then trying to jump on to see what they can get.
At a certain point, the guest needs to feel like the changes that are being made are in, there instead of always being a...
Yeah, now we're screwed in this way. Yes.
And we have, we are at that point. It's time. Some big changes need to happen and I hope...
I think we're tipping back towards that. I look forward to the next year and the announcements.
The last several have all been, oh, goody.
Other than the... Other than the Star Cruiser. Star Cruiser, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, there's been there's things to look forward. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on in the parks that I'm excited about and, always will be. I just need to be able to sell those experiences.
So that you can go. So that I can continue to go and experience them.
Right. It's a win-win. So that I can continue to eat.
Yes.

[37:21] Let's round up. We've got a couple of more positive things to talk about Disney before we head on to some other destinations.
First up, the lineup for the Eat to the Beat concert series for Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival has been announced, including there's some, I put in my outline, some exciting new artists for 2023.
I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure if they're exciting or not, because I don't really know, when these people are. 98 degrees.
I like some of these. Joey Fatone and Friends, I am super excited for that one, because Jeff and I have seen joy if a tone and friends and it is with emphasis on friends yes he doesn't really cover band is my jam yeah how about this while we're down there for for the first Mickey's not for the first scary Halloween party oh dang I go home that day I was excited that Kevin Bacon and his brother apparently have a band yes yeah August 13th through 14th when we're there is going to be Reuben Studdard so hey Birmingham's own Reuben Studdard there you go the velvet teddy bear Jeff's homeboy, other new acts include Tiffany yes I'm torn up about that I wouldn't say I'm missing her right for king plus country let's see other new acts Bacon Brothers, A-Ron Jones, Philip, Phillips.

[38:46] Name Raul Acosta and Oro. American Idol, Philip Phillips. Yeah, he's good. We the Kings, that's the new acts. Some returning favorites. I would love to see Ray Parker Jr. perform just so I can find out what he's performing. Just his one song that he has. What else does he perform other than?
Yeah. He does, I'm in love, I'm in love with the other woman. That's his one other song I know.
I'll take your word for it. We got the Baja men who are going to let the dogs out again.
Maybe we can finally figure out who let them out.
I really enjoyed September 15th and 16th and it just says celebrity Latin talent.
Celebrity Latin talent. I was just looking at that. So they haven't figured out who, but there will be some sort of Latin act TVA.
There will be some kind of Latin talent.
Yeah. Boys to Men, Sugar Ray, Hooba Stank, Jeff's favorite, Jeff's favorites, Air Supply on October 15th and 16th.
I like Hanson. I would like to see him. Yeah, you probably play him.

[39:46] I would also. I'm with you. I want to see Kevin Bacon. Love to see the Bacon Brothers.
Yeah. Big bad voodoo daddy. Yep. And closing out the festival is everybody's favorite Southern Rock act. 38th special. Hold on loose. They put on a good show. Typically add a couple here and in there in, you know, leading up to the festivals.
I've seen 38 special a number of times, which will shock you.
Living in Birmingham, Alabama. Really? Yeah, I've seen the most. It's a good show.
This is all Taylor's day. Was she the tell it to my whole? Yeah, that's correct.

[40:24] Yeah. Yeah. So that's that is the best eat to the beat concert.
Food and wine coming up. They're going to have the end of July.
Yes. Coming up quick. They're going to have the eat to the beat dining packages, of course, like they do every year.
Is Oriente is that guitar slayer female?
Is that who that is?

[40:47] Google, help me out. Australian guitarist. Yeah, she's badass.
Oh yeah, I would. That would be good.
So, yeah, some good shows. And there's some other great food news coming to Epcot.
Yes. that Dan's been teasing us with the last few days.
He's such a tease. We're going to have to make a Gold Key Adventure Society stop at this restaurant opening up sometime this summer. It doesn't say when, but we've got Shikisai.
Shikisai. Sorry, Shikisai colon sushi.
That's what my colon is. That's what Heather had yesterday.
Yeah, I thought we were going to escape that.
So this is a new spot coming to the Japan Pavilion at Epcot.
Is going to be upstairs over the, it's taking the place of Tokyo Dining, which is over the apartment.
And it looks really cool. It's fancy sushi, but it's also like...

[41:42] Japanese pub food, traditional side. The whole idea is that they're going to rotate monthly.
The, there's so many religious festivals. Tokyo dining was pretty mid.
Yeah, it was. Right. Yeah.
So, so the restaurant is going to have a rolling decorations and menu that are going to work with whatever the festival from Japan that they're celebrating for the month is going to be.
And as we know, Japan has some fun festivals. Oh yeah.
Do you think they'll be celebrating the Naked Men Festival or the...
I hope so. I know I will be. The Penis Festival. The Giant Wooden Phallus Festival.
Yeah. I have a feeling that those won't be on the menu. Maybe not.
Sir, we're going to need you to put your pants back on and leave Epcot.
Forever.
There's going to be seats at the sushi bar where you can watch the chef make the sushi in front of you.
They've got, you know, the presentation and plating on this stuff looks beautiful.
I really want that giant boat platter full of sushi.
I love a boat of sushi. Yeah.
If I had a dollar for every time I've had a boat full of sushi, I'd have four dollars.
I would have one dollar.
But I love it. The izakaya part of the restaurant comes in, that's the pub-style restaurant, so that's going to be a lot of them. What is Japanese pub-style food like?
Did they give some examples?

[43:09] Yeah. Izakaya culture, it says, is the emphasis of sharing larger plates of food with your friends while enjoying drinks and conversation. So Japanese...
Tapas. Tapas. The word just flew out of my brain. Yeah. So it says a wide range of small dishes.
They're going to have savory karaage chicken, succulent salmon miso yaki, and tomato salad with avocado. Miso yaki, it's true.

[43:36] A variety of delicious small plates that can be indulged in a social, relaxed atmosphere.
Fun! I'm here for it. Yeah, that looks excellent.
Yeah, so this looks like no opening day. Just later this summer.
Later this summer. So hopefully it'll be open at the beginning of August.
Surely by then. When we celebrate Halloween. Yes.
Can't wait to celebrate Halloween at the beginning of August.
It's going to be great. And Takumite is back open, right?
It is now a prefix experience. That's two hundred and fifty dollars a person to twenty five.
It's in the two hundred dollar range. Yeah, very expensive. Going on. Yeah, it went up a little bit.
It did. That's what we spent there anyway. It's true. It was not it was never a cheap experience.
No, it was. It's not with your family until it wasn't. Yeah, yeah.
I've got some wagyu lovers in my family.
Boxes of smoked beverages. Yeah, no, that was not me. I just want to say that I was eating the sushi.
It was amazing. Grill. It's a little long. Yeah. Some of those, I say, just give me a lot of really amazing food.
But pick up the pace a little bit.
Yeah, but then they started doing that at some places and I was complaining that they're getting rushed out of the restaurant.
Oh, yeah. Let's find a happy medium. Anybody happy. Never make anybody happy.
It's true. Least of all me. This is true. You're telling me Jesus Wow.

[45:00] We're gonna head on over to the other side of Orlando. We've got some news from Universal Orlando, Resort while we're here Yeah, first up the minions are set to bring mayhem to Universal Studios. Mayhem, Minions land will be opening this summer recently. They shared some details on what guests will find in those little guys, Will there be banana scented fart guns?
I'm sure there will.
I can't imagine that there would not be.
There is, you know, across the street from the existing Despicable Me Minion Mayhem attraction, they're putting in that new Illincon Minion Blast, which looks really cool.
This is where the Shrek attraction was?
Yeah, it's in the building where Shrek was, and it's a stand-up, you're on, like, conveyor balls for most of the time, and you're going through the convention floor at VillainCon, and you've got blasters to...
Oh, fun.
Yeah. Fart blasters. Fart blasters, yes. Yes. I hope.
The Vicious Six... Oh. ...villains from one of the Minions movies have a special challenge set up for you at the convention to see if you are worthy to be the newest menu, the newest member.
It looks like a really cool attraction. It's a really clever use of a small space.
That's why they're having walkthrough and why they're having the conveyor belts so that you don't have to worry about people bunching up. You can still keep them moving at speed, but...

[46:29] Worry about loading and unloading cars. Also, in the land, they've got the Minions Café, which is going to be the main eatery.
I'm assuming that takes the place of the Universal Monsters Café, rest in peace.
They have Minion-themed treats, including cupcakes, macarons, and cookies.
Wait, no, that's Bake My Day. Sorry.
They've got some cute food at that one, at the Minions Café, including soup made by the little girl.
Gross but it's probably delicious.
I'm really sorry. That little girl is not, she doesn't look gross.
We're really selling it Dan. That little girl that looks gross but is delicious? You sick bastard.
Damn it, now I'm on a watch list.
It's definitely highly themed food though. What we saw them do in Super Nintendo Land out in Hollywood.
Which they did a great job on so I'm excited to see this stuff.

[47:24] Yes. Yeah, it'll be great. They also have Bake My Day, which is a minion themed bakery treats like cupcakes, macarons and cookies.
A souvenir shop.
That's one of the stores, that's a store that the mall that runs in Despicable Me 2, when he's undercover.
So you can go to his bakery there. They're also going to have a snack kiosk called Pop-A-Nana.
You can get banana flavored things, popcorn flavors, or a mix of both and probably banana flavor.
I'm guess there's also a walk up window featuring freeze ray pops, fancy popsicle stand.

[48:09] Wow. They've really taken it over the top with the theme. We're not even done.
There's going to be the illumination theater. That's going to be a character meet and greet.
It's mostly going to be characters from despicable me, but also for some reason, the characters from the movie Sing are going to be there.
Okay.
So, the pig and the gorilla and I think someone else from Sing are going to be there.
I never saw those movies.
Those are really cute movies. I like them a lot.
They do a good job with the music, but they're not in the Minions universe, but they're still, showing up at theaters.
There's some jurassic park stuff happening this summer and fall too, right?
That's right. It's also that's the other piece of news we have it's the 30th anniversary of the release of the first jurassic park, That's hurtful. Yeah I was all of eight years old when that movie came out. Oh, wait. No, I was nine years old me, too, Yeah, hold up What it's the 30th anniversary of the first jurassic park first movie. Yeah.

[49:10] Yeah.
Nine years old. Take it in. Well, I was 22.

[49:13] Let's see. That was… I'm going to throw up now. I was… I had just graduated from the third grade. Should I keep going?
No, move on. May 26th, so opening right before we publish this episode is going to be the Jurassic Park Tribute Store. Oh, cool. I'd like to see that.
Their tribute stores are always amazing. Yeah, Kendra's trying to figure out how we can sneak down to Universal for a day.
That chick loves a Jurassic Park. She so loves Jurassic Park.
She's got this really cool Jurassic Park logo lounge fly purse that is guaranteed to get compliments from every 12 to 14 year old boy that crosses her path.
It's hilarious. Everywhere we go, teenage boys tell her how much they like her purse.
That's hysterical. Yeah, it's pretty funny.
But you know, it's going to be one of the, if you've seen one of Universal's tribute stores before, they're highly themed, really cool interiors, immersive retail location.
They usually have a lot of movie props from the movies. That's right.
Where do they put those?
Is it where the pigeon store is? The what?
Halloween Horror Nights. Halloween Horror Nights. Come on, Dan, you're better than that.
Yeah, yeah. I believe it's over by, over by. Across from Jimmy Fallon.
Yes, I believe that's where it is. Yes, I believe that's what it is.
Yes. That's the space they've been using and just cycling through the various tributes.

[50:42] I've never actually been into one of the tributes stores, I've seen the pictures, they look amazing.
Just Halloween Horror Night.
Yeah, they have, they've got props from the movies as well, so they're going to have, storyboards, blueprints, pre-production. Cool. It'll be like a little museum experience.
They had a tribute store also, they had one in City Walk as well for a while.
We've been into that one. That's now, that's now the escape room. Oh right, okay.
They had a tribute store in there when that first big Universal store went out of business, but now it's the escape room experience.

[51:21] That's right. So they're going to have exclusive 30th anniversary merchandise in there, plus photo ops that you can recreate scenes from the movie. Those are always pretty cool.
They're also outside in the parks. They're going to have some special Jurassic themed menu items at Thunder Falls over in Island's adventure to have a coconut kahita churro infused churro drizzled with coconut flakes and caramel sauce, as well as raptor wings, which are char-grilled chicken wings marinated with olive oil and spices, tossed in a sweet chili sauce and served with cilantro lime rice, black beans, and a plantain chip.
I love a chicken wing. Sounds like they've spared no expense.
Jurassic Park reference. That's true. You needed to do it with the accent.
They spared no expense. There you go.
There's also going to be an exclusive 30th anniversary Jurassic Park flavor of Fanta.
What flavor is it gonna be? It doesn't say what it tastes like, it's just called the Wild Refresher.
Starting June 1st. Making dinosaur flavor or? Yeah, probably Barney blood. Blood flavor? Yeah.

[52:32] They're going to be showing Jurassic Park at the Cinemark and CityWalk on June 9th, 10th, and 11th.
You're also going to be able to find exclusive anniversary merchandise at stores around the parks, and Jurassic Cafe is going to have some Jurassic World, Jurassic Park themed food.
Oh, that's at Hollywood.
Perfect. Yes. They're going to be doing the same thing in Hollywood, but they actually get more and cooler sounding food at Hollywood, including Jurassic World themed boxed water.
Okay, I'm not excited about that, but all right. It's like a juice box, but water.
Water. Yeah, but it's like a quart of milk sized cardboard carton of water because it's better for Mother Earth.
Get with it. All right, I'll take your word for it, Dan. It's a hip thing to drink from now.
We're going to move out of the theme park world. We've got a few stories from around the rest of the world of travel, starting off with a couple of things from the TSA that are going to help getting through those lines easier this busy summer.
I will not believe that when I see it. First up, they have expanded the ages of children who are allowed to accompany their parents with pre-check without having to do their own pre-check.
I hope it's up to 24. It is not.
It previously was up to 12, now it's going to be up to 17 years old.
Oh, that actually is great.

[53:56] Into the pre-check line. I have already paid for pre-check for my children so it's not helping me but that is great. I did think it was annoying when you had to when your kid hit 13 they had, to have their own. Not sure how many 13 and 14 year olds are on a watch list but I guess I don't know.

[54:15] Yeah they're also rolling out a couple of new other new technology things for specifically for that first checkpoint that you go through and I've seen I've got to experience one of them We've got two different units, so at our airport in Grand Rapids and not at a lot of other places yet, you don't have to have your boarding pass anymore.
You can just give them your ID, scan your ID, and that cross-checks.
They're going to be rolling that out to many more airports. MCO Orlando has that as well.
Yeah, Miami does not. I wish that they would all just get it so everybody had the same rules for everything.
They are starting to accept the IDs on iPhone now in only Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, and Maryland.
Who has their ID on an iPhone? Like you can just take a picture of your...
Those states, you buffoon. Yeah, in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, and Maryland, you can now scan your driver's license and it gets added to your Apple wallet.
That's cool. And very limited places will accept it. Couldn't everyone know that?
No, I did not know that. Well, they announced it like two years ago. Come on.
Because you knew this. I didn't know. They're also rolling out some scanners that instead of handing over your ID, They will do the...

[55:39] Eyeball scan like clear. I love clear. I don't like minority report. Yes. They're getting those.

[55:48] They'll know if you were going to later blow up the plane. So yeah. Yeah. So yeah, they're rolling out facial recognition. They're rolling out the upgraded baggage scanners at all the airports across the country, too. That's supposed to happen. We have them. Yeah, we have them now at all of the checkpoints at Grand Rapids. Previously they only had one machine and now it's all of the machines. We'll say they are slower, but you don't have to remove your liquids and electronics and all of that, which is, I haven't had to do because of PreCheck, but for all, the folks. Meanwhile, I still have to take my belt off. Can't you leave that on with PreCheck?
You can, unless the metal detector you're going through at PreCheck is so sensitive that it sets off because of your belt. It depends on the airport you're in.
We'll have to get you. Apparently I'm wearing that bullet-clad belt everywhere I go.
It doesn't do it at my airport. It does it at MCO, which is where I'm always going.
MCO is in Cancun. Always more sensitive. The one in Cancun, my underwire bra sets it off every time.
MCO pings on surgical steel rod that's in my leg.
In your p... would be uncomfortable. From your epic motorcycle crash?
No, that was from my epic backyard accident where I dropped a thousand pounds of steel on my leg.
Yeah, that's bad too. I never crashed my motorcycle.

[57:14] Yeah, Heather dropped a steel weight on my leg recently. I was trying to make your accident sound cool, Dan. You should have just rolled with it.
Yeah, I should have. I'm a jackass. You are, but not for that.
Yeah, I don't have, I don't have the, I couldn't find the article again that talked about those new scanner machines, but they are nearly done.
Yeah, they're supposed to install them at all US airports. And basically you just put your entire bag into a bin and you don't have to take anything out and they roll it through the scanner and it can, you still have to have, it has to be in a bin.
I don't know. That's a good question. This thing is such high tech, it can slice and dice and see every layer of your bag, but it has to be in a Tupperware bin. But you're not supposed to put your bag in the bin unless you're at an airport that wants you to put your bag in the bin.
Because some do and some don't. No, with this thing, everything goes in.

[58:06] In these new machines. Maybe the bin is a material that lets the machine know to stop scanning at that level or something.
Our airport now, every single bag has to go into a bin and they're slower.
So you're waiting for your bag on the other side for a while.
I mean, not like, you know, 20 minutes, but it's much slower than it was.
But it speeds things up in the non-precheck aisle because people aren't having to take out all their liquids and all of their electronics and stuff.
And I don't know whether they're going to go back to letting you have higher quantities of liquids, But...
The great thing about these machines is that they're designed to be able to detect anything that's not supposed to be in the liquid. So in theory, you wouldn't need to be restricted to the under four ounces, but we'll see. There's a lot of chatter about that recently. It wasn't like England talking about or did remove the limits on liquids or something.
It wasn't England, but yes, it was somewhere in Europe that did.
I miss bringing my jug of Gatorade and Infamil or Miralax onto the plane.
Gross. I recently witnessed a couple, an older couple, having to throw out so, so many jars of.

[59:26] Tostitos queso that they had in their bag. Why did you need that? I do not know.
Oh, but it was the, they weren't the jars. You never know when you're gonna get a snack attack on the plane.
They were the cans.
Like, I don't know if they were gonna be snacking on queso on the plane.
It was hysterical. Gross.
But the guy, the gentleman was very upset because he could keep his chips, but they, were taking his queso. Right. I mean, that's fair.
That's like. The recent announcement that peanut butter counts as a liquid. Oh, yeah.
Like, come on. Silly. he thought that he didn't think food counted in the liquids and the guy was like, you can't bring a bottle of water, why did you think you could bring a bottle of liquid cheese?
Because queso isn't liquid, dumbass. But see, that's the thing, queso, queso's...
It's a gel, I guess.

[1:00:20] It's not a liquid. It's more of a C4 consistency, I suppose.

[1:00:25] I was gonna say pudding, but also just steak. Yes.
I, someone got saved. I don't want you eating queso next to me on the airplane.
That's what I was gonna say.
Someone got saved from sitting next to this couple while they were chowing down on cheese and queso on the plane.
It was funny because they seemed to be traveling with their adult daughter and she was pissed at them. Like, I told you you couldn't bring that.
The limit is five cans of queso, dad. There's no such thing as too much queso.
People get so angry in the airports. I know, especially when you take away their queso.

[1:01:04] This very scientific study by Forbes, known for their science, tried to rank U.S. airports, based on the different emotions that they make travelers feel.
And this one airport has been ranked the angriest airport in the United States.
Can you guess where it is?
This is a weird one for me. I skipped ahead and saw it. Los Angeles?
You're close. It's not Los Angeles. It is right next door to the happiest place on earth is John Wayne Airport in- Oh, I can see that because there's a lot of very wealthy, entitled folks at that airport and they're going to be pissed off. It's weird.
I've been in and out of there a lot and it's so easy and small and I don't ever see anybody if you're angry.
Yeah, I don't know. they did is they analyzed tweets from travelers tagging different airports and tried to look at.

[1:01:59] How it made them feel. They ranked the airports based on sadness, joy, love, anger, fear, and surprise. And they determined that… From tweets that they tweeted out about it?
Yes. And so John Wayne Airport, SNA.
The angriest were it was unfavorably ranked because of complaints about noise staff being rude complaints about the tsa checkpoint and delays of flights i feel like this is all the, housewives of orange county getting pissed off that is weird because the tsa there is like, it's the smallest airport yeah it's like five minutes it's like it reminds me of the grand Grand Rapids Airport. It's very small. Right. I think it's even smaller than your airport.
I love that airport because of our expansion. Yeah. Second place is Jacksonville International in Jacksonville, Florida. Yeah. And the third angriest airport is Epley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska. I'm shocked it wasn't MCO. It's people just pissed off that they're in Nebraska.
Exactly. It's not.
What's the scariest airport? Did it say? I didn't say, I didn't say I could find the original article.
If they rate them on joy and fear and… Yeah.
I'd love to know. Yeah.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, travelers who flew through Indianapolis, Seattle-Tacoma, and Kansas City were less likely to have negative experiences.
All those hippies in SeaTac. I get it. I've never been in that one.
It's a pretty airport.

[1:03:29] Indianapolis has also been named the best airport in America by the Airports Council International. Indianapolis? Yeah, apparently it has a lot of good shopping. You know what I like is that Minneapolis here, yeah, they have some interesting food options there. Yeah. You know, Atlanta seems to always get a lot of hate. I constantly see people say how much they hate Atlanta. I don't get it. I don't mind it at all.
Oh, easy to navigate?
Yeah. My only beef with Atlanta is that the gates are very small because it was built when planes were small and they aren't anymore.
So you have 85 seats at the gate when it's a 150 seat airplane.
Yeah, that is true. But there's a lot of food options there and I will say it's the only airport...
Yeah, and it's very easy to get from gate to gate. I have no problems with it.
It's the only time I've ever been in an airport that went into lockdown over a potential shooter. Oh, I haven't.
That's no fault of the airport itself, though. Right, yeah, no, but no, I'd rather go through, I mean, honestly, Miami International.
That's an armpit. Yeah, that's an armpit.

[1:04:41] And also, for such a big city, that is such a small... It's fairly old and dated.
Yeah, that needs an update, Ben. Just like MTO, it needs new carpets.
The PSA situation is like an afterthought. spills all out into the what used to be the lobby. Yeah, it's weird.
So there's definitely worse places to fly through but apparently you're not gonna be happy at John Wayne International Airport.

[1:05:05] I've always had a good experience there.
Yes, I'm just used to being in airports and, you know, none of them bother me.
Adjust my expectations. Detroit is long. When my foot hurts, that's a long airport.
It is one mile long.
Yeah, not my favorite. But like you said, adjust your expectations. I think people have this weird idea of what an airport experience is. Yeah, I mean, it's not.
They all suck. Yeah, it's not fun. Getting from place to place is not fun.
Yeah, a real fun way to get from place to place, especially this is going to be really interesting to Heather that is hopefully will be opening up soon in California.
There's going to be, they're working on setting up an overnight luxury hotel train, that would run between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Oh yeah, sign me up.
Yeah, so this is going to, and actually we talked, we talked a while ago, I don't know if you remember about a couple of train lines that were experimenting with overnight commuter routes for business people going between Nashville and D.C., and there's a couple of other destinations.
So this is a bad idea, but it's going to be more of a luxury experience.
A way between transportation and hotel.
I like it. Yeah.
So you leave the station at 10 p.m. and arrive in San Francisco at 830 a.m.

[1:06:32] So you'll be able to use an app to order food and services. Train is going to have five to six sleeper cars.
There won't be a standalone dining car, but there will be a lounge where you can order food and drinks.
It's called the Dreamstar. A picture to be found on the website. Yeah.
It's not quite ready for prime time yet, I guess, but it would cost about $300 for a For a one-person roomette, $600 for a two-person bedroom and $1,000 for a premium room that, will follow.

[1:07:06] It tracks Coast Starlight route. Here's what we do.
You go to Disneyland and then up to the Disney Family Museum.
Yes! In San Francisco. This is happening.
And hit up some tiki bars at both.
I am on it. I love it when a plan comes together.
When's this opening? No word yet. No word yet.
All right. They're still working on getting permissions to use the lines.
Ah, got it. But once they do secure permissions, they'll also be stopping at other stations or along the route, including Santa Barbara, San Jose and San Luis Obispo.
I'd like to see the Santa Barbara too along the route there. That's pretty.
Well, how far is that normally? Like eight hour driving? I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know. It's saying that the Amtrak's Coast Starlight line takes about 35 hours to get from Seattle to Los Angeles.
Yeah, trains are long. It's 383 miles, approximately 6 hours to drive from LA to San Francisco on the I-5.
I would love to try the luxury train though. That is on my list.
Yeah, that's cool. It would be a fun trip.
I like not driving. Yes, me too. And having food and booze served to me while not driving.

[1:08:30] That's definitely a plus, yeah. And then you've got food and booze on either end where you leave and get a little sleep in the middle.
Heading towards food and booze, plus the Walt Disney Museum and Skywalker Ranch.

[1:08:43] You got your mouth. Sounds good to me. Do we have any other news we need to cover? Sold.
I don't think so. I think we got into some heavy stuff this time. Yeah.
It's been a pretty eventful month and we didn't even get into some of the real heavy stuff.
It really has been an eventful month and some of it has been great.
Still crying about the Starcruiser, but. And Brontosantis exists. Oh, let's not.
You just brought it all the way down. Thanks, Jeff.
That's what we keep you around for. And in just a few days time, 2024 will open for booking and you can get your Walt Disney World trip with a dining plan all secure.
Yay! Hooray! Hooray! That's right. So make sure you talk to your Key to the World travel advisor about that next week.
Great! Booking now!
Sure. Yeah. Oh, yes. Not next week. This week. When this drops, it'll be time.
That's right. Today. Now. Today. Thanks for hanging out with us again this week.
If you're excited to plan your next adventure, Key to the World Travel has the VillainCon convention floor full of expert travel planners and get ready to make your vacation dreams a reality. Head to www.keytotheworldtravel.com to get started with no obligation quotes.

[1:10:08] Word of mouth is the best way to help us grow our show. If you have a friend or two who you think would appreciate our special brand of globetrotting jackassery, tell them what makes our show so great and send them our way. You can find links to subscribe to the show on your favorite apps and all the latest updates at www.goldkeyadventurers.com. We'll See you real soon. Bye, y'all.
Remember, in a sea of a million boring, pointless Disney podcasts, we certainly are one. That is right.

[1:10:38] To ask a question or share your travel story, you can reach us by smoke signal, carrier pigeon or send an email to goldkeyadventures at gmail dot com.
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[1:11:16] Music.

[1:11:21] Thanks to Outer Vibe for the use of their song Hoka Hey for the intro and outro of our show. Find them on Facebook at The Outer Vibe or check out www.outervibe.com for tour dates, music, merch, and more.

[1:11:34] Music.

[1:11:44] We'll see you next week for another meeting of the Gold Key Adventurer's Society, and, And until then, remember, life is short and the world is wide, so go have an adventure.