July 6, 2024 • 24 mins
On this weeks episode of The Theme Park Podcast, we've got a new ride opening at SeaWorld plus the reopening of a fan favorite at Hollywood Studios. Then the Eat to the Beat concert lineup is unveiled, tickets for the Christmas Party are on sale and farewell to the Jimmy Buffett airplane.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
From the theme park capital of theWorld, Orlando, Florida. This is
the Theme Park Podcast. Wait podcast? Is this all radio? Why does
everything gotta be so messy on thisstation? Anyway? Here's your hosts,
Dickerman, Jimmy d and Scott Harris. Hey there, and welcome to the
(00:22):
Theme Park Podcast. Happy July toya. It is Dickerman, There is
Jimmy D. What's going on?Phillas and Scott Harris. Sometimes you just
feel like a firework. Yeah,Happy Birthday America. Yeah yes, uh
celebrated the birthday of America earlier thisweek. Now, of course, we're
into the hottest months of the year, which means, hey, it's a
(00:44):
great time to go visit the themepark at the dead of the day when
you can either get scorched to deathor get rained upon at any given moment,
or you want to see the endof Raiders of the Lost Arc in
real life. Go to the themeparks in auguste you can actually experienced both
of those things. It's really unfairfor the tourists to come here like they
get time off at summer. Iget it, your kids are out of
(01:06):
school, but it is absolutely themost pitiful time to go to a theme
park right now. It is justbrutal out there. And if you're coming
from someplace like Wisconsin, this hasgotta be like being put in a frying
pan. Yeah, they gotta belike, I'm never coming back here again.
Not only the line super long.It's eight thousand degrees out here,
and along with these people, theyeven live here. And I'm being eaten
(01:29):
by mosquitoes, ten thousand of themat a time, every evening at dusk.
Super fun walk on the Florida.But for them this is like an
escape from snow. We're grizzly bears. Yeah, I don't think they have
grizzly bears in Wisconsin. And theyhave cheese. Hey, they have polar
(01:52):
bear grizzly bear hybrids up in Canada. You guys know that. What Yeah,
I just playing a game of otherday. Yeah, it's a it's
called a pisly that. I don'tknow what you can say on the radio.
I just saw a video about analbino grizzly bear that kept getting mistaken
for a polar bear. So allthese rescues kept like rescuing him to the
(02:15):
Arctic, and he would like,I'm freezing. You have to break get
back like this poor bear kept likegetting rescued to the Arctic, like,
who brought me here? Again?We got you, bro, don't worry,
we got you bringing you back home. Just because you have a bear
friend doesn't mean you know bear Faxthat bears no friend of mine. And
(02:36):
it's just like when the penguin hopout of the enclosure there in a sea
world and they end up in theFlorida sudden like, oh, this was
a mistake in an error here?How is your bet? How is your
bear friend doing? He hasn't beenaround lately, He hasn't been to eat
my trash. In a couple ofweeks, he'll be back. Hey,
So we've got a pretty news heavyweek which features a lot of st or
(03:00):
is we can kind of expand upon. So do we just want to go
ahead and jump in and start coveringthese items? Yes? Okay, where
shall we begin? News Director ScottHarris, Well, you just mentioned SeaWorld.
I feel like we should talk aboutthe fact that their newest roller coaster,
Penguin track opens up this weekend.Yeah, so passolder previews going on
(03:22):
right now. Apparently it's a littlecrazy out there because we are in the
dead of summer. The picture wesaw posted this week. I don't know
if anybody's confirmed this was It saidno re entry to the park and that
like apparently included everyone annual pass holders, ticket holders, Like normally you can
get your handstamped and walk out ofthe park. I guess that's not the
(03:43):
case right now. Is that dueto crowds? You're that one, You're
the SeaWorld expert. I have notseen any kind of comment from SeaWorld proper
about this. The only expertise Ican offer on SeaWorld is I'm not sure
about that. I have heard peoplesay that the Penguin Trak ride itself is
not friendly to those with thick thighs, okay so they said. I saw
(04:08):
one report saying, you know,if a group of ten went up,
maybe two will walk them back,even if they possibly fit the test chair
they were sent, which I've seenhappen on Pipeline too. I've seen a
lot of people get booted from Pipelinetwo because the ride mechanics just don't close.
But as we know that is probablythe most essential part of a ride,
is to be certain that the safetyfeatures work, and if it doesn't
(04:32):
work, then you got to dothe walker shame off the ride. That's
just the reality. Yes, sokeep that in mind if you're going to
experience Penguin Trek, try the testvehicle and then try it again. And
they have those outside the ride,I'm assuming, Yeah, I'm sure they
always. Anytime there's a seat withthe questionable size, they usually stick it
out there so people can try itto make sure they're actually gonna be able
(04:55):
to squeeze into it. Got it. Some of those things are difficult.
Yeah, And a lot of timesI find people just sitting to get take
a load off in that test vehicle. Yeah, if you you should be
hey, hey buddy, I needthat test thing. Look at me.
Yeah, you get over here fromUniversal, let me in that test peak.
(05:17):
Yeah, those those tests, thosetest yars are there for a reason
and they're very important. Yes,in fact are But this is the brand
new roller coaster. It goes throughlike I don't know if it goes through
the Penguin enclosure or right by thePenguin enclosure, spit you out in the
Penguin enclosure. If you get totake a penguin as you exit the ride,
I don't really know. I don'tthink you do that. You take
(05:40):
a penguin as you enter the rideand he goes on the roller coaster with
you. Because can you release itback when you get off, because penguins
can't fly. Yeah, there's actuallya loop where you just fire it right
into the Arctica circle. Release yourpenguins now now, But it looks cool.
I look forward to trying it.I don't know that I'll make it
out this week because a crowds beheat, so those two things. I
(06:03):
look forward to riding it in thefall. Don't you want to go visit
your manatee? I'll see him inthe fall. It's too hot to go
to a theme park right now.I mean, you got you got Stormbreaker
to keep you. Should we changeits name to thirst Breaker exactly? You
have that bottle to keep you hydrated? I do, But then you got
(06:25):
to stash it somewhere when you goto run a ride, and if the
Sea World employees catch it and thenmake you go rent a ten dollars locker,
is it really ten dollars? Ithought it was free. Was it
free for the first thirty minutes?Dude? Not at Sea World? No,
no, no, they got it. They got to get that money.
I believe it's I think it's onlylike two bucks, but if you
want it for the day, it'slike ten or fifteen. You know what
they actually just did at Universal,they're starting to change out their locker system.
(06:48):
They're making them smaller because at lastcheck, I could maybe fit a
wallet in there, and that's whereit stopped. No free ones. They're
making them vertical, so if youso, if you get a coke free
style cup, a refillable one,you can easily just put it inside of
(07:08):
there instead of having to turn iton its side. That makes sense because
they made them, Jimmy, Idon't know if you've seen them in the
last couple of years. They madethe free one so small it literally yeah,
it's like looks like a safety depositbox, yeah, but smaller.
Actually, you cannot fit a backpackin there. There is no way you
can fit a backpack in there.If you want to fit a backpack,
you're going to the bigger paid locker. But it's just like, if you're
(07:29):
gonna sell refillable cups, make itso you can put a refillable cup inside
of it. Yes, and that'sabout that's better fit in there. You
can fit in a refillable cup,your wallet and your keys, and then
you're done. Maybe one of thoselike string backpacks you can fit in there
if you don't have too much junkin it. Yes, you got to
plan ahead at Universal. If youwant to go free on the locker SeaWorld,
(07:51):
you got to pay, no matterwhat. Uh Disney, I haven't
used a Disney locker. I don'tknow if ever, I don't think I've
ever used a Disney locker because youdon't really need them anywhere in that park.
They have paid lockers. Tron Tronis the only is one that I've
used because you kind of have to. It's kind of a lot of loss
of coaster situation. Is it freeor you gotta pay? It's free?
(08:13):
Okay, it's it's it's part ofthe Q experience. Okay, fair enough.
Yeah, So Sea World's new coasteropening this weekend. Expect crowds.
Expect heat and possibly rain and nore entry and apparently no reentry. Oh
and don't expect to find your careasily because last time I was there,
they took away all the parking uhlot sections and numbers and rows. It's
(08:37):
just a free for all. IsIs that just more because you couldn't remember.
Well, that would be the casenormally, but I don't believe they've
added back in like you know,it used to be like you know,
Whale twenty six or whatever. Nowthere's nothing. It's just rows of cars.
Have you Have you thought about,yeah, tying a balloon to the
(08:58):
top of your car, fun noodleon the antenna. But everybody's get them
shark fin antennas. Now would youI got a shark fin? You have
a Ford Bronco, you have likeroof wreck rails that you could tie it
to. I don't want. Idon't have a Ford Bronco. I can't
afford a Ford Bronco. I dohave roof rails on the forester, though,
(09:20):
so I could probably tie a balloonto that if I were to stop
of the dollar store and get aballoon or remember to do that along the
way dance. You should have atheme park balloon that you just always have
in your car at all times.I gotta get a helium tank, then
did you blow it up your self? Would a helium tank blow up in
the heat of a car, BecauseI've had soda cans blow up in the
heat of a car. I hadpepper spray blow up in my car.
(09:43):
At one point, I'm wondering abouta helium tank. Wait, hold on,
what happened? Roll this back?You gotta start over. Yeah,
I gotta know more about the pepperspray, Like what was that experience?
Like, were you in the carwhen it exploded? Could you like even
drive the car after it exploded?Yes? Okay, So here here are
the answers to that. I hada pepper spray in my old truck for
(10:03):
years. I would just keep itin the in the center console. For
years, it sat in there.One day I go to get in the
car and the consoles open. I'mlike, huh, somebody break in in
here. I'm looking around and there'slike crap all over the ceiling. And
then I finally figured out it wasprepper spray. Like, okay, whatever.
I rubbed my eye and then allof a sudden my eyes burning as
I'm trying to drive to the radiostation. But uh, yeah, don't
(10:28):
leave pepper spray in your center consolefor years. So basically, you pepper
sprayed yourself, is what we're learning. Pretty Much every time I drove my
car for the next several months,it doesn't wash out easily. You just
did you even try to clean itup or did you just live with it?
No? I tried to clean itup, but you know it's it's
pepper spray. You clean you pourmilk on everything that's that's clears it up.
(10:50):
That was totally That would leave mytruck in fantastic shape. No,
honestly, that actually apparently helps pepperspray. Yes, but probably not in
a vehicle that you want to drive. Again. You clean it up and
then you clean up the pepper milk. Your milk's never coming out of a
(11:11):
car. You spill milk in acar, you might as well just drive
it into a lake. Is thata parental tip? Leave it leave it
in the iHeart parking lot, likeJimmy did with his old truck. I
didn't leave it in the bar.That was not me. I thought you
left your truck there for a longtime. They eventually had to tow it
or move it out. No,no, no, no. I I
just had to take it home becauseI had two vehicles and they were both
(11:33):
at the radio station and had thetruck and the bike, and I did
that so if it rained, Icould just ride the truck home. Smart
night smart and smart. There wereother people who, let's just say,
shot their career in the face,who left their car in the parking lot
with no license plate on it.Yeah, I'll get you to it after
a while. Yeah. And he'slike, oh, that's not my car.
(11:54):
Meanwhile, it has like don't messwith Texas s bumper sticker on the
side of it, and I'm like, I wonder who that is. It's
an od It's an odd move toleave your car there and just be like,
not mind, I didn't do that. All right, So let's get
back to the news because we gotto the SeaWorld portion and then we stopped.
Well, there's how's our right,go ahead, there's Disney News.
(12:16):
Okay, sure, let's go toDisney News. Let's eat to the beat.
Yeah, eat to the beat.Lineups out, okay, we got
we got artists. Yep, theEarth Winding Fire, Earth Winding Fire.
Jimmy, you want to take aguess. Uh, I know it's got
to be Hanson because m Pops isalways there. October twenty fifth through the
twenty Do you want me to justrun through the lineup and see how many
(12:37):
run through? Can you tell usif we got those right? Before we
go no earth winning fire but Hanson, yes, okay, you win?
All right, go ahead, let'sun the lineup. The Fray, The
Fray, I remember them. Theyhad a song they did. It was
a song. It was a bigsong, how to save a life?
There it is, That's what itwas. Sugar Ray. Oh. Mark
(13:00):
mcgrathi's back. Huh Uba stink ubastank Okay. So yellow Card, Hello,
we're getting a little emo situation.It's a good one. I'll just
see yellow Card. Tiffany, Tiffany, tiff Tiffany. All right, this
is a pretty good lineup so far. Mercy Me, I know they've played
(13:22):
in the past. I don't knowmercy Me. Sheila e okay, she
had a song new this year,The Wanted. They were the boy band
that wasn't one direction? Okay whenyou said Wanted, what's that band?
That? Uh that? Ozzy Osborne'sdaughter was dating the lead singer and he
(13:45):
thought he was a dirt bag.He used the used. I kept thinking
it was the used. It wasgoing to play to eat the beat,
and I was like, how isthat gonna work? I would like to
see that. I would like tosee that to yeah, kid, even
I would like to see that.I mean if if if like Yellow Card
and like Simple Plan can play atEpcott, I can't like, so could
they used? Honestly, I don'tknow first album quite a few times.
(14:05):
I don't know if they're gonna makethe cut their newest stuff. You know
this, You tell them, Hey, these are the songs you can play.
Here's your free trip to Disney.They're gonna, they're gonna. They're
gonna comply because they want to comeback again, exactly. Get their money,
get their Disney trip, get theirnice hotel stay. Who's gonna kick
that gift horse in them now?Uh? Luis Figueroa not familiar? Uh
(14:28):
mao e Ricky, I've never heardof and it's in their new this year.
Uh Jesse and Enjoyed knew this year. Yep, h Alo Black knew
this year. He started out sogood. Joey fatonean friends. Hey,
Joey Fatone, he's local, he'sgot a short drug. I hope he's
a hotel for a while to beuh, we would do like a broadcast
(14:50):
at one of the places where theygave everybody hotels. But they like,
now, you guys are local,you don't need a hotel. I they
always gave me a hotel. Therewas a point where they tried taking away
the hotels I've stayed. I stayedon property like ten times and never once
have I paid. Are we talkingabout Disney? Yeah, I wasn't talking
about Disney. I yeah. Wealso have We the Kings, another emo.
(15:18):
I know that name. I don'tknow any songs, but I know
the name. Uh switch Foot Okay, I know that band. Yeah,
big song. I had a bigsong still gets played on the radio.
Yes, David Archiletta, an Americanidol act knew this year. I know
the name. We uh we didhis performance in the AT and T Performance
Studio, the Wanted performance years back, many years back. I only remember
(15:43):
Carl Ray Jepson because she was sonice. Was she on the list too,
No, but I just remember isthat there you go? She was
nice, she was very friendly,came and shook everybody's hand. Canadian,
Yeah friendly, there you go,friendly people. Billy Ocean Okay, that's
a big one's yeah wait but no, uh no line old Richie with that
(16:08):
one. No Hanson as we discussed, Yes, bo Hailey Reinhart featuring Emily
Estefan Casey Abrams and Janelle Parish.Can anybody tell me who any of those
people are? Riverdale? Okay,all right, I me it's an interesting
(16:32):
one. I mean there's a lotof names there. Yeah, there's a
lot of words I know, butI don't know their combinations. And then
rounding it out boys to men Okay. They were huge back in the day,
like way back when they were amassive Well, they're big early nineties,
they're big on the theme park scenethese days. I don't blame them.
They they would take that and runwith it. I think they will
(16:52):
do all three parks. Good forthem. New this year Magic Magic,
yeah, like people doing magic Noisegot a band David Blaine Parmally never heard
of that one. I don't knowthat one. And then the final two
smash Mouth Okay, all right,those guys are still around and closing out
(17:17):
ninety eight degrees ninety eight degrees andNick Lache Nick Lache Nice. I actually
saw them last year, and Ithink they played one ninety eight degree song
for every two covers that they did. When I saw Sugar Ray at Marti
Gras, it was the exact samething. Mhm. I could see that.
(17:38):
Did they play mean Machine Sugar Ray. I don't remember. So when
we're done here, if you wantto go, look up Cigarette Mean Machine.
It was before they made the switch, doing songs like fly. It
was a little different sound. Allright, Okay, yes you're not familiar.
(17:59):
No, okay, well look itup after this, not those listening
look it up Sugar Ray Mean Machine. This it's safe for work. Yeah.
I think we played on the radiofor a while. M that's that's
not really a standard. I go, that's true, especially in the mid
nineties. Oh and I'm wrong.Hailey Rounhert not on Riverdale, but she
(18:19):
was on f Is for Family.I love that show. I know you
did. That's why I mentioned it. Okay, all right, and now
maybe I'm in But it was alsoscreaming at Me. Was also an American
Idol contestant. Okay, so there'sfair enough. So that is all going
on beginning at the end of Augustthrough mid November, and that is it
(18:44):
EPCOT. So do you need reservationsto go to that park? No?
Well, if you're an annual passholder, yes, okay, all right,
there you go. So make yourplans to pick your pick your artists
you want to see and be sureto make your reservation in advance, just
in case. I don't know thatanybody's ever needed the stupid reservation, but
somehow you still have to have it. Yeah, exactly, it's I've given
(19:10):
up on trying to understand these thingsnow. No. They they love to
make it more confusing. That isthat is what they like to do.
Well, you know it's not confusing. You can start buying your tickets for
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It'sit is July and Christmas in July.
Exactly. You got a special saleon them. Is that? Is that
(19:33):
the deal? If you're sale,if you're staying at a Disney resort,
you can buy tickets event tickets duringyour stay. Okay, all right?
All other guests can begin on Julytenth. All right, fair enough.
So you've got the plan, you'recoming down specifically for this event. You
(19:56):
got your hotel booked. You canbuy your tickets early to make sure it
doesn't sell out, because it doessell out. It sells out every year.
Yes, scroll passed where you canbuy your tickets to the Christmas or
the Halloween events, nada jumping rightto Christmas is July. We got to
get to Christmas right now. Christmasis on sale. The thing is one
hundred degrees outside in July, SoWalmart's about to roll out their Christmas decorations
any second. Yes, it's true. I've seen that Michael's is already starting
(20:19):
to sell their Halloween decorp So yeah, yeah, Halloween's in full swing.
Halloween and July is in full swingat this point. It's everywhere gets your
false stuff. Oh we got abunch of horror move We got to have
a bunch of good horror movies comingout right now. It's amazing, this
is true. There are a bunchcoming out. Quiet Place just came out.
I haven't seen it yet. WhyPlace, Maxine long Legs apparently is
(20:42):
terrifying people. Okay, all right. Not terrifying people is the fact that
a new ride is reopened at HollywoodStudios. Rock and roller Coasters back.
Okay, so an old ride isreopen. What have we done? Did
we add a heart to hat tomelow with Stacey. They've just adjusted some
(21:03):
props inside of the Q area,just kind of did some light enhancements,
you know, general matintenance testing andmaintenance. I mean, you gotta remember
this ride has run every single dayfor what twenty five years? Like there's
kind of a reason. Yeah,I know. I mean there's been shutdowns
over the years, but we shouldcommend Disney on this one because you said
(21:27):
they finished early on this project.It was supposed to be a six month
closure, but it opened a coupleweeks early. This is this is unheard
is Yeah, Normally for Disney,it's like we're gonna shoot for this date
and it'll be that date six monthslater. Yeah. Yeah, So kudos
kudos to Disney for getting that done. Do you want to hear an interesting
(21:47):
thing about Disney and Universal? Sureif Epic Universe opens before April twentieth,
twenty twenty five, Uh huh,it's a faster bill time. The announcement
to the opening than Tron was.So you're telling me a Shire Park versus
(22:10):
a single ride. Yes, yes, but Tron did have like they shut
it down at one point building itduring the pandemic. They paused Epic Universe
to the point where it was speculatedthey might cancel it all together. Fair
point. That is a fair pointon Sky. Yeah, so yeah,
it was a fair point. Sowe are apples to apples. I don't
(22:33):
think there I don't think they'll openin April though. I feel like everybody
wants to open in the summer,which is miserable and I don't know why,
but that's what they do. Okay. But here's the thing. There's
video of a bunch of the ridesat a pic Universe in testing right now,
and it looks like there's people onsome of these rides that are testing.
You see Derek on there, andthere's landscaping going on. Landscaping is
(22:55):
a thing that you usually don't seea year beforehand, It's true, So
depends what kind of it, dependswhat they're trying to grow, though.
I mean there are palm trees.Palm trees do need time to get established
because their root system goes straight downand they build a ball and that's what
keeps it, like you know fromyeah stable exactly. So thanks for joining
us regarding show. Yeah anyways,it's the uh. I only know this
(23:26):
because of the sidewalk we put in, and the guy who relaid the concrete
for it told us all about like, do not plant oak trees anywhere near
concrete. They're just going to destroyit. Best thing is palm trees because
their root system goes straight down.It will not destroy your concrete. Okay,
it's just a little bulb. Here'sthe thing. It might not open
grand opening in April, but wouldit surprise anyone if they didn't start doing
(23:48):
like soft opening previews? Sure?Yeah, I could see that annual pass
ann you'll pass all their previews stufflike that. You gotta start doing that
soon if you want to, likeyou know, make sure you work all
the work out all the kinks forwhen it officially opens. There you go,
all right, Well that is thenews for the week. We are
out of time. If there's anyfurther news, sorry about your luck.
We'll put it out there on socialmedia. Scott where and people find us
(24:11):
to get the news we missed onthe show today. You can follow us
on Twitter at theme Park Show,Facebook, Instagram at TikTok at the theme
Park Podcast. You can watch atThemepark YouTube dot com. And the show
traditionally comes to you from the LaurencampbellRealtor dot com, tboga Zebo Studios,
Fortsimmity For Scott Harris, I amDickerman. Until next week, we will
see you out at the parks.This has been the Theme Park Podcast.
(24:34):
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagramat the theme Park Podcast. To catch
up on previous episodes, check outthe themeparkpodcast dot com, the iHeartRadio app,
or Apple podcasts.
From the theme park capital of theWorld, Orlando, Florida. This is
the Theme Park Podcast. Wait podcast? Is this all radio? Why does
everything gotta be so messy on thisstation? Anyway? Here's your hosts,
Dickerman, Jimmy d and Scott Harris. Hey there, and welcome to the
(00:22):
Theme Park Podcast. Happy July toya. It is Dickerman, There is
Jimmy D. What's going on?Phillas and Scott Harris. Sometimes you just
feel like a firework. Yeah,Happy Birthday America. Yeah yes, uh
celebrated the birthday of America earlier thisweek. Now, of course, we're
into the hottest months of the year, which means, hey, it's a
(00:44):
great time to go visit the themepark at the dead of the day when
you can either get scorched to deathor get rained upon at any given moment,
or you want to see the endof Raiders of the Lost Arc in
real life. Go to the themeparks in auguste you can actually experienced both
of those things. It's really unfairfor the tourists to come here like they
get time off at summer. Iget it, your kids are out of
(01:06):
school, but it is absolutely themost pitiful time to go to a theme
park right now. It is justbrutal out there. And if you're coming
from someplace like Wisconsin, this hasgotta be like being put in a frying
pan. Yeah, they gotta belike, I'm never coming back here again.
Not only the line super long.It's eight thousand degrees out here,
and along with these people, theyeven live here. And I'm being eaten
(01:29):
by mosquitoes, ten thousand of themat a time, every evening at dusk.
Super fun walk on the Florida.But for them this is like an
escape from snow. We're grizzly bears. Yeah, I don't think they have
grizzly bears in Wisconsin. And theyhave cheese. Hey, they have polar
(01:52):
bear grizzly bear hybrids up in Canada. You guys know that. What Yeah,
I just playing a game of otherday. Yeah, it's a it's
called a pisly that. I don'tknow what you can say on the radio.
I just saw a video about analbino grizzly bear that kept getting mistaken
for a polar bear. So allthese rescues kept like rescuing him to the
(02:15):
Arctic, and he would like,I'm freezing. You have to break get
back like this poor bear kept likegetting rescued to the Arctic, like,
who brought me here? Again?We got you, bro, don't worry,
we got you bringing you back home. Just because you have a bear
friend doesn't mean you know bear Faxthat bears no friend of mine. And
(02:36):
it's just like when the penguin hopout of the enclosure there in a sea
world and they end up in theFlorida sudden like, oh, this was
a mistake in an error here?How is your bet? How is your
bear friend doing? He hasn't beenaround lately, He hasn't been to eat
my trash. In a couple ofweeks, he'll be back. Hey,
So we've got a pretty news heavyweek which features a lot of st or
(03:00):
is we can kind of expand upon. So do we just want to go
ahead and jump in and start coveringthese items? Yes? Okay, where
shall we begin? News Director ScottHarris, Well, you just mentioned SeaWorld.
I feel like we should talk aboutthe fact that their newest roller coaster,
Penguin track opens up this weekend.Yeah, so passolder previews going on
(03:22):
right now. Apparently it's a littlecrazy out there because we are in the
dead of summer. The picture wesaw posted this week. I don't know
if anybody's confirmed this was It saidno re entry to the park and that
like apparently included everyone annual pass holders, ticket holders, Like normally you can
get your handstamped and walk out ofthe park. I guess that's not the
(03:43):
case right now. Is that dueto crowds? You're that one, You're
the SeaWorld expert. I have notseen any kind of comment from SeaWorld proper
about this. The only expertise Ican offer on SeaWorld is I'm not sure
about that. I have heard peoplesay that the Penguin Trak ride itself is
not friendly to those with thick thighs, okay so they said. I saw
(04:08):
one report saying, you know,if a group of ten went up,
maybe two will walk them back,even if they possibly fit the test chair
they were sent, which I've seenhappen on Pipeline too. I've seen a
lot of people get booted from Pipelinetwo because the ride mechanics just don't close.
But as we know that is probablythe most essential part of a ride,
is to be certain that the safetyfeatures work, and if it doesn't
(04:32):
work, then you got to dothe walker shame off the ride. That's
just the reality. Yes, sokeep that in mind if you're going to
experience Penguin Trek, try the testvehicle and then try it again. And
they have those outside the ride,I'm assuming, Yeah, I'm sure they
always. Anytime there's a seat withthe questionable size, they usually stick it
out there so people can try itto make sure they're actually gonna be able
(04:55):
to squeeze into it. Got it. Some of those things are difficult.
Yeah, And a lot of timesI find people just sitting to get take
a load off in that test vehicle. Yeah, if you you should be
hey, hey buddy, I needthat test thing. Look at me.
Yeah, you get over here fromUniversal, let me in that test peak.
(05:17):
Yeah, those those tests, thosetest yars are there for a reason
and they're very important. Yes,in fact are But this is the brand
new roller coaster. It goes throughlike I don't know if it goes through
the Penguin enclosure or right by thePenguin enclosure, spit you out in the
Penguin enclosure. If you get totake a penguin as you exit the ride,
I don't really know. I don'tthink you do that. You take
(05:40):
a penguin as you enter the rideand he goes on the roller coaster with
you. Because can you release itback when you get off, because penguins
can't fly. Yeah, there's actuallya loop where you just fire it right
into the Arctica circle. Release yourpenguins now now, But it looks cool.
I look forward to trying it.I don't know that I'll make it
out this week because a crowds beheat, so those two things. I
(06:03):
look forward to riding it in thefall. Don't you want to go visit
your manatee? I'll see him inthe fall. It's too hot to go
to a theme park right now.I mean, you got you got Stormbreaker
to keep you. Should we changeits name to thirst Breaker exactly? You
have that bottle to keep you hydrated? I do, But then you got
(06:25):
to stash it somewhere when you goto run a ride, and if the
Sea World employees catch it and thenmake you go rent a ten dollars locker,
is it really ten dollars? Ithought it was free. Was it
free for the first thirty minutes?Dude? Not at Sea World? No,
no, no, they got it. They got to get that money.
I believe it's I think it's onlylike two bucks, but if you
want it for the day, it'slike ten or fifteen. You know what
they actually just did at Universal,they're starting to change out their locker system.
(06:48):
They're making them smaller because at lastcheck, I could maybe fit a
wallet in there, and that's whereit stopped. No free ones. They're
making them vertical, so if youso, if you get a coke free
style cup, a refillable one,you can easily just put it inside of
(07:08):
there instead of having to turn iton its side. That makes sense because
they made them, Jimmy, Idon't know if you've seen them in the
last couple of years. They madethe free one so small it literally yeah,
it's like looks like a safety depositbox, yeah, but smaller.
Actually, you cannot fit a backpackin there. There is no way you
can fit a backpack in there.If you want to fit a backpack,
you're going to the bigger paid locker. But it's just like, if you're
(07:29):
gonna sell refillable cups, make itso you can put a refillable cup inside
of it. Yes, and that'sabout that's better fit in there. You
can fit in a refillable cup,your wallet and your keys, and then
you're done. Maybe one of thoselike string backpacks you can fit in there
if you don't have too much junkin it. Yes, you got to
plan ahead at Universal. If youwant to go free on the locker SeaWorld,
(07:51):
you got to pay, no matterwhat. Uh Disney, I haven't
used a Disney locker. I don'tknow if ever, I don't think I've
ever used a Disney locker because youdon't really need them anywhere in that park.
They have paid lockers. Tron Tronis the only is one that I've
used because you kind of have to. It's kind of a lot of loss
of coaster situation. Is it freeor you gotta pay? It's free?
(08:13):
Okay, it's it's it's part ofthe Q experience. Okay, fair enough.
Yeah, So Sea World's new coasteropening this weekend. Expect crowds.
Expect heat and possibly rain and nore entry and apparently no reentry. Oh
and don't expect to find your careasily because last time I was there,
they took away all the parking uhlot sections and numbers and rows. It's
(08:37):
just a free for all. IsIs that just more because you couldn't remember.
Well, that would be the casenormally, but I don't believe they've
added back in like you know,it used to be like you know,
Whale twenty six or whatever. Nowthere's nothing. It's just rows of cars.
Have you Have you thought about,yeah, tying a balloon to the
(08:58):
top of your car, fun noodleon the antenna. But everybody's get them
shark fin antennas. Now would youI got a shark fin? You have
a Ford Bronco, you have likeroof wreck rails that you could tie it
to. I don't want. Idon't have a Ford Bronco. I can't
afford a Ford Bronco. I dohave roof rails on the forester, though,
(09:20):
so I could probably tie a balloonto that if I were to stop
of the dollar store and get aballoon or remember to do that along the
way dance. You should have atheme park balloon that you just always have
in your car at all times.I gotta get a helium tank, then
did you blow it up your self? Would a helium tank blow up in
the heat of a car, BecauseI've had soda cans blow up in the
heat of a car. I hadpepper spray blow up in my car.
(09:43):
At one point, I'm wondering abouta helium tank. Wait, hold on,
what happened? Roll this back?You gotta start over. Yeah,
I gotta know more about the pepperspray, Like what was that experience?
Like, were you in the carwhen it exploded? Could you like even
drive the car after it exploded?Yes? Okay, So here here are
the answers to that. I hada pepper spray in my old truck for
(10:03):
years. I would just keep itin the in the center console. For
years, it sat in there.One day I go to get in the
car and the consoles open. I'mlike, huh, somebody break in in
here. I'm looking around and there'slike crap all over the ceiling. And
then I finally figured out it wasprepper spray. Like, okay, whatever.
I rubbed my eye and then allof a sudden my eyes burning as
I'm trying to drive to the radiostation. But uh, yeah, don't
(10:28):
leave pepper spray in your center consolefor years. So basically, you pepper
sprayed yourself, is what we're learning. Pretty Much every time I drove my
car for the next several months,it doesn't wash out easily. You just
did you even try to clean itup or did you just live with it?
No? I tried to clean itup, but you know it's it's
pepper spray. You clean you pourmilk on everything that's that's clears it up.
(10:50):
That was totally That would leave mytruck in fantastic shape. No,
honestly, that actually apparently helps pepperspray. Yes, but probably not in
a vehicle that you want to drive. Again. You clean it up and
then you clean up the pepper milk. Your milk's never coming out of a
(11:11):
car. You spill milk in acar, you might as well just drive
it into a lake. Is thata parental tip? Leave it leave it
in the iHeart parking lot, likeJimmy did with his old truck. I
didn't leave it in the bar.That was not me. I thought you
left your truck there for a longtime. They eventually had to tow it
or move it out. No,no, no, no. I I
just had to take it home becauseI had two vehicles and they were both
(11:33):
at the radio station and had thetruck and the bike, and I did
that so if it rained, Icould just ride the truck home. Smart
night smart and smart. There wereother people who, let's just say,
shot their career in the face,who left their car in the parking lot
with no license plate on it.Yeah, I'll get you to it after
a while. Yeah. And he'slike, oh, that's not my car.
(11:54):
Meanwhile, it has like don't messwith Texas s bumper sticker on the
side of it, and I'm like, I wonder who that is. It's
an od It's an odd move toleave your car there and just be like,
not mind, I didn't do that. All right, So let's get
back to the news because we gotto the SeaWorld portion and then we stopped.
Well, there's how's our right,go ahead, there's Disney News.
(12:16):
Okay, sure, let's go toDisney News. Let's eat to the beat.
Yeah, eat to the beat.Lineups out, okay, we got
we got artists. Yep, theEarth Winding Fire, Earth Winding Fire.
Jimmy, you want to take aguess. Uh, I know it's got
to be Hanson because m Pops isalways there. October twenty fifth through the
twenty Do you want me to justrun through the lineup and see how many
(12:37):
run through? Can you tell usif we got those right? Before we
go no earth winning fire but Hanson, yes, okay, you win?
All right, go ahead, let'sun the lineup. The Fray, The
Fray, I remember them. Theyhad a song they did. It was
a song. It was a bigsong, how to save a life?
There it is, That's what itwas. Sugar Ray. Oh. Mark
(13:00):
mcgrathi's back. Huh Uba stink ubastank Okay. So yellow Card, Hello,
we're getting a little emo situation.It's a good one. I'll just
see yellow Card. Tiffany, Tiffany, tiff Tiffany. All right, this
is a pretty good lineup so far. Mercy Me, I know they've played
(13:22):
in the past. I don't knowmercy Me. Sheila e okay, she
had a song new this year,The Wanted. They were the boy band
that wasn't one direction? Okay whenyou said Wanted, what's that band?
That? Uh that? Ozzy Osborne'sdaughter was dating the lead singer and he
(13:45):
thought he was a dirt bag.He used the used. I kept thinking
it was the used. It wasgoing to play to eat the beat,
and I was like, how isthat gonna work? I would like to
see that. I would like tosee that to yeah, kid, even
I would like to see that.I mean if if if like Yellow Card
and like Simple Plan can play atEpcott, I can't like, so could
they used? Honestly, I don'tknow first album quite a few times.
(14:05):
I don't know if they're gonna makethe cut their newest stuff. You know
this, You tell them, Hey, these are the songs you can play.
Here's your free trip to Disney.They're gonna, they're gonna. They're
gonna comply because they want to comeback again, exactly. Get their money,
get their Disney trip, get theirnice hotel stay. Who's gonna kick
that gift horse in them now?Uh? Luis Figueroa not familiar? Uh
(14:28):
mao e Ricky, I've never heardof and it's in their new this year.
Uh Jesse and Enjoyed knew this year. Yep, h Alo Black knew
this year. He started out sogood. Joey fatonean friends. Hey,
Joey Fatone, he's local, he'sgot a short drug. I hope he's
a hotel for a while to beuh, we would do like a broadcast
(14:50):
at one of the places where theygave everybody hotels. But they like,
now, you guys are local,you don't need a hotel. I they
always gave me a hotel. Therewas a point where they tried taking away
the hotels I've stayed. I stayedon property like ten times and never once
have I paid. Are we talkingabout Disney? Yeah, I wasn't talking
about Disney. I yeah. Wealso have We the Kings, another emo.
(15:18):
I know that name. I don'tknow any songs, but I know
the name. Uh switch Foot Okay, I know that band. Yeah,
big song. I had a bigsong still gets played on the radio.
Yes, David Archiletta, an Americanidol act knew this year. I know
the name. We uh we didhis performance in the AT and T Performance
Studio, the Wanted performance years back, many years back. I only remember
(15:43):
Carl Ray Jepson because she was sonice. Was she on the list too,
No, but I just remember isthat there you go? She was
nice, she was very friendly,came and shook everybody's hand. Canadian,
Yeah friendly, there you go,friendly people. Billy Ocean Okay, that's
a big one's yeah wait but no, uh no line old Richie with that
(16:08):
one. No Hanson as we discussed, Yes, bo Hailey Reinhart featuring Emily
Estefan Casey Abrams and Janelle Parish.Can anybody tell me who any of those
people are? Riverdale? Okay,all right, I me it's an interesting
(16:32):
one. I mean there's a lotof names there. Yeah, there's a
lot of words I know, butI don't know their combinations. And then
rounding it out boys to men Okay. They were huge back in the day,
like way back when they were amassive Well, they're big early nineties,
they're big on the theme park scenethese days. I don't blame them.
They they would take that and runwith it. I think they will
(16:52):
do all three parks. Good forthem. New this year Magic Magic,
yeah, like people doing magic Noisegot a band David Blaine Parmally never heard
of that one. I don't knowthat one. And then the final two
smash Mouth Okay, all right,those guys are still around and closing out
(17:17):
ninety eight degrees ninety eight degrees andNick Lache Nick Lache Nice. I actually
saw them last year, and Ithink they played one ninety eight degree song
for every two covers that they did. When I saw Sugar Ray at Marti
Gras, it was the exact samething. Mhm. I could see that.
(17:38):
Did they play mean Machine Sugar Ray. I don't remember. So when
we're done here, if you wantto go, look up Cigarette Mean Machine.
It was before they made the switch, doing songs like fly. It
was a little different sound. Allright, Okay, yes you're not familiar.
(17:59):
No, okay, well look itup after this, not those listening
look it up Sugar Ray Mean Machine. This it's safe for work. Yeah.
I think we played on the radiofor a while. M that's that's
not really a standard. I go, that's true, especially in the mid
nineties. Oh and I'm wrong.Hailey Rounhert not on Riverdale, but she
(18:19):
was on f Is for Family.I love that show. I know you
did. That's why I mentioned it. Okay, all right, and now
maybe I'm in But it was alsoscreaming at Me. Was also an American
Idol contestant. Okay, so there'sfair enough. So that is all going
on beginning at the end of Augustthrough mid November, and that is it
(18:44):
EPCOT. So do you need reservationsto go to that park? No?
Well, if you're an annual passholder, yes, okay, all right,
there you go. So make yourplans to pick your pick your artists
you want to see and be sureto make your reservation in advance, just
in case. I don't know thatanybody's ever needed the stupid reservation, but
somehow you still have to have it. Yeah, exactly, it's I've given
(19:10):
up on trying to understand these thingsnow. No. They they love to
make it more confusing. That isthat is what they like to do.
Well, you know it's not confusing. You can start buying your tickets for
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. It'sit is July and Christmas in July.
Exactly. You got a special saleon them. Is that? Is that
(19:33):
the deal? If you're sale,if you're staying at a Disney resort,
you can buy tickets event tickets duringyour stay. Okay, all right?
All other guests can begin on Julytenth. All right, fair enough.
So you've got the plan, you'recoming down specifically for this event. You
(19:56):
got your hotel booked. You canbuy your tickets early to make sure it
doesn't sell out, because it doessell out. It sells out every year.
Yes, scroll passed where you canbuy your tickets to the Christmas or
the Halloween events, nada jumping rightto Christmas is July. We got to
get to Christmas right now. Christmasis on sale. The thing is one
hundred degrees outside in July, SoWalmart's about to roll out their Christmas decorations
any second. Yes, it's true. I've seen that Michael's is already starting
(20:19):
to sell their Halloween decorp So yeah, yeah, Halloween's in full swing.
Halloween and July is in full swingat this point. It's everywhere gets your
false stuff. Oh we got abunch of horror move We got to have
a bunch of good horror movies comingout right now. It's amazing, this
is true. There are a bunchcoming out. Quiet Place just came out.
I haven't seen it yet. WhyPlace, Maxine long Legs apparently is
(20:42):
terrifying people. Okay, all right. Not terrifying people is the fact that
a new ride is reopened at HollywoodStudios. Rock and roller Coasters back.
Okay, so an old ride isreopen. What have we done? Did
we add a heart to hat tomelow with Stacey. They've just adjusted some
(21:03):
props inside of the Q area,just kind of did some light enhancements,
you know, general matintenance testing andmaintenance. I mean, you gotta remember
this ride has run every single dayfor what twenty five years? Like there's
kind of a reason. Yeah,I know. I mean there's been shutdowns
over the years, but we shouldcommend Disney on this one because you said
(21:27):
they finished early on this project.It was supposed to be a six month
closure, but it opened a coupleweeks early. This is this is unheard
is Yeah, Normally for Disney,it's like we're gonna shoot for this date
and it'll be that date six monthslater. Yeah. Yeah, So kudos
kudos to Disney for getting that done. Do you want to hear an interesting
(21:47):
thing about Disney and Universal? Sureif Epic Universe opens before April twentieth,
twenty twenty five, Uh huh,it's a faster bill time. The announcement
to the opening than Tron was.So you're telling me a Shire Park versus
(22:10):
a single ride. Yes, yes, but Tron did have like they shut
it down at one point building itduring the pandemic. They paused Epic Universe
to the point where it was speculatedthey might cancel it all together. Fair
point. That is a fair pointon Sky. Yeah, so yeah,
it was a fair point. Sowe are apples to apples. I don't
(22:33):
think there I don't think they'll openin April though. I feel like everybody
wants to open in the summer,which is miserable and I don't know why,
but that's what they do. Okay. But here's the thing. There's
video of a bunch of the ridesat a pic Universe in testing right now,
and it looks like there's people onsome of these rides that are testing.
You see Derek on there, andthere's landscaping going on. Landscaping is
(22:55):
a thing that you usually don't seea year beforehand, It's true, So
depends what kind of it, dependswhat they're trying to grow, though.
I mean there are palm trees.Palm trees do need time to get established
because their root system goes straight downand they build a ball and that's what
keeps it, like you know fromyeah stable exactly. So thanks for joining
us regarding show. Yeah anyways,it's the uh. I only know this
(23:26):
because of the sidewalk we put in, and the guy who relaid the concrete
for it told us all about like, do not plant oak trees anywhere near
concrete. They're just going to destroyit. Best thing is palm trees because
their root system goes straight down.It will not destroy your concrete. Okay,
it's just a little bulb. Here'sthe thing. It might not open
grand opening in April, but wouldit surprise anyone if they didn't start doing
(23:48):
like soft opening previews? Sure?Yeah, I could see that annual pass
ann you'll pass all their previews stufflike that. You gotta start doing that
soon if you want to, likeyou know, make sure you work all
the work out all the kinks forwhen it officially opens. There you go,
all right, Well that is thenews for the week. We are
out of time. If there's anyfurther news, sorry about your luck.
We'll put it out there on socialmedia. Scott where and people find us
(24:11):
to get the news we missed onthe show today. You can follow us
on Twitter at theme Park Show,Facebook, Instagram at TikTok at the theme
Park Podcast. You can watch atThemepark YouTube dot com. And the show
traditionally comes to you from the LaurencampbellRealtor dot com, tboga Zebo Studios,
Fortsimmity For Scott Harris, I amDickerman. Until next week, we will
see you out at the parks.This has been the Theme Park Podcast.
(24:34):
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagramat the theme Park Podcast. To catch
up on previous episodes, check outthe themeparkpodcast dot com, the iHeartRadio app,
or Apple podcasts.
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