September 9, 2025 • 56 mins
The world of Disney Parks is constantly evolving, but keeping track of what's actually happening versus what's merely rumored can be challenging. That's why we're thrilled to welcome Scott Gustin, one of the most trusted voices in Disney journalism, to share his firsthand experience from the 2025 edition of Destination D23 and provide context that goes beyond the headlines.
Scott takes us behind the curtain of this fan-focused event, explaining how it differs from the larger D23 Expo and why Disney strategically released major announcements like Zootopia Better Zoo-gether, Big Thunder Mountain updates, and the Buzz Lightyear vehicle redesign the week before. As he explains, "Walt Disney World had their own priorities, and they're not to make a really good weekend for Destination D23... their job as a resort is to increase bookings."
The conversation reveals several exciting developments from the event itself, including the upcoming Carousel of Progress renovation featuring improved Walt Disney animatronics and the return of Cinderella Castle to its classic pre-2007 color scheme. Scott shares his theory that the castle update might be bundled with necessary structural work: "I think there was bringing forward of some budgeting that is outside of just a paint color." This approach hints at how Disney sometimes finds creative ways to deliver fan-pleasing updates while addressing practical needs.
Looking toward the future, Scott offers thoughtful predictions about what we might see at D23 Expo 2026, particularly for long-neglected attractions like Journey Into Imagination with Figment. "It just doesn't work in 2025," he candidly admits, while explaining the operational challenges of taking a family attraction offline at EPCOT. His insights into the planning process and construction sequencing (like how Cars Land must precede Villains Land) provide a realistic framework for managing expectations about future announcements.
Whether you're planning your next Disney vacation or simply fascinated by the business of theme parks, Scott's fact-focused approach cuts through the noise and offers clarity about what's actually happening in the Disney universe. Follow him on Twitter (@scottgustin) or subscribe to his Substack newsletter (scottgustin.substack.com) for ongoing insights from one of the most respected voices in Disney Parks coverage.
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Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey everybody, I'm Nathan, I'm Scott Gustin, and
welcome to this week's episodeof Adventures and Mousecapades.
We are blessed once again bythe presence of Disney
journalism royalty on our humblelittle show.
If you follow Disney news atall, then you're no doubt
familiar with our guest whobreaks all the news that
(00:45):
everybody else bickers over, thegentleman who occupies at least
one slot on the Disney Newssource, mount Rushmore.
The guy who just spent lastweekend in the bowels of the
Coronado Springs ConventionCenter learning everything
Disney shared at Destination D232025.
And learning some things theydidn't want to share too.
That's right.
(01:06):
This week's guest is the man,the myth, the legend, his Royal
Excellency Scott Gustin.
Goodness gracious.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Made me uncomfortable .
I was so uncomfortable I didn'teven.
I almost missed the introduceyourself.
Just say my name Didn't hearall of that stuff, so no good to
be here and happy to talk.
Destination D23.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, can you remind our listeners kind of who you
are?
I mean, obviously I just laidit out, but kind of what's your
connection to Disney, what'syour day job and how the heck do
you keep so plugged into what'sgoing on from Disney?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I'm a journalist journalist.
I work for a company it'scalled next star.
Uh, so I work on the digitalside, next star, and then I
cover covered theme parks indisney for a while.
But I really was justinterested in trying to be a
kind of a fact focused newsforward person covering the
(02:02):
parks.
Yeah, I have always enjoyedreading all the rumors, but I I
knew that there needed to be athrough line to what was real
and what's not.
Yeah, because it's really fun totalk about what disney can do,
should do, but it is importantto know what they are saying
(02:23):
they are going to do, what theywill do.
So I tried to find a path therewhere I'm just trying to really
focus on what's being announcedand a lot of the time it's just
trying to gather all thedifferent places that that news
is shared and then just sharefrom, obviously, the one place
(02:43):
that I put my news, which isbasically on Twitter.
But yeah, I mean, it's just aperson.
I have a personal interest innot only going to the parks but
the crazy inner workings andjust running that entire mammoth
of a city in Orlando and thenalso Disneyland, not so much but
(03:05):
, um, just the the fun part ofhow that city, both cities work,
but especially in Florida, umall those uh cast members, the
guests coming in and out, allthe transportation.
It's just something I've alwaysbeen interested in as a fan,
and then also covering it, soit's fun.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, I can say for us, for sure, it's not real
unless Scott Gustin has tweetedabout it.
So we, we appreciate your, yourvoice of sanity in the midst of
the clickbait and the morass ofopinions and, uh, people
arguing over this, that and theother thing.
So thank you for everythingthat you do right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, I appreciate it .
I like to argue too and I havea lot of opinions, but I do know
that I think most of the valuethat I try to bring which
there's a lot of awesome voicesthat cover parks yeah, I think
the value that I try to bring isthat it's just trying to weave
(04:08):
through and find the facts andthe context that can go along
with it.
If it's good or bad things thatpeople do and don't like, also
trying to add context to thosethings.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, so this year's tagline for destination D 23 was
, quote a journey around theworlds of Disney.
What did that mean to you goinginto the weekend and looking
back, do you think Disneydelivered?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, it was.
Uh, it was a classic uhdestination D 23 weekend.
Um, if you had only gone to onebefore and it was the most
recent one and you went to thisone and I think you would be
confused, I don't know if you'dbe disappointed.
It would just feel like twovery, very different events, uh,
with last destination beingmore announcement and news
(05:01):
focused and in this one, havingthose moments, uh, throughout
the weekend, but presented incontext and not just a everyone
get in the room.
We got to talk about all thesethings that we're working on.
It was more of let's get in theroom and let's talk about
castles and let's talk about howour creative process is for,
(05:23):
you know, working on developinga new theme park.
If it has a castle, what's thatgoing to look like?
Um, they did fun look back atprevious castles and then they
gave us some news that they'regonna, you know, update uh
center of the castle in floridaback to kind of its traditional
look.
Yeah, um, I think in a previousthe previous destination that
(05:45):
would have just been part of abigger panel that had a bunch of
announcements in it and that itwould just have been oh, by the
way, we're going to paint thecastle.
I do think for fans the waythey did, it is a lot more
meaningful.
Um, and it's the audiencethat's going to appreciate an
entire panel on castles, whereasat D23 Expo next year if they
(06:09):
were announcing if the castleswere on the table or repainting
Magic Kingdom or the CinderellaCastle, magic Kingdom was on the
table for D23 Expo, it wouldhave been a side mention,
probably cut for time type thing.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Or one of those things that Disney loves to
dribble out the week before, theweek before, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Got it.
A lot of, I would say mostpeople and I'm not saying
they're wrong would look at theweekend and say that there was
less news, or that there weresmaller updates or no news.
You know those are all validtakes.
I think it's all what yourexpectations are.
And if your expectation isformed on the last one, uh,
(06:52):
you're probably right.
But if you look back at some ofthe first destination d23s,
this one felt very similar tothose got it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I just kind of mentioned this a little bit.
Disney loves to dribble outnews ahead of these events, both
Destination D23, which happenson the even years at this or odd
years this point in Orlando,and then D23 Expo, which is on
the even years in Anaheim.
The week before Destination D23this year, there was a whole
(07:22):
bunch of news that came out.
We got some details aboutZootopia Better Together Excuse
me, Better Zoo-gether myapologies to the branding
department there including ameet and greet with Nick and
Judy.
We got some updated renderingsand story elements about Big
(07:47):
Thunder Mountain and itsrefurbishment.
We got a lowdown on therethemed pre-show at Rock and
Roller Coaster featuring DrTeeth and the Electric Mayhem,
which looks awesome, and we gotto see the updated ride vehicle
coming to Buzz Lightyear's SpaceRanger Spin.
Why?
Why does, in your opinion?
Why does Disney do this aheadof these shows, instead of
adding to what's happening onthe weekend?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
uh, I mean, they didn't have a buzz light year
panel, right, they didn't have apanel to talk about all of
those bits of news.
I think that week before wasvery much walt.
Disney world setting up the onething that matters to them,
which are bookings in 2026.
So they want to lay outeverything that they have coming
(08:29):
up for the next 12 months.
Zugether, you're the onlyperson that's ever going to
misspeak and call it Better.
Together, I'm sure You're theonly one.
Sorry about that.
What a weird name that is.
But that's opening this year butover the next 12 months.
That's what they focused onwere all the things that are
(08:51):
important to them as a resortand I think it was they kind of
established what they wantedDestination D23 to be and those
announcements didn't really fitin to kind of the framework of
the weekend they had planned andI think also it was just I
think Walt Disney World hadtheir own priorities and they're
(09:13):
not to make a really goodweekend for destination D23 as
much as they would love for thatto be the case.
Like, their job as a resort isto increase bookings and sell
people and coming next year.
So yeah, as someone who wasdown there for those
announcements and then downthere for destination and I came
home in between, it would havebeen nice if it was all at the
(09:35):
same time.
Selfishly, but I understand whythey did it that way.
I mean, it makes sense, yeah,when you kind of stand back and
look at it.
But that's kind of based on aview of knowing they were going
to do it differently versus howthey've done in the past.
Yeah, even though they've doneweek before announcements, like
you said, this one was differentbecause it was intentional in
(09:58):
the previous years.
Those are things that kind ofjust didn't make the cut.
These would have made the cutin previous years.
It just didn't write the cut.
These would have made the cutin previous years.
It just didn't right cutbecause of how they wanted to
have that d23 weekend go rightthe format had changed.
Right the format had changed,and Walt Disney World, I think,
also wanting to kind of do theirown, their own way of
(10:19):
presenting all of thoseheadlines yeah yeah, that makes
sense of everything that didcome out early.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Anything stick out to you as a big surprise um or a
big win, I mean, I think all ofit's a all of it's a good win.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, or I love them finding ways to make kind of
smaller updates to familiarattractions and things that we
enjoy and love, even ones thatare not this was at D23, ones
that are super popular with asmall group of guests.
Finding a way to improve it andmake it just as popular with
(10:58):
those guests, if not more, andthen also open it up to more
people.
Like the carousel of progressupdate will will do right, I
love those types of updates, andbuzz like buzz lightyear is a
great win because it was verymuch possible.
It was very possible that thatride would have just been
completely ripped out if theywere going to spend the money.
Yeah, it was very likely thatit was going to be a rip and
(11:22):
replace and new IP who knowswhat it would be but I'm glad
that they did it the way thatthey did it and I think that
it's just a win.
The strategy and it's in and ofitself, like it doesn't need to
be two years of nothing there,so you can take it out and put
in something very similar withrecord Ralph or whatever it
(11:43):
might be Right, very similarwith Wreck-It Ralph or whatever
it might be.
So I'm encouraged that they areable to improve upon something
that is a very popularattraction.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Right, and of all those Toy Story shooters, that
is the one that has historicallyfrustrated me the most, just
because the technology is sodifferent.
And anything that can helpspruce that thing up and
actually put it back on my listof an attraction that I actually
want to go participate in isgood.
And frankly this puts it backon the list because I can't
distinguish my little laser dotfrom anybody else's and I have
(12:17):
no idea what I'm aiming at.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So hopefully this helps yeah, I feel like I could
and it was my one few likeskills in life has been really
good on that ride.
So selfishly, how to impressthe kids.
Yeah, if I only was thinkingabout myself, then I I might say
you can just leave the blastersattached and clunky, it's fine,
(12:39):
just update everything else.
I mean for that ride,everything it was really they
needed to update the, theblasters and the targets yeah
but for me it really was.
Just just got it just looked old, like inside dingy and all of
that, like it just needed itneeds.
I'm hoping they give it anupdate for all of the, the
(13:00):
signage and all the thingsinside in a way that it will
kind of withstand time better,whereas, like all of the bright
stuff that they put in therebefore just collects dust and
it's very visible.
So I hope they go more lightingand led ways versus like glow
(13:22):
in the dark look, which it justyou don't paint it very
frequently.
It looks it can look old reallyfast.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah but yeah, yeah, there's a few other rides that,
um, I have similar opinions on,but uh, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll
stat we'll put a pin in that.
We'll circle back around tothat a little bit.
Let's pivot to the main event.
So so, unlike D23 Fan Expo inAnaheim, destination D23 in
Orlando is significantly scaleddown.
(13:49):
How would you describe thefocus and outcomes that Disney
is looking to drive withDestination D23, in contrast to
what we get in Anaheim?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I mean, I think it is for.
I think it's for the fans D23Expo has.
It is created for fans toattend, but I'm not sure it's
always everything done with thefans interest in mind.
Like it's kind of a companyinterest, very much like the
(14:22):
brands that we're now workingwith.
Here are the shows that areimportant to us.
Yeah, it's not just that.
Like obviously there is anoverlap yeah, but everything at
destination d23 is very faninterest and fan focused.
I mean, um, you know, entirepanels and concerts for the
goofy movie, like that is onlydriven by fan interest, whereas
(14:45):
at D23 Expo it's the companykind of saying you know, what do
we really need to be pushingthat's releasing in the next
eight months?
Like what do we need to makesure we're talking about,
whether people are superinterested in it or not.
So I really think it's just thedifference of like curated
specifically for the fans,whereas I view I don't view they
(15:09):
would describe it this way, butI view the expo is just kind of
being the blowout for the wholeDisney brand for fans, but
maybe not specifically curatedfor the biggest, biggest Disney
fans.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It's, I think, what's coming into my uh, to borrow
from, like, the TV industry.
It's like the Disney corporatewide version of like their
upfronts is what you get in theD 23 expo in Anaheim.
It's I love what you're saying.
It's everything that's going onon TV and the parks and the
cruise, like, like, everythingthat's going to make them
(15:42):
revenue and money, everythingthat's going to make them
(16:19):
revenue and money.
They're targeting thatmessaging and trying to get
Disney front and center in thegeneral population's brain of oh
, I do want to go see that movieor, oh, maybe we should think
about visiting a Disney park forour once in a lifetime trip,
because that looks reallyinteresting and I want to go
experience that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean D23 Expo has plenty of, because they have
multiple things going on at once.
If, for anyone who hasn't gone,like, destination D23 is
everyone's in the same room theentire time.
If you're not going shopping ordoing anything else, all of the
panels are in one room, so youget to sit in the same room the
entire time.
If you're not going shopping ordoing anything else, all of the
panels are in one room, so youget to sit in the same seat.
Everyone's watching the sameweekend.
(16:51):
Uh, d23 expo is more.
Kind of choose your ownadventure when you can.
Yeah, some of the things youhave to, you know, get lucky to
even get a seat in.
Yeah, um, and there are thereare plenty of panels that are
super, super, you know, focusedfor fans of venice and ferb or
whatever it is, but the the bigblowout events at d23 expo, all
(17:17):
of the things on the showroomfloor are much more often
focused on what's important thecompany or the fans versus just
like fan driven itinerary andtopics and story.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah like you get a destination yeah, so at
destination d23, the, the mainevent is saturday and sunday
there were some tie-inshappening, like at disney
springs.
As soon as, like the Tuesdaybeforehand, were you in town to
catch any of that stuff?
I was not, no, I didn't do anyof that.
No, okay, and it's really justhey, you've got a bunch of fans
(17:54):
in in town.
What special things, whatspecial tie-ins can we do?
So there was I think there wasa special fan day at one of the
parks or or some other thingsgoing on at Springs.
It didn't look like any news oranything was coming out of that
.
It was just kind of brandedexercises, if you will.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I am very news focused at these things.
When I go I do try to enjoy mytime, but it is always.
I'm constantly just trying tofigure out, you know, is there
news happening?
And for that one, when I knewthat there wasn't, I decided to.
Because, I already said, I wentto the event, the news event,
(18:30):
the week before and then I cameback for for destination, I
decided to wait a day, comingback again, since there was no
news happening that day.
Good call.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Good call.
Of course, one of the biggestdraws for many D23 members is
the opportunity to browse thespecial merch offerings,
especially at D23 Expo.
But same they had a bunch ofmerch shops at Destination D23.
It looked like this was solelyDisney-run stores, with the
company store Mickey's ofGlendale Incan Paint Marketplace
(19:02):
and a couple other smallerspots, versus store Mickey's of
Glendale, incan PaintMarketplace and a couple other
smaller spots versus, like youwere mentioning, with D23 Expo
there's a whole show floor andyou've got Lug and Bobbleheads
and Lorcana and everything underthe sun is there.
In your opinion, was this abetter setup?
Do you ever think this would bedone in Anaheim, or is there
(19:24):
just too much content thatthey'd want to share in Anaheim?
It really lends to a differentformat.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I wouldn't say it's better.
I think it's similar.
It's just on a smaller scale,without the vendor-only speak
like Lug and Roosevelt's havingtheir own spots.
Like you didn't have that.
Everything was in these centralstores, but the same stores
that they have at D 23 expo.
(19:55):
In general, I'm not a bigshopper, so I'm usually going
for one specific item, and thatwas what I was doing this time.
I only bought one thing for afriend when I was there, so it
was figuring out which one hadit and then how to get in.
I think the the frustratingthing um, it's this way at expo
(20:16):
too, but they're bigger venuesso they have more room is the.
The shopping times and thequeues I think were were pretty
long.
Um, but I didn't see anyonelike super upset about that.
It's just it always feels likethey underestimate, like the
demand for the merch and thenthey don't have spaces big
(20:38):
enough for it.
I don't, I don't really knowwhat I would have done
differently for this one, but itdoes seem it is.
I had one.
I wanted to buy one thing andit took me like a day and a half
to just get in that store tobuy the one thing.
Wow, you know, so like, andit's because I didn't have a
time, uh, assigned, so I kind ofhad to wait until the the cues
(21:02):
had died down and I had to golike during a panel, right, um,
but it is what it is.
It is just it is interestingthat there's people, you know,
saying I'm here to give you mymoney and I have to jump through
a lot of hoops to do that.
Yeah, um, but I would.
I wouldn't say it was likethere's anything better about
(21:25):
Destination versus Expo.
It was just very differentbecause of the amount of space
they have.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
We were at Expo last year.
It was our first time going toa D23 event and it was.
It was shocking to us andwalking into that situation in
terms of oh yeah, you're goingto wait in line for an hour to
go see the like, we spent anhour in line just to go see the
(21:52):
lounge fly booth and decisionswere made.
I think we will definitely plandifferently next time, for sure
.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
There are studies about why those queues work and
because once you've spent anhour in line, you're like well I
have to buy something, right?
yeah, I just waited an hour, uh.
So there, there is some evilstrategy to how those operate,
uh, as the person who doesn'tbuy a lot and just kind of wants
to go see uh doesn't work out,but I mean.
But I mean I don't know why, uh, the source shouldn't care what
(22:27):
I think, because you're not thetarget, right, right, if you're
not going to give them yourmoney, then they don't really
care.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
They could care less.
Yeah, yeah, you mentioned itearlier the.
The other big difference isthat there's just a single flow
of presentations in one big room.
You called out the DestinationD23 approach this year kind of
harkens back to what they usedto do, kind of pre-pandemic.
Do you think that this makes alot more sense for the Disney
(22:57):
World edition of D23 movingforward?
Is it a better kind of setupfor them?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, I mean for Destination D23, they've always
done it that way where you're,it's just a single, single room
for all presentations and notall the breakouts.
I think it that only works.
Um, that only works for fordestination, you know it's.
You compare it to D23 expo,it's the main hall, right, but
there's just no other options,right.
(23:24):
Expo, it's the main hall, right, but there's just no other
options, right.
And so I I think it worksbecause you know what.
All.
There were 4 000 people atdestination.
You basically know what all 4000 of those people are are
wanting to get, because it issuch a a super fan type event.
But, uh, what I don't, what I donot like about d23 Expo, is
(23:44):
FOMO and that's this constant,especially when everyone's going
in these things with adifferent agenda.
But, like, if I'm trying tojust find news, then I'm
constantly wondering what'sbeing talked about in that
Marvel panel.
Like the title didn't soundthat interesting, but maybe it
actually is a good panel, andyou're often like limited to
(24:06):
very bare descriptions or titlesfor some of these panels and
you have to make a decision andwhile you're in there, there's
something else happeningsomewhere else.
So part of me does not likethat.
I do like that.
That.
Uh, it gives you options, but II did often find, like I,
there's a very specific panel.
I won't even say it that Idon't even know what was
(24:28):
discussed, because the entiretime I was in there I was
following on Twitter news thatwas coming out of another panel
that I couldn't get into.
That did have lots of news init.
Um, that was not the best useof my hour being in that room.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
That was not the best use of my hour.
Yeah, just being in that roomstaring at my phone.
And this was in Anaheim.
This was last year.
Yeah, yeah, this was last year.
Yeah, I think we were going togo to Expo this year, and then I
don't know that we're going togo to Expo this coming year.
At this point We'll see.
The more and more you talkabout it, the disney world
(25:08):
version sounds a lot moreappetizing for us because we
don't have that fomo.
But I I have to admit there wassomething about being in the
honda center.
Oh, yeah, uh, for for thosethree nights that was absolutely
fantastic, yep and that'scoming.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I mean it's.
That was probably the mostexciting news.
I mean we knew Expo would beback, barring some shock, but it
was good to see that thatworked for them.
I know it had to have beenexpensive for them to do it, so
the fact that they're doing itagain was I was excited to see
(25:41):
that too, because I was really,really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Well, let's pivot back to what they did talk about
at Destination D23.
Saturday started off with amuch-anticipated session called
Disney Villains Icons of Evil,and I think we all thought okay,
if there's going to be Parksnews coming out of any of these
things, we know we have avillain's land coming to Magic
Kingdom.
This is where we're going tolearn a ton.
(26:05):
Maybe Did we learn anythingabout what they're planning to
do in the new villain's land, oris nothing really?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
No, I mean, if you're interested in very vague
descriptions of research tripsvague descriptions of research
trips in the extremely early umprocess of creating a new land,
maybe, but no, it was, there wasnothing there.
(26:35):
Okay, okay, I mean, they Ithink the goal seemed to be that
they just wanted people to knowthat they haven't, like changed
the plan, like there's beenanytime you announce something
so far out.
If there's any moment ofsilence, there will be people
saying like maybe they changedtheir mind, maybe they've
canceled it, and so it almostseemed like, uh, just like a um,
(26:59):
a progress report check-in,like yep, yep, still happening,
nothing's changed, same size,everything.
We told you, uh, and we'restill still working on it.
Yeah, it's kind of what it feltlike, got it?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Got it.
So, even though there wasn't adedicated panel, the parks did
get some love during the event,with announcements about updates
to carousel progress.
We got some news about TronLight, cycle Run and the Castle,
which is what you alluded toearlier.
What are your thoughts aboutwhat we heard?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, I would say probably most excited,
personally most excited aboutCarousel of Progress.
We didn't really get a timelineon that, but I am jokingly
saying this.
But I do wonder if it's not, ifit's just a situation where
that ride is in need of actualmaintenance to the ride
(27:52):
structure.
Yeah, and it just makes mewonder if it's just going to
come to the day where it juststops like all right now is
where we're going to start ourrefurbishment, um, but I think
it'll happen at some point nextyear.
Yeah, I think most excited forthat, because it is a deserving
ride of an update.
It needs it and I think we'llalso get to see them kind of
(28:17):
perfect.
The Walt animatronic, whichthey didn't stick, 100% stick.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
The landing at Disneyland yeah, have you seen
that one in person?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, it is.
It's impressive in person butit's not perfect.
It is.
Does not look great in photosor in video Really, but in the
audience, without the benefit ofany zoom lens, when you're just
sitting in a room, it is verybelievable, yeah, that you're in
Walt's office.
It is very believable, yeah,that you're in walt's office I
(28:47):
mean he has this tiny littledesk.
It's like this dumbest part ofit is how tiny his little bitty
tiny like minion desk that hehas, but with the updates that
it will get before they add itto walt's world.
It's as a fan of both coasts.
But being a home East coaster,yeah, it's cool that I think we
(29:10):
will get the better of the two.
Yeah, and we might get twoWalt's in that attraction.
They've only said one is verypossible that we actually get
two new scenes with Walt on theattraction.
So I'm most excited for that.
I think I'm.
I was delighted by the castlebecause I like the classic look
(29:33):
Same and it just delights methat they can still do things
that need to be done that arenot 100% revenue drivers.
Yeah, that was probably someoneon that team at both, as you
wrote, had to fight really hardto get that, because Mr
(29:54):
Spreadsheet is kind of like well, fine, like it's this.
I think there's more to it thanthey've told us.
We'll kind of find out overtime, maybe, why they were able
to do it, but I think that wasthe biggest surprise was them
announcing that.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
So, in other words, maybe it needs some structural
rehab or something like that,and then hey, if we're going to
be doing some construction on it, we got to repaint it anyway.
Here's our opportunity to tochange the color scheme.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I think so.
I think there was bringingforward of some budgeting that
is outside of just a paint color.
I think, the same type ofconversation you might have with
your significant other.
If they want to repaint theliving room and has a really
tall ceiling.
It's like, well, if we're goingto do that, then we might as
well do X.
It feels like it's probably avery similar type of
(30:47):
conversation that happened?
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, we had always wanted to repaint the inside of
our house and we have half of itdone for about a year ago.
But that's because we had awater pipe burst and we had to
have a bunch of repainting done.
Anyway, it's like, well, whilethe upstairs is empty, let's go
ahead and do it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yep, and that's just how it works sometimes, and I'm
okay if that's the case here.
If we find out anything, Idon't think it's going to be a
bad thing, but I think thatthere's more to it, but we're
all going to win as a result.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Scott, it's a business thing.
It's called synergy.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I don't think they're going to paint Avengers
Doomsday on the side whenthey're doing it Probably not.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's what we're saying they tried that for one
day and they had what?
Stitched toilet paper?
The castle back in the day whenthat first movie came out, and
I think they learned theirlesson.
Maybe let's not mess with thecastle for the sake of messing
with the castle.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I mean it's really funny to go and just look
at the castle through the yearsup until like 2010.
They did a lot of weird stuff.
I mean not even ones thatpeople talk about.
Like there's a very interestingcastle overlay they did for to
celebrate the 50th anniversaryof disneyland.
(32:05):
That has this like giant, likemosaic type thing right in the
middle of the castle, one that Idon't see a lot of photos of.
It's just any change of thecastle now feels like people
make a bunch of noise about it Imean myself included but it
just seems like back then it'sjust kind of like yeah, sure,
throw it up there, but it is.
(32:26):
It is funny that there's somuch excitement about just going
back to plain pre-2007 likecastle we haven't seen.
We haven't seen that castle.
It's not just the the pinkcastle we have now.
We haven't seen the castle thatthey're going to give us.
We really haven't seen thatcolor scheme in almost like 20
(32:47):
years.
So I'm excited for it, butmostly excited that they were
able to get it done.
That makes me optimistic forother stuff too.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Yeah yeah.
Saturday night's main hallpresentation, wrapped up with a
celebration of the 25thanniversary of the Emperor's new
groove.
And then I'm going to butcherthis up with a celebration of
the 25th anniversary of theemperor's new groove, and then I
I'm gonna butcher this kuzcotopia night at typhoon lagoon.
Did you make it to either ofthose?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I went to the kuzco thing.
It didn't do any of the waterstuff, but we just went to see
some of the characters.
Yeah, it was a fun event.
It was good, um, and it was not.
It was not crowded at all.
I don't know, maybe people thathave done like the h2o glow
probably was similar uhattendance for that, but maybe
even below that.
But they had the free ice creambars, popcorn, drinks type
(33:36):
thing you get at the after hoursevent.
So it was.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
It was fun nice there were a number of sessions over
the weekend celebrating, and I'mgonna go.
This is is deep Disney nerdstuff here.
So Exitensio the threeCaballeros Disney Legacy panel
with Roy P Disney, plus asession from Disney Archives.
Anything stand out to yourDisney nerd heart from all that.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I mean it was all interesting.
Um, I mean it was allinteresting, I.
I found myself um.
I think my one biggestcomplaint about the event was
the wi-fi was just the worst, sounfortunately.
Unfortunately, myself and a lotof people that were trying to
work had to leave the venue toactually work.
So there were some panels thatI actually actually missed
(34:23):
because I was trying to sharenews, which had to like go out
of that conference center,literally out of the building
sometimes, to get a signal.
So if it wasn't about parks, Iwas either not able to listen in
a way that I maybe would havewanted to or I literally was out
of the room.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, got it.
Or I literally was out of theroom.
Yeah, Got it.
Well, you did mention inclosing out the weekend, on
Sunday was a celebration of thegoofy movies 30th anniversary
and then something called theDisney eighties and nineties
celebration concert.
What was that all about?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I did not see that I had to go, I had to leave, but
it looked like it was.
It looked like a lot of fun.
There was, I think, actors froma few movies, I think kind of
all on stage singing together.
I think it's a You'd have tofact check me on this.
I want to say that's a thingthat they've done before.
(35:21):
I think they've done it on someof the cruises and they've done
it other places.
They've done before.
Like, I think they've done iton some of the cruises and
they've done it other places.
So I think it's it was a biggerversion of anyone who's seen
like that show.
It was like a bigger version ofthat.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, there was a cruise line adjacent event where
I remember somebody talkingabout this and I can't remember.
Oh, it was the most recent DVCmember cruise that they had and
I think this concert or a pareddown version of this concert was
there.
Yep, that was it Okay, got itOkay.
So same kind of thing, so funfor the Disney nerds.
(35:55):
That's such a bummer that Wi-Fiand everything else wasn't
working.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, and it just happens at these things.
Yeah, like, um, I was usingcell service at one point, uh,
and then trying to use the wi-fi.
I don't complain about it toomuch because I think a lot of
the wi-fi was getting eaten upby people that were streaming
for the people that were notthere, and I'm glad that they
did that for the people thatcouldn't come, so they could see
(36:24):
it at home via someonestreaming on youtube.
Yeah, but I had to, like,change the settings on my phone
to take super compressed photosjust so I could get a image to
upload for a lot of the time.
So it was, yeah, and some ofthe people that were at the
event, drew Drew, the Disneydude, on Twitter.
(36:46):
Yeah, he just ended up sittingat the very, very back of the
room.
Yeah, like near the door,Because that's where he found
one spot that he got the bestWi-Fi signal and he's like all
right, I'm just staying here.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Hopefully they do some infrastructure upgrades to
the Coronado Convention Centerbefore they got two years to get
it done before they're back.
I'm sure, yeah, so from aDisney Parks News perspective
and we'll include all thepre-show announcements from the
week prior to Destination D23,did we get what you thought we'd
get?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Uh, I got what I thought we would get.
A week before like after, whenI went to the event at Walt
Disney World and they talkedabout the things, they talked
about a lot of things.
I thought that would come up.
I posted on.
I have a sub stack, I wrotesome predictions on there and I
want to say like half of thethings I predicted for D23
actually happened the weekbefore.
(37:42):
So after that I was kind oflike all right, this is going to
be a very, very different event.
Yeah, so I think in that weekbefore my expectations were
right at what we ended upgetting but, before that they
were way off, Like I wascertainly, even though I'd had
people say you know, don'texpect big news drops.
(38:02):
Don't expect what we did acouple of years ago.
Yeah.
I still was thinking we wouldget more than we got, but inside
of that last week it ended upbeing about what we thought.
And then the wall announcementwas a nice surprise that.
I had no idea it was coming.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, it was cool Flip side of the coin.
Anything that you reallythought we'd hear about, that we
didn't.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
I feel like I mean, mean, they've teased and talked
about bluey coming to the parksand they just refused to follow
up on that.
And I don't.
This one frustrates me becausethey're so slow this is so slow
sometimes and they just miss themoment.
And I don't really think that'sthe case with bluey, because
it's always going to be popularwith a certain age group and
(38:47):
with with parents that haveyoung kids.
But it just seems like whywould that not be the project
that you could figure out how tospeed up, right?
It's just like insane how slowthey're moving.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Because they basically just said the
characters are going to be in,or the character Bluey is going
to be in the park, right?
I mean it's like a meet andgreet or some walk around or
something like it, and they saidit's basic, yeah, most basic
thing ever and they said it wasgoing to happen this year, in
2025.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
So it's like the clock's ticking guys and I am
still confident from what I'veheard, I'm so confident it will
happen this year.
But they did leave themselvessome wiggle room in that initial
announcement that we allinterpreted, myself included, to
be that it is going to happenthis year.
Yeah, that I think.
They said you know, bluey wouldbe coming to the parks and
cruise line Bluey made hisappearance in Australia like on
(39:38):
a few cruises and then itdisappeared and then they kind
of said we'll have more abouttheir appearance in the parks in
the months ahead.
I mean mean, yeah, you neverknow how many months right, like
I'm gonna be alive for like Idon't know, like 300 more months
or something.
I guess we could, we could gothat route in like 10 months you
(39:59):
could also say days yeah, likein the days ahead the year, I
mean, um we'll have anannouncement coming in days,
yeah yeah, how many days uh, I,I, but I still think it'll
happen this year, but at thispoint they're not willing to
promote it.
It's not going to be a lot,which is okay, yeah, which it
really is fine, but it also isgoing to be like what took so,
(40:22):
what took so long, like, right,we're going to wake up one day
and then there's just going tobe a website.
It it's going to say Bluey ismaking an appearance at
Hollywood studios and he's justlike standing in the future
animation courtyard and it'sjust going to be like why did it
take, you know, 12 months to dothis?
Right?
So I don't know.
That one felt like a an obviousupdate.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
It was owed.
We didn't get it.
Yeah, I know blue is fromaustralia.
Maybe there's a you know,there's an immigration joke in
there, but I'll leave that onthe table for others or maybe
there's like a contract.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Yeah, like I, I hope, I hope there is a legitimate
reason and it's not just peopledragging their feet.
So I I kind of thought we wouldget that.
I didn't expect them to talkabout cars at all, yeah, and
they didn't.
Yeah, I mean there were otherthings that I thought and I may
have even tried to predict thatthey would talk about, but it
wasn't anything like I came outof the weekend saying like why
(41:18):
did they not give us an updateon blank?
Yeah, but it's because theygave us a lot the week before.
Yeah, so they gave us a lot theweek before.
Yep, so I think between the twoI felt like they talked about
most of that.
They never talked aboutdisneyland resort much.
I wasn't expecting them to, butthey have things that they
could have talked about.
Yes, um, right there sittingthere waiting on them, like more
(41:40):
info on the parking structure,the coco ride, avatar, like
there's a lot that's coming, butit wasn't the right venue.
I think expo next year is goingto be a lot of Disneyland stuff
.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, cause they have not only the stuff that you
just mentioned, but, likethere's the whole Disneyland
forward, which is that plus awhole bunch of other stuff that
they're rumored to be working on.
So it'll.
It'll be interesting at exponext year just to see what, what
comes out of it.
Yeah, for you on a personallevel, what was your highlight
(42:14):
of this year's destination d23?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I think the carousel progress update yeah, probably
is the highlight because itconfirms that that ride is not
going to go away, yeah, andwe're going to get a nice update
.
We're going to get wall in themagic kingdom.
I think it just also shows usthat tomorrowland, magic kingdom
(42:37):
is kind of being reinvigoratedin front of our eyes.
Yeah, the buzz update, thisupdate there's going to be more
coming and I I kind of like thatapproach instead of what I
think they might end up doing atdisneyland and what maybe needs
to happen at disneyland, to behonest, uh, is just kind of a
starting over of whattomorrowland is going to be.
I kind of like that.
(42:59):
That walt disney world's magickingdom is just uh, let's, let's
just make everything betterthat's in here.
You know, know, they have toretract Space Mountain.
Give us an updated but familiar, better Space Mountain.
Like that sounds awesome.
Yeah, but I would say theCarousel of Progress
announcement was probably it.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Yeah, as we shift into kind of you know that
forward looking at what we thinkmay come out of D23 Expo in
Anaheim next year.
There's a ton of stuff we justtalked a little bit about it
that they're planning for thewhole Disneyland resort area.
I know it's early, but if youwere to put your prognostication
hat on, what do you think wehear about next year?
(43:39):
Any specifics?
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Last D23 Expo was a lot of announcements.
I think this year or next yearis just significant updates on
those projects, details, details, like if you think September
2026, I would expect us to walkout of Expo finding out, or
already know, an opening timeframe for Tropical Americas and
(44:07):
I don't know if they can hold ituntil next september, but I
think they could if they wantedto and finding out more about
what the actual encantoattraction looks like like.
They haven't really reallytalked about it.
Yeah, they've shown us a fewfew pieces of concept art, but
they haven't really talked aboutwhat that story and attraction
is going to be like.
(44:27):
So I would say that um, andthen they know that they have to
give more on villains, and theywill.
At expo, I I think we'll have abetter idea of what maybe at
least one of the attractionswill be um, a framework of the
land.
I think they want to talk aboutthat yeah and then I think for
(44:49):
disneyland they're going to talkabout all of that.
I think tomorrowland avatarstructure, I hope like is very
far along yeah, yeah you know,coco and the parking structure.
I think construction is supposedto start on both of those later
this year.
Avengers Campus construction ismoving very quickly, so I think
we'll get that.
(45:09):
And then my two big ones wouldbe.
They've been predictions for along time.
I actually think next year isthe year is Tomorrowland and
Figment.
That I've got I think will bethe the two big reveals next
year.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, figma is the one ride.
You were talking earlier aboutrides that just need a fresh
coat of everything.
And, turning to imagination,with Figma just is tired.
For me right now.
It's the ironic ride like oh,oh, yeah, let's go ride this
because it's so bad, and I'm I'mwilling to make that statement
(45:51):
and get all the hatred for it,because it's just a bad ride.
Yes, the dinosaur is cute, I'llgive you that, but it's a bad
ride my kids like it, in spiteof the what the ride is like.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
They like fig mat yeah, but they don't like the
right I mean he's.
The story is just like does notwork in 2025, just doesn't work
.
Figment is annoying.
He's a.
He's a brat.
It just doesn't.
It's not what figment was, yeah, or should be.
So they know all of that.
It's just, and they've knownthat for a long time.
(46:26):
It's just the.
They need to be able to justifytaking a family attraction at
Epcot offline for a while andspending money on a ride that
doesn't have to.
Unfortunately, because there'snot a lot of family rides at
Epcot, people still do figment.
They still ride it just becauseit's's there.
(46:48):
It's there, yeah, um, and sothe ops people are just always
like, can't give up that ride,yeah, but I I do think next year
is the year we hear it finallyrevealed and it will be.
It will be a fun place to bewhen they, yeah, announce that,
in the same way that thevillains thing and the monsters
(47:10):
inc.
Coaster, I think, the figmentannouncement, yeah, in
tomorrowland if that one happenslike that, the roar for that
might be louder than figment,because if they say the word
people, which I don't think theywill, but if they did, like
that would probably, uh, exceedanything that we got last year,
even villains land.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
So the other ride that really needs a refurb at
this point and they talked aboutit, but the pandemic killed.
It is spaceship earth.
Do you think we get a redo offigma or spaceship earth first?
And to your point, I don'tthink they can do both at the
same time because the familyride, like capacity, just will
not take having both of thosegone at the same time.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
Yeah, I think Spaceship Earth would be first,
because Spaceship Earth wouldnot be significant.
I think Figment would be prettysignificant.
Got it Change.
I don't think Spaceship Earthwould be.
I think it would be a.
I put that in the same bucketas Carousel of Progress.
They would not put a wall inSpaceship Earth but it would be
a significant, needed treatmentto the ride.
(48:14):
Preserving it essentially isthe same attraction.
Finally doing something withthe descent on that attraction.
It's just all black curtains.
It's such a waste.
Yeah.
I would guess if one is going tohappen before another, it would
be Spaceship Earth.
Just because it would bequicker, yeah, but I think they
would have to get started on itpretty quick if that's going to
(48:37):
happen.
But I think it's possible.
We're not going to go a fullyear before we hear other things
.
There's other announcementsthat are going going to happen,
but before expo for sure allright, I'm gonna ask you to give
a negative prognostication.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
What do you think everybody wants disney to talk
about next year at d23?
That they probably won't beready to announce?
Speaker 2 (49:02):
I don't think they're going to be ready to talk about
as much with villains as peoplewill want to talk about.
So I think there will be somefrustration there because people
will forget we're still talkingabout something that's even in
September of next year will be.
You know, four years away, yeah.
So I don't know if they'regoing to give as much as people
(49:24):
want on that.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
And that's largely because they need to do the new
cars, land and that wholeexperience first, because the
whole construction access tothat goes through where villains
is going right yep, okay,literally paving the way to
villains is cars, right.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
So there's that.
I also.
I don.
I don't love the fact thatDisney always has to talk about
things as early as they havebeen over recent years.
Like it's not natural for us toneed to know every detail about
villains land that's openingpossibly in 2030.
(50:03):
Like I don't know if I wantthem in a box and saying, well,
we promised, you know, wepromised maleficent, and then
some great disney movie comesout a year and a half from now
that has like the greatestvillain disney animations ever
created and then not feel likethey can do something with that.
Like I don't.
As a fan, I don't need that,but I know people want to know.
(50:26):
Yeah, and part of me does wantto know.
I just think it's we're alsonot being very fair to the
process to expect it.
So, yeah, but I would sayprobably villains will be the
one that's not going to get asmuch.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
We're not gonna get as much on that do you think we
heard about villains as early aswe did, because it was in part
a response to epic universeopening and trying to say at
least to the community and, andyou know, to the investors hey,
we are doing big things uh, yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
I mean I think that it didn't didn't hurt, I guess,
uh, but I think the reason weheard villains from the
beginning was because of theirvision of removing rivers of
america and changing magickingdom.
Um, from the beginning, I think,was always on the table.
It wasn't always the decision,but it was part of it and I
(51:23):
think they knew that fans wouldbe excited for it and wanted it
to be a package deal.
I don't think there would be asmuch excitement today for all
of it, and people are stillupset about Rivers of America.
But if you said right now, theannouncement was we're taking
away Rivers of America, we'reputting in a Cars attraction and
(51:44):
then we're going to have evenmore magic behind it, probably
not sitting as well as it is nowwhen people know that coming in
behind it is villain's land.
So I think it was just kind ofa we need to package all this
together.
Yeah, people are.
You know, there's a new themepark attraction or a new theme
park opening, an epic universe,uh, so, so that doesn't hurt
(52:07):
that we're talking about a hugeexpansion that people want.
The timing is good.
So I think it was just kind ofall of that together.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
Yeah Well, Scott, thank you so much for sharing
your experiences fromDestination D23 this year.
You've mentioned you're onTwitter or X, or whatever the
heck that thing wants to becalled.
These days You've also got aSubstack which I absolutely have
fallen in love with.
Where can people find you Plugyour thing?
Speaker 2 (52:33):
Yeah, find me on Twitter, find me on Substack.
First and last, scott Gustin,and there's a link in my Twitter
bio, if you want to just findit that way.
Twitter is still where I sharenews.
Find it that way um, twitter isstill where I share news.
Uh, substack is where I try togo a little beyond it and get
into my personal thoughts andopinions on some stuff more
(52:55):
packaged presentation of newswith context, but yeah it's been
.
Response has been really, reallysurprising to that, and there's
there's a lot of really goodwriters on Substack, just in
general.
So if you're, I would justencourage everyone.
You don't you don't have tofollow me, but just sign up for
it and find your interests onthere.
(53:16):
Find people that are writingabout politics or fashion,
whatever it is.
There's some.
Really I've enjoyed using it asmuch as writing for it.
Just finding really smartpeople that are sharing really
smart content about the subjectsthat I'm interested in.
Speaker 1 (53:34):
So who knew blog posts were going to be a thing
again?
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Yeah, I don't.
I don't know why it works aswell as it does, but it it.
I think it's just missing rightnow, places where you don't
feel like you're.
It's not a bait and switch onthe content.
I mean, there's a, mine is, Ihave it set up.
There's no paid subscriptionsor anything.
(53:59):
Some of them are, and but theones that you do pay for like
you feel like you get somethingin return yeah um, you get
access or whatever it might be,whereas googling something now
is just like a.
It's a minefield like you mightget good info.
You also might get bombardedwith so many ads that you just
(54:21):
have to close your laptopbecause you just wanted the
answer to one question.
So so, but yeah, the pitch.
I'll pitch just sub stack as aplatform for everybody to check
it out.
Speaker 1 (54:31):
Yeah, Well, thanks for being a voice of sanity and
light in the darkness.
Uh, we appreciate you, scott,and uh, we'll absolutely have to
talk next year about D 23 or orsooner if something else comes
up.
So thanks again for coming on.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
You should have me on before and I can make a bunch
of predictions that will not beright.
Completely whiff on everything.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
You got it.
We'll hold you to it.
Cool Sounds good.
Thanks, scott.
Well, thanks again to Scott forcoming on with me.
Alicia is off and recoveringthis morning.
She's absolutely doingfantastic.
I did get her to sit down foran interview.
So if you haven't listened toour bonus episode that dropped
yesterday, if you listen to thison day one when it comes out,
(55:16):
please go ahead and give it alisten.
It's really fantastic and kindof inspiring and gives you some
behind the scenes of what we'vebeen going through.
It's all good, but she issleeping a lot.
And with that, please doremember that we and, of course,
scott, we're not affiliatedwith Disney or any of their
(55:37):
subsidiaries.
These are personal opinions andsuggestions based on our own
experiences.
If you have questions orsuggestions or would like to be
interviewed on our show to shareyour Disney experiences, please
send an email to podcast at ourmousecapadescom.
Please follow us on socials.
We are at our mousecapadespretty much everywhere you can
(55:57):
find us.
Of course, that would beInstagram, facebook threads and
YouTube.
And, of course, please do giveus a rating and review in your
podcast app.
That really does help peoplefind us.
And lastly, of course, don'thesitate to share us with your
friends and fellow Disney loversof all ages.
Thanks for listening.
(56:17):
We'll be in your ears next week.
Thank you for flying Star Tours.
Bye-bye.
Hey everybody, I'm Nathan, I'm Scott Gustin, and
welcome to this week's episodeof Adventures and Mousecapades.
We are blessed once again bythe presence of Disney
journalism royalty on our humblelittle show.
If you follow Disney news atall, then you're no doubt
familiar with our guest whobreaks all the news that
(00:45):
everybody else bickers over, thegentleman who occupies at least
one slot on the Disney Newssource, mount Rushmore.
The guy who just spent lastweekend in the bowels of the
Coronado Springs ConventionCenter learning everything
Disney shared at Destination D232025.
And learning some things theydidn't want to share too.
That's right.
(01:06):
This week's guest is the man,the myth, the legend, his Royal
Excellency Scott Gustin.
Goodness gracious.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Made me uncomfortable .
I was so uncomfortable I didn'teven.
I almost missed the introduceyourself.
Just say my name Didn't hearall of that stuff, so no good to
be here and happy to talk.
Destination D23.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, can you remind our listeners kind of who you
are?
I mean, obviously I just laidit out, but kind of what's your
connection to Disney, what'syour day job and how the heck do
you keep so plugged into what'sgoing on from Disney?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I'm a journalist journalist.
I work for a company it'scalled next star.
Uh, so I work on the digitalside, next star, and then I
cover covered theme parks indisney for a while.
But I really was justinterested in trying to be a
kind of a fact focused newsforward person covering the
(02:02):
parks.
Yeah, I have always enjoyedreading all the rumors, but I I
knew that there needed to be athrough line to what was real
and what's not.
Yeah, because it's really fun totalk about what disney can do,
should do, but it is importantto know what they are saying
(02:23):
they are going to do, what theywill do.
So I tried to find a path therewhere I'm just trying to really
focus on what's being announcedand a lot of the time it's just
trying to gather all thedifferent places that that news
is shared and then just sharefrom, obviously, the one place
(02:43):
that I put my news, which isbasically on Twitter.
But yeah, I mean, it's just aperson.
I have a personal interest innot only going to the parks but
the crazy inner workings andjust running that entire mammoth
of a city in Orlando and thenalso Disneyland, not so much but
(03:05):
, um, just the the fun part ofhow that city, both cities work,
but especially in Florida, umall those uh cast members, the
guests coming in and out, allthe transportation.
It's just something I've alwaysbeen interested in as a fan,
and then also covering it, soit's fun.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, I can say for us, for sure, it's not real
unless Scott Gustin has tweetedabout it.
So we, we appreciate your, yourvoice of sanity in the midst of
the clickbait and the morass ofopinions and, uh, people
arguing over this, that and theother thing.
So thank you for everythingthat you do right off the bat.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, I appreciate it .
I like to argue too and I havea lot of opinions, but I do know
that I think most of the valuethat I try to bring which
there's a lot of awesome voicesthat cover parks yeah, I think
the value that I try to bring isthat it's just trying to weave
(04:08):
through and find the facts andthe context that can go along
with it.
If it's good or bad things thatpeople do and don't like, also
trying to add context to thosethings.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, so this year's tagline for destination D 23 was
, quote a journey around theworlds of Disney.
What did that mean to you goinginto the weekend and looking
back, do you think Disneydelivered?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, it was.
Uh, it was a classic uhdestination D 23 weekend.
Um, if you had only gone to onebefore and it was the most
recent one and you went to thisone and I think you would be
confused, I don't know if you'dbe disappointed.
It would just feel like twovery, very different events, uh,
with last destination beingmore announcement and news
(05:01):
focused and in this one, havingthose moments, uh, throughout
the weekend, but presented incontext and not just a everyone
get in the room.
We got to talk about all thesethings that we're working on.
It was more of let's get in theroom and let's talk about
castles and let's talk about howour creative process is for,
(05:23):
you know, working on developinga new theme park.
If it has a castle, what's thatgoing to look like?
Um, they did fun look back atprevious castles and then they
gave us some news that they'regonna, you know, update uh
center of the castle in floridaback to kind of its traditional
look.
Yeah, um, I think in a previousthe previous destination that
(05:45):
would have just been part of abigger panel that had a bunch of
announcements in it and that itwould just have been oh, by the
way, we're going to paint thecastle.
I do think for fans the waythey did, it is a lot more
meaningful.
Um, and it's the audiencethat's going to appreciate an
entire panel on castles, whereasat D23 Expo next year if they
(06:09):
were announcing if the castleswere on the table or repainting
Magic Kingdom or the CinderellaCastle, magic Kingdom was on the
table for D23 Expo, it wouldhave been a side mention,
probably cut for time type thing.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Or one of those things that Disney loves to
dribble out the week before, theweek before, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Got it.
A lot of, I would say mostpeople and I'm not saying
they're wrong would look at theweekend and say that there was
less news, or that there weresmaller updates or no news.
You know those are all validtakes.
I think it's all what yourexpectations are.
And if your expectation isformed on the last one, uh,
(06:52):
you're probably right.
But if you look back at some ofthe first destination d23s,
this one felt very similar tothose got it.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I just kind of mentioned this a little bit.
Disney loves to dribble outnews ahead of these events, both
Destination D23, which happenson the even years at this or odd
years this point in Orlando,and then D23 Expo, which is on
the even years in Anaheim.
The week before Destination D23this year, there was a whole
(07:22):
bunch of news that came out.
We got some details aboutZootopia Better Together Excuse
me, Better Zoo-gether myapologies to the branding
department there including ameet and greet with Nick and
Judy.
We got some updated renderingsand story elements about Big
(07:47):
Thunder Mountain and itsrefurbishment.
We got a lowdown on therethemed pre-show at Rock and
Roller Coaster featuring DrTeeth and the Electric Mayhem,
which looks awesome, and we gotto see the updated ride vehicle
coming to Buzz Lightyear's SpaceRanger Spin.
Why?
Why does, in your opinion?
Why does Disney do this aheadof these shows, instead of
adding to what's happening onthe weekend?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
uh, I mean, they didn't have a buzz light year
panel, right, they didn't have apanel to talk about all of
those bits of news.
I think that week before wasvery much walt.
Disney world setting up the onething that matters to them,
which are bookings in 2026.
So they want to lay outeverything that they have coming
(08:29):
up for the next 12 months.
Zugether, you're the onlyperson that's ever going to
misspeak and call it Better.
Together, I'm sure You're theonly one.
Sorry about that.
What a weird name that is.
But that's opening this year butover the next 12 months.
That's what they focused onwere all the things that are
(08:51):
important to them as a resortand I think it was they kind of
established what they wantedDestination D23 to be and those
announcements didn't really fitin to kind of the framework of
the weekend they had planned andI think also it was just I
think Walt Disney World hadtheir own priorities and they're
(09:13):
not to make a really goodweekend for destination D23 as
much as they would love for thatto be the case.
Like, their job as a resort isto increase bookings and sell
people and coming next year.
So yeah, as someone who wasdown there for those
announcements and then downthere for destination and I came
home in between, it would havebeen nice if it was all at the
(09:35):
same time.
Selfishly, but I understand whythey did it that way.
I mean, it makes sense, yeah,when you kind of stand back and
look at it.
But that's kind of based on aview of knowing they were going
to do it differently versus howthey've done in the past.
Yeah, even though they've doneweek before announcements, like
you said, this one was differentbecause it was intentional in
(09:58):
the previous years.
Those are things that kind ofjust didn't make the cut.
These would have made the cutin previous years.
It just didn't write the cut.
These would have made the cutin previous years.
It just didn't right cutbecause of how they wanted to
have that d23 weekend go rightthe format had changed.
Right the format had changed,and Walt Disney World, I think,
also wanting to kind of do theirown, their own way of
(10:19):
presenting all of thoseheadlines yeah yeah, that makes
sense of everything that didcome out early.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Anything stick out to you as a big surprise um or a
big win, I mean, I think all ofit's a all of it's a good win.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, or I love them finding ways to make kind of
smaller updates to familiarattractions and things that we
enjoy and love, even ones thatare not this was at D23, ones
that are super popular with asmall group of guests.
Finding a way to improve it andmake it just as popular with
(10:58):
those guests, if not more, andthen also open it up to more
people.
Like the carousel of progressupdate will will do right, I
love those types of updates, andbuzz like buzz lightyear is a
great win because it was verymuch possible.
It was very possible that thatride would have just been
completely ripped out if theywere going to spend the money.
Yeah, it was very likely thatit was going to be a rip and
(11:22):
replace and new IP who knowswhat it would be but I'm glad
that they did it the way thatthey did it and I think that
it's just a win.
The strategy and it's in and ofitself, like it doesn't need to
be two years of nothing there,so you can take it out and put
in something very similar withrecord Ralph or whatever it
(11:43):
might be Right, very similarwith Wreck-It Ralph or whatever
it might be.
So I'm encouraged that they areable to improve upon something
that is a very popularattraction.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Right, and of all those Toy Story shooters, that
is the one that has historicallyfrustrated me the most, just
because the technology is sodifferent.
And anything that can helpspruce that thing up and
actually put it back on my listof an attraction that I actually
want to go participate in isgood.
And frankly this puts it backon the list because I can't
distinguish my little laser dotfrom anybody else's and I have
(12:17):
no idea what I'm aiming at.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So hopefully this helps yeah, I feel like I could
and it was my one few likeskills in life has been really
good on that ride.
So selfishly, how to impressthe kids.
Yeah, if I only was thinkingabout myself, then I I might say
you can just leave the blastersattached and clunky, it's fine,
(12:39):
just update everything else.
I mean for that ride,everything it was really they
needed to update the, theblasters and the targets yeah
but for me it really was.
Just just got it just looked old, like inside dingy and all of
that, like it just needed itneeds.
I'm hoping they give it anupdate for all of the, the
(13:00):
signage and all the thingsinside in a way that it will
kind of withstand time better,whereas, like all of the bright
stuff that they put in therebefore just collects dust and
it's very visible.
So I hope they go more lightingand led ways versus like glow
(13:22):
in the dark look, which it justyou don't paint it very
frequently.
It looks it can look old reallyfast.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah but yeah, yeah, there's a few other rides that,
um, I have similar opinions on,but uh, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll
stat we'll put a pin in that.
We'll circle back around tothat a little bit.
Let's pivot to the main event.
So so, unlike D23 Fan Expo inAnaheim, destination D23 in
Orlando is significantly scaleddown.
(13:49):
How would you describe thefocus and outcomes that Disney
is looking to drive withDestination D23, in contrast to
what we get in Anaheim?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I mean, I think it is for.
I think it's for the fans D23Expo has.
It is created for fans toattend, but I'm not sure it's
always everything done with thefans interest in mind.
Like it's kind of a companyinterest, very much like the
(14:22):
brands that we're now workingwith.
Here are the shows that areimportant to us.
Yeah, it's not just that.
Like obviously there is anoverlap yeah, but everything at
destination d23 is very faninterest and fan focused.
I mean, um, you know, entirepanels and concerts for the
goofy movie, like that is onlydriven by fan interest, whereas
(14:45):
at D23 Expo it's the companykind of saying you know, what do
we really need to be pushingthat's releasing in the next
eight months?
Like what do we need to makesure we're talking about,
whether people are superinterested in it or not.
So I really think it's just thedifference of like curated
specifically for the fans,whereas I view I don't view they
(15:09):
would describe it this way, butI view the expo is just kind of
being the blowout for the wholeDisney brand for fans, but
maybe not specifically curatedfor the biggest, biggest Disney
fans.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
It's, I think, what's coming into my uh, to borrow
from, like, the TV industry.
It's like the Disney corporatewide version of like their
upfronts is what you get in theD 23 expo in Anaheim.
It's I love what you're saying.
It's everything that's going onon TV and the parks and the
cruise, like, like, everythingthat's going to make them
(15:42):
revenue and money, everythingthat's going to make them
(16:19):
revenue and money.
They're targeting thatmessaging and trying to get
Disney front and center in thegeneral population's brain of oh
, I do want to go see that movieor, oh, maybe we should think
about visiting a Disney park forour once in a lifetime trip,
because that looks reallyinteresting and I want to go
experience that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean D23 Expo has plenty of, because they have
multiple things going on at once.
If, for anyone who hasn't gone,like, destination D23 is
everyone's in the same room theentire time.
If you're not going shopping ordoing anything else, all of the
panels are in one room, so youget to sit in the same room the
entire time.
If you're not going shopping ordoing anything else, all of the
panels are in one room, so youget to sit in the same seat.
Everyone's watching the sameweekend.
(16:51):
Uh, d23 expo is more.
Kind of choose your ownadventure when you can.
Yeah, some of the things youhave to, you know, get lucky to
even get a seat in.
Yeah, um, and there are thereare plenty of panels that are
super, super, you know, focusedfor fans of venice and ferb or
whatever it is, but the the bigblowout events at d23 expo, all
(17:17):
of the things on the showroomfloor are much more often
focused on what's important thecompany or the fans versus just
like fan driven itinerary andtopics and story.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah like you get a destination yeah, so at
destination d23, the, the mainevent is saturday and sunday
there were some tie-inshappening, like at disney
springs.
As soon as, like the Tuesdaybeforehand, were you in town to
catch any of that stuff?
I was not, no, I didn't do anyof that.
No, okay, and it's really justhey, you've got a bunch of fans
(17:54):
in in town.
What special things, whatspecial tie-ins can we do?
So there was I think there wasa special fan day at one of the
parks or or some other thingsgoing on at Springs.
It didn't look like any news oranything was coming out of that
.
It was just kind of brandedexercises, if you will.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I am very news focused at these things.
When I go I do try to enjoy mytime, but it is always.
I'm constantly just trying tofigure out, you know, is there
news happening?
And for that one, when I knewthat there wasn't, I decided to.
Because, I already said, I wentto the event, the news event,
(18:30):
the week before and then I cameback for for destination, I
decided to wait a day, comingback again, since there was no
news happening that day.
Good call.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Good call.
Of course, one of the biggestdraws for many D23 members is
the opportunity to browse thespecial merch offerings,
especially at D23 Expo.
But same they had a bunch ofmerch shops at Destination D23.
It looked like this was solelyDisney-run stores, with the
company store Mickey's ofGlendale Incan Paint Marketplace
(19:02):
and a couple other smallerspots, versus store Mickey's of
Glendale, incan PaintMarketplace and a couple other
smaller spots versus, like youwere mentioning, with D23 Expo
there's a whole show floor andyou've got Lug and Bobbleheads
and Lorcana and everything underthe sun is there.
In your opinion, was this abetter setup?
Do you ever think this would bedone in Anaheim, or is there
(19:24):
just too much content thatthey'd want to share in Anaheim?
It really lends to a differentformat.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I wouldn't say it's better.
I think it's similar.
It's just on a smaller scale,without the vendor-only speak
like Lug and Roosevelt's havingtheir own spots.
Like you didn't have that.
Everything was in these centralstores, but the same stores
that they have at D 23 expo.
(19:55):
In general, I'm not a bigshopper, so I'm usually going
for one specific item, and thatwas what I was doing this time.
I only bought one thing for afriend when I was there, so it
was figuring out which one hadit and then how to get in.
I think the the frustratingthing um, it's this way at expo
(20:16):
too, but they're bigger venuesso they have more room is the.
The shopping times and thequeues I think were were pretty
long.
Um, but I didn't see anyonelike super upset about that.
It's just it always feels likethey underestimate, like the
demand for the merch and thenthey don't have spaces big
(20:38):
enough for it.
I don't, I don't really knowwhat I would have done
differently for this one, but itdoes seem it is.
I had one.
I wanted to buy one thing andit took me like a day and a half
to just get in that store tobuy the one thing.
Wow, you know, so like, andit's because I didn't have a
time, uh, assigned, so I kind ofhad to wait until the the cues
(21:02):
had died down and I had to golike during a panel, right, um,
but it is what it is.
It is just it is interestingthat there's people, you know,
saying I'm here to give you mymoney and I have to jump through
a lot of hoops to do that.
Yeah, um, but I would.
I wouldn't say it was likethere's anything better about
(21:25):
Destination versus Expo.
It was just very differentbecause of the amount of space
they have.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
We were at Expo last year.
It was our first time going toa D23 event and it was.
It was shocking to us andwalking into that situation in
terms of oh yeah, you're goingto wait in line for an hour to
go see the like, we spent anhour in line just to go see the
(21:52):
lounge fly booth and decisionswere made.
I think we will definitely plandifferently next time, for sure
.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
There are studies about why those queues work and
because once you've spent anhour in line, you're like well I
have to buy something, right?
yeah, I just waited an hour, uh.
So there, there is some evilstrategy to how those operate,
uh, as the person who doesn'tbuy a lot and just kind of wants
to go see uh doesn't work out,but I mean.
But I mean I don't know why, uh, the source shouldn't care what
(22:27):
I think, because you're not thetarget, right, right, if you're
not going to give them yourmoney, then they don't really
care.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
They could care less.
Yeah, yeah, you mentioned itearlier the.
The other big difference isthat there's just a single flow
of presentations in one big room.
You called out the DestinationD23 approach this year kind of
harkens back to what they usedto do, kind of pre-pandemic.
Do you think that this makes alot more sense for the Disney
(22:57):
World edition of D23 movingforward?
Is it a better kind of setupfor them?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, I mean for Destination D23, they've always
done it that way where you're,it's just a single, single room
for all presentations and notall the breakouts.
I think it that only works.
Um, that only works for fordestination, you know it's.
You compare it to D23 expo,it's the main hall, right, but
there's just no other options,right.
(23:24):
Expo, it's the main hall, right, but there's just no other
options, right.
And so I I think it worksbecause you know what.
All.
There were 4 000 people atdestination.
You basically know what all 4000 of those people are are
wanting to get, because it issuch a a super fan type event.
But, uh, what I don't, what I donot like about d23 Expo, is
(23:44):
FOMO and that's this constant,especially when everyone's going
in these things with adifferent agenda.
But, like, if I'm trying tojust find news, then I'm
constantly wondering what'sbeing talked about in that
Marvel panel.
Like the title didn't soundthat interesting, but maybe it
actually is a good panel, andyou're often like limited to
(24:06):
very bare descriptions or titlesfor some of these panels and
you have to make a decision andwhile you're in there, there's
something else happeningsomewhere else.
So part of me does not likethat.
I do like that.
That.
Uh, it gives you options, but II did often find, like I,
there's a very specific panel.
I won't even say it that Idon't even know what was
(24:28):
discussed, because the entiretime I was in there I was
following on Twitter news thatwas coming out of another panel
that I couldn't get into.
That did have lots of news init.
Um, that was not the best useof my hour being in that room.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
That was not the best use of my hour.
Yeah, just being in that roomstaring at my phone.
And this was in Anaheim.
This was last year.
Yeah, yeah, this was last year.
Yeah, I think we were going togo to Expo this year, and then I
don't know that we're going togo to Expo this coming year.
At this point We'll see.
The more and more you talkabout it, the disney world
(25:08):
version sounds a lot moreappetizing for us because we
don't have that fomo.
But I I have to admit there wassomething about being in the
honda center.
Oh, yeah, uh, for for thosethree nights that was absolutely
fantastic, yep and that'scoming.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I mean it's.
That was probably the mostexciting news.
I mean we knew Expo would beback, barring some shock, but it
was good to see that thatworked for them.
I know it had to have beenexpensive for them to do it, so
the fact that they're doing itagain was I was excited to see
(25:41):
that too, because I was really,really enjoyed that.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Well, let's pivot back to what they did talk about
at Destination D23.
Saturday started off with amuch-anticipated session called
Disney Villains Icons of Evil,and I think we all thought okay,
if there's going to be Parksnews coming out of any of these
things, we know we have avillain's land coming to Magic
Kingdom.
This is where we're going tolearn a ton.
(26:05):
Maybe Did we learn anythingabout what they're planning to
do in the new villain's land, oris nothing really?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
No, I mean, if you're interested in very vague
descriptions of research tripsvague descriptions of research
trips in the extremely early umprocess of creating a new land,
maybe, but no, it was, there wasnothing there.
(26:35):
Okay, okay, I mean, they Ithink the goal seemed to be that
they just wanted people to knowthat they haven't, like changed
the plan, like there's beenanytime you announce something
so far out.
If there's any moment ofsilence, there will be people
saying like maybe they changedtheir mind, maybe they've
canceled it, and so it almostseemed like, uh, just like a um,
(26:59):
a progress report check-in,like yep, yep, still happening,
nothing's changed, same size,everything.
We told you, uh, and we'restill still working on it.
Yeah, it's kind of what it feltlike, got it?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Got it.
So, even though there wasn't adedicated panel, the parks did
get some love during the event,with announcements about updates
to carousel progress.
We got some news about TronLight, cycle Run and the Castle,
which is what you alluded toearlier.
What are your thoughts aboutwhat we heard?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, I would say probably most excited,
personally most excited aboutCarousel of Progress.
We didn't really get a timelineon that, but I am jokingly
saying this.
But I do wonder if it's not, ifit's just a situation where
that ride is in need of actualmaintenance to the ride
(27:52):
structure.
Yeah, and it just makes mewonder if it's just going to
come to the day where it juststops like all right now is
where we're going to start ourrefurbishment, um, but I think
it'll happen at some point nextyear.
Yeah, I think most excited forthat, because it is a deserving
ride of an update.
It needs it and I think we'llalso get to see them kind of
(28:17):
perfect.
The Walt animatronic, whichthey didn't stick, 100% stick.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
The landing at Disneyland yeah, have you seen
that one in person?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, it is.
It's impressive in person butit's not perfect.
It is.
Does not look great in photosor in video Really, but in the
audience, without the benefit ofany zoom lens, when you're just
sitting in a room, it is verybelievable, yeah, that you're in
Walt's office.
It is very believable, yeah,that you're in walt's office I
(28:47):
mean he has this tiny littledesk.
It's like this dumbest part ofit is how tiny his little bitty
tiny like minion desk that hehas, but with the updates that
it will get before they add itto walt's world.
It's as a fan of both coasts.
But being a home East coaster,yeah, it's cool that I think we
(29:10):
will get the better of the two.
Yeah, and we might get twoWalt's in that attraction.
They've only said one is verypossible that we actually get
two new scenes with Walt on theattraction.
So I'm most excited for that.
I think I'm.
I was delighted by the castlebecause I like the classic look
(29:33):
Same and it just delights methat they can still do things
that need to be done that arenot 100% revenue drivers.
Yeah, that was probably someoneon that team at both, as you
wrote, had to fight really hardto get that, because Mr
(29:54):
Spreadsheet is kind of like well, fine, like it's this.
I think there's more to it thanthey've told us.
We'll kind of find out overtime, maybe, why they were able
to do it, but I think that wasthe biggest surprise was them
announcing that.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
So, in other words, maybe it needs some structural
rehab or something like that,and then hey, if we're going to
be doing some construction on it, we got to repaint it anyway.
Here's our opportunity to tochange the color scheme.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I think so.
I think there was bringingforward of some budgeting that
is outside of just a paint color.
I think, the same type ofconversation you might have with
your significant other.
If they want to repaint theliving room and has a really
tall ceiling.
It's like, well, if we're goingto do that, then we might as
well do X.
It feels like it's probably avery similar type of
(30:47):
conversation that happened?
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, we had always wanted to repaint the inside of
our house and we have half of itdone for about a year ago.
But that's because we had awater pipe burst and we had to
have a bunch of repainting done.
Anyway, it's like, well, whilethe upstairs is empty, let's go
ahead and do it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yep, and that's just how it works sometimes, and I'm
okay if that's the case here.
If we find out anything, Idon't think it's going to be a
bad thing, but I think thatthere's more to it, but we're
all going to win as a result.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Scott, it's a business thing.
It's called synergy.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I don't think they're going to paint Avengers
Doomsday on the side whenthey're doing it Probably not.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
That's what we're saying they tried that for one
day and they had what?
Stitched toilet paper?
The castle back in the day whenthat first movie came out, and
I think they learned theirlesson.
Maybe let's not mess with thecastle for the sake of messing
with the castle.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I mean it's really funny to go and just look
at the castle through the yearsup until like 2010.
They did a lot of weird stuff.
I mean not even ones thatpeople talk about.
Like there's a very interestingcastle overlay they did for to
celebrate the 50th anniversaryof disneyland.
(32:05):
That has this like giant, likemosaic type thing right in the
middle of the castle, one that Idon't see a lot of photos of.
It's just any change of thecastle now feels like people
make a bunch of noise about it Imean myself included but it
just seems like back then it'sjust kind of like yeah, sure,
throw it up there, but it is.
(32:26):
It is funny that there's somuch excitement about just going
back to plain pre-2007 likecastle we haven't seen.
We haven't seen that castle.
It's not just the the pinkcastle we have now.
We haven't seen the castle thatthey're going to give us.
We really haven't seen thatcolor scheme in almost like 20
(32:47):
years.
So I'm excited for it, butmostly excited that they were
able to get it done.
That makes me optimistic forother stuff too.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Yeah yeah.
Saturday night's main hallpresentation, wrapped up with a
celebration of the 25thanniversary of the Emperor's new
groove.
And then I'm going to butcherthis up with a celebration of
the 25th anniversary of theemperor's new groove, and then I
I'm gonna butcher this kuzcotopia night at typhoon lagoon.
Did you make it to either ofthose?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I went to the kuzco thing.
It didn't do any of the waterstuff, but we just went to see
some of the characters.
Yeah, it was a fun event.
It was good, um, and it was not.
It was not crowded at all.
I don't know, maybe people thathave done like the h2o glow
probably was similar uhattendance for that, but maybe
even below that.
But they had the free ice creambars, popcorn, drinks type
(33:36):
thing you get at the after hoursevent.
So it was.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
It was fun nice there were a number of sessions over
the weekend celebrating, and I'mgonna go.
This is is deep Disney nerdstuff here.
So Exitensio the threeCaballeros Disney Legacy panel
with Roy P Disney, plus asession from Disney Archives.
Anything stand out to yourDisney nerd heart from all that.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
I mean it was all interesting.
Um, I mean it was allinteresting, I.
I found myself um.
I think my one biggestcomplaint about the event was
the wi-fi was just the worst, sounfortunately.
Unfortunately, myself and a lotof people that were trying to
work had to leave the venue toactually work.
So there were some panels thatI actually actually missed
(34:23):
because I was trying to sharenews, which had to like go out
of that conference center,literally out of the building
sometimes, to get a signal.
So if it wasn't about parks, Iwas either not able to listen in
a way that I maybe would havewanted to or I literally was out
of the room.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, got it.
Or I literally was out of theroom.
Yeah, Got it.
Well, you did mention inclosing out the weekend, on
Sunday was a celebration of thegoofy movies 30th anniversary
and then something called theDisney eighties and nineties
celebration concert.
What was that all about?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I did not see that I had to go, I had to leave, but
it looked like it was.
It looked like a lot of fun.
There was, I think, actors froma few movies, I think kind of
all on stage singing together.
I think it's a You'd have tofact check me on this.
I want to say that's a thingthat they've done before.
(35:21):
I think they've done it on someof the cruises and they've done
it other places.
They've done before.
Like, I think they've done iton some of the cruises and
they've done it other places.
So I think it's it was a biggerversion of anyone who's seen
like that show.
It was like a bigger version ofthat.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, there was a cruise line adjacent event where
I remember somebody talkingabout this and I can't remember.
Oh, it was the most recent DVCmember cruise that they had and
I think this concert or a pareddown version of this concert was
there.
Yep, that was it Okay, got itOkay.
So same kind of thing, so funfor the Disney nerds.
(35:55):
That's such a bummer that Wi-Fiand everything else wasn't
working.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, and it just happens at these things.
Yeah, like, um, I was usingcell service at one point, uh,
and then trying to use the wi-fi.
I don't complain about it toomuch because I think a lot of
the wi-fi was getting eaten upby people that were streaming
for the people that were notthere, and I'm glad that they
did that for the people thatcouldn't come, so they could see
(36:24):
it at home via someonestreaming on youtube.
Yeah, but I had to, like,change the settings on my phone
to take super compressed photosjust so I could get a image to
upload for a lot of the time.
So it was, yeah, and some ofthe people that were at the
event, drew Drew, the Disneydude, on Twitter.
(36:46):
Yeah, he just ended up sittingat the very, very back of the
room.
Yeah, like near the door,Because that's where he found
one spot that he got the bestWi-Fi signal and he's like all
right, I'm just staying here.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Hopefully they do some infrastructure upgrades to
the Coronado Convention Centerbefore they got two years to get
it done before they're back.
I'm sure, yeah, so from aDisney Parks News perspective
and we'll include all thepre-show announcements from the
week prior to Destination D23,did we get what you thought we'd
get?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Uh, I got what I thought we would get.
A week before like after, whenI went to the event at Walt
Disney World and they talkedabout the things, they talked
about a lot of things.
I thought that would come up.
I posted on.
I have a sub stack, I wrotesome predictions on there and I
want to say like half of thethings I predicted for D23
actually happened the weekbefore.
(37:42):
So after that I was kind oflike all right, this is going to
be a very, very different event.
Yeah, so I think in that weekbefore my expectations were
right at what we ended upgetting but, before that they
were way off, Like I wascertainly, even though I'd had
people say you know, don'texpect big news drops.
(38:02):
Don't expect what we did acouple of years ago.
Yeah.
I still was thinking we wouldget more than we got, but inside
of that last week it ended upbeing about what we thought.
And then the wall announcementwas a nice surprise that.
I had no idea it was coming.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, it was cool Flip side of the coin.
Anything that you reallythought we'd hear about, that we
didn't.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
I feel like I mean, mean, they've teased and talked
about bluey coming to the parksand they just refused to follow
up on that.
And I don't.
This one frustrates me becausethey're so slow this is so slow
sometimes and they just miss themoment.
And I don't really think that'sthe case with bluey, because
it's always going to be popularwith a certain age group and
(38:47):
with with parents that haveyoung kids.
But it just seems like whywould that not be the project
that you could figure out how tospeed up, right?
It's just like insane how slowthey're moving.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Because they basically just said the
characters are going to be in,or the character Bluey is going
to be in the park, right?
I mean it's like a meet andgreet or some walk around or
something like it, and they saidit's basic, yeah, most basic
thing ever and they said it wasgoing to happen this year, in
2025.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
So it's like the clock's ticking guys and I am
still confident from what I'veheard, I'm so confident it will
happen this year.
But they did leave themselvessome wiggle room in that initial
announcement that we allinterpreted, myself included, to
be that it is going to happenthis year.
Yeah, that I think.
They said you know, bluey wouldbe coming to the parks and
cruise line Bluey made hisappearance in Australia like on
(39:38):
a few cruises and then itdisappeared and then they kind
of said we'll have more abouttheir appearance in the parks in
the months ahead.
I mean mean, yeah, you neverknow how many months right, like
I'm gonna be alive for like Idon't know, like 300 more months
or something.
I guess we could, we could gothat route in like 10 months you
(39:59):
could also say days yeah, likein the days ahead the year, I
mean, um we'll have anannouncement coming in days,
yeah yeah, how many days uh, I,I, but I still think it'll
happen this year, but at thispoint they're not willing to
promote it.
It's not going to be a lot,which is okay, yeah, which it
really is fine, but it also isgoing to be like what took so,
(40:22):
what took so long, like, right,we're going to wake up one day
and then there's just going tobe a website.
It it's going to say Bluey ismaking an appearance at
Hollywood studios and he's justlike standing in the future
animation courtyard and it'sjust going to be like why did it
take, you know, 12 months to dothis?
Right?
So I don't know.
That one felt like a an obviousupdate.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
It was owed.
We didn't get it.
Yeah, I know blue is fromaustralia.
Maybe there's a you know,there's an immigration joke in
there, but I'll leave that onthe table for others or maybe
there's like a contract.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Yeah, like I, I hope, I hope there is a legitimate
reason and it's not just peopledragging their feet.
So I I kind of thought we wouldget that.
I didn't expect them to talkabout cars at all, yeah, and
they didn't.
Yeah, I mean there were otherthings that I thought and I may
have even tried to predict thatthey would talk about, but it
wasn't anything like I came outof the weekend saying like why
(41:18):
did they not give us an updateon blank?
Yeah, but it's because theygave us a lot the week before.
Yeah, so they gave us a lot theweek before.
Yep, so I think between the twoI felt like they talked about
most of that.
They never talked aboutdisneyland resort much.
I wasn't expecting them to, butthey have things that they
could have talked about.
Yes, um, right there sittingthere waiting on them, like more
(41:40):
info on the parking structure,the coco ride, avatar, like
there's a lot that's coming, butit wasn't the right venue.
I think expo next year is goingto be a lot of Disneyland stuff
.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, cause they have not only the stuff that you
just mentioned, but, likethere's the whole Disneyland
forward, which is that plus awhole bunch of other stuff that
they're rumored to be working on.
So it'll.
It'll be interesting at exponext year just to see what, what
comes out of it.
Yeah, for you on a personallevel, what was your highlight
(42:14):
of this year's destination d23?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I think the carousel progress update yeah, probably
is the highlight because itconfirms that that ride is not
going to go away, yeah, andwe're going to get a nice update
.
We're going to get wall in themagic kingdom.
I think it just also shows usthat tomorrowland, magic kingdom
(42:37):
is kind of being reinvigoratedin front of our eyes.
Yeah, the buzz update, thisupdate there's going to be more
coming and I I kind of like thatapproach instead of what I
think they might end up doing atdisneyland and what maybe needs
to happen at disneyland, to behonest, uh, is just kind of a
starting over of whattomorrowland is going to be.
I kind of like that.
(42:59):
That walt disney world's magickingdom is just uh, let's, let's
just make everything betterthat's in here.
You know, know, they have toretract Space Mountain.
Give us an updated but familiar, better Space Mountain.
Like that sounds awesome.
Yeah, but I would say theCarousel of Progress
announcement was probably it.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Yeah, as we shift into kind of you know that
forward looking at what we thinkmay come out of D23 Expo in
Anaheim next year.
There's a ton of stuff we justtalked a little bit about it
that they're planning for thewhole Disneyland resort area.
I know it's early, but if youwere to put your prognostication
hat on, what do you think wehear about next year?
(43:39):
Any specifics?
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Last D23 Expo was a lot of announcements.
I think this year or next yearis just significant updates on
those projects, details, details, like if you think September
2026, I would expect us to walkout of Expo finding out, or
already know, an opening timeframe for Tropical Americas and
(44:07):
I don't know if they can hold ituntil next september, but I
think they could if they wantedto and finding out more about
what the actual encantoattraction looks like like.
They haven't really reallytalked about it.
Yeah, they've shown us a fewfew pieces of concept art, but
they haven't really talked aboutwhat that story and attraction
is going to be like.
(44:27):
So I would say that um, andthen they know that they have to
give more on villains, and theywill.
At expo, I I think we'll have abetter idea of what maybe at
least one of the attractionswill be um, a framework of the
land.
I think they want to talk aboutthat yeah and then I think for
(44:49):
disneyland they're going to talkabout all of that.
I think tomorrowland avatarstructure, I hope like is very
far along yeah, yeah you know,coco and the parking structure.
I think construction is supposedto start on both of those later
this year.
Avengers Campus construction ismoving very quickly, so I think
we'll get that.
(45:09):
And then my two big ones wouldbe.
They've been predictions for along time.
I actually think next year isthe year is Tomorrowland and
Figment.
That I've got I think will bethe the two big reveals next
year.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, figma is the one ride.
You were talking earlier aboutrides that just need a fresh
coat of everything.
And, turning to imagination,with Figma just is tired.
For me right now.
It's the ironic ride like oh,oh, yeah, let's go ride this
because it's so bad, and I'm I'mwilling to make that statement
(45:51):
and get all the hatred for it,because it's just a bad ride.
Yes, the dinosaur is cute, I'llgive you that, but it's a bad
ride my kids like it, in spiteof the what the ride is like.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
They like fig mat yeah, but they don't like the
right I mean he's.
The story is just like does notwork in 2025, just doesn't work
.
Figment is annoying.
He's a.
He's a brat.
It just doesn't.
It's not what figment was, yeah, or should be.
So they know all of that.
It's just, and they've knownthat for a long time.
(46:26):
It's just the.
They need to be able to justifytaking a family attraction at
Epcot offline for a while andspending money on a ride that
doesn't have to.
Unfortunately, because there'snot a lot of family rides at
Epcot, people still do figment.
They still ride it just becauseit's's there.
(46:48):
It's there, yeah, um, and sothe ops people are just always
like, can't give up that ride,yeah, but I I do think next year
is the year we hear it finallyrevealed and it will be.
It will be a fun place to bewhen they, yeah, announce that,
in the same way that thevillains thing and the monsters
(47:10):
inc.
Coaster, I think, the figmentannouncement, yeah, in
tomorrowland if that one happenslike that, the roar for that
might be louder than figment,because if they say the word
people, which I don't think theywill, but if they did, like
that would probably, uh, exceedanything that we got last year,
even villains land.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
So the other ride that really needs a refurb at
this point and they talked aboutit, but the pandemic killed.
It is spaceship earth.
Do you think we get a redo offigma or spaceship earth first?
And to your point, I don'tthink they can do both at the
same time because the familyride, like capacity, just will
not take having both of thosegone at the same time.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
Yeah, I think Spaceship Earth would be first,
because Spaceship Earth wouldnot be significant.
I think Figment would be prettysignificant.
Got it Change.
I don't think Spaceship Earthwould be.
I think it would be a.
I put that in the same bucketas Carousel of Progress.
They would not put a wall inSpaceship Earth but it would be
a significant, needed treatmentto the ride.
(48:14):
Preserving it essentially isthe same attraction.
Finally doing something withthe descent on that attraction.
It's just all black curtains.
It's such a waste.
Yeah.
I would guess if one is going tohappen before another, it would
be Spaceship Earth.
Just because it would bequicker, yeah, but I think they
would have to get started on itpretty quick if that's going to
(48:37):
happen.
But I think it's possible.
We're not going to go a fullyear before we hear other things
.
There's other announcementsthat are going going to happen,
but before expo for sure allright, I'm gonna ask you to give
a negative prognostication.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
What do you think everybody wants disney to talk
about next year at d23?
That they probably won't beready to announce?
Speaker 2 (49:02):
I don't think they're going to be ready to talk about
as much with villains as peoplewill want to talk about.
So I think there will be somefrustration there because people
will forget we're still talkingabout something that's even in
September of next year will be.
You know, four years away, yeah.
So I don't know if they'regoing to give as much as people
(49:24):
want on that.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
And that's largely because they need to do the new
cars, land and that wholeexperience first, because the
whole construction access tothat goes through where villains
is going right yep, okay,literally paving the way to
villains is cars, right.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
So there's that.
I also.
I don.
I don't love the fact thatDisney always has to talk about
things as early as they havebeen over recent years.
Like it's not natural for us toneed to know every detail about
villains land that's openingpossibly in 2030.
(50:03):
Like I don't know if I wantthem in a box and saying, well,
we promised, you know, wepromised maleficent, and then
some great disney movie comesout a year and a half from now
that has like the greatestvillain disney animations ever
created and then not feel likethey can do something with that.
Like I don't.
As a fan, I don't need that,but I know people want to know.
(50:26):
Yeah, and part of me does wantto know.
I just think it's we're alsonot being very fair to the
process to expect it.
So, yeah, but I would sayprobably villains will be the
one that's not going to get asmuch.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
We're not gonna get as much on that do you think we
heard about villains as early aswe did, because it was in part
a response to epic universeopening and trying to say at
least to the community and, andyou know, to the investors hey,
we are doing big things uh, yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
I mean I think that it didn't didn't hurt, I guess,
uh, but I think the reason weheard villains from the
beginning was because of theirvision of removing rivers of
america and changing magickingdom.
Um, from the beginning, I think,was always on the table.
It wasn't always the decision,but it was part of it and I
(51:23):
think they knew that fans wouldbe excited for it and wanted it
to be a package deal.
I don't think there would be asmuch excitement today for all
of it, and people are stillupset about Rivers of America.
But if you said right now, theannouncement was we're taking
away Rivers of America, we'reputting in a Cars attraction and
(51:44):
then we're going to have evenmore magic behind it, probably
not sitting as well as it is nowwhen people know that coming in
behind it is villain's land.
So I think it was just kind ofa we need to package all this
together.
Yeah, people are.
You know, there's a new themepark attraction or a new theme
park opening, an epic universe,uh, so, so that doesn't hurt
(52:07):
that we're talking about a hugeexpansion that people want.
The timing is good.
So I think it was just kind ofall of that together.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
Yeah Well, Scott, thank you so much for sharing
your experiences fromDestination D23 this year.
You've mentioned you're onTwitter or X, or whatever the
heck that thing wants to becalled.
These days You've also got aSubstack which I absolutely have
fallen in love with.
Where can people find you Plugyour thing?
Speaker 2 (52:33):
Yeah, find me on Twitter, find me on Substack.
First and last, scott Gustin,and there's a link in my Twitter
bio, if you want to just findit that way.
Twitter is still where I sharenews.
Find it that way um, twitter isstill where I share news.
Uh, substack is where I try togo a little beyond it and get
into my personal thoughts andopinions on some stuff more
(52:55):
packaged presentation of newswith context, but yeah it's been
.
Response has been really, reallysurprising to that, and there's
there's a lot of really goodwriters on Substack, just in
general.
So if you're, I would justencourage everyone.
You don't you don't have tofollow me, but just sign up for
it and find your interests onthere.
(53:16):
Find people that are writingabout politics or fashion,
whatever it is.
There's some.
Really I've enjoyed using it asmuch as writing for it.
Just finding really smartpeople that are sharing really
smart content about the subjectsthat I'm interested in.
Speaker 1 (53:34):
So who knew blog posts were going to be a thing
again?
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Yeah, I don't.
I don't know why it works aswell as it does, but it it.
I think it's just missing rightnow, places where you don't
feel like you're.
It's not a bait and switch onthe content.
I mean, there's a, mine is, Ihave it set up.
There's no paid subscriptionsor anything.
(53:59):
Some of them are, and but theones that you do pay for like
you feel like you get somethingin return yeah um, you get
access or whatever it might be,whereas googling something now
is just like a.
It's a minefield like you mightget good info.
You also might get bombardedwith so many ads that you just
(54:21):
have to close your laptopbecause you just wanted the
answer to one question.
So so, but yeah, the pitch.
I'll pitch just sub stack as aplatform for everybody to check
it out.
Speaker 1 (54:31):
Yeah, Well, thanks for being a voice of sanity and
light in the darkness.
Uh, we appreciate you, scott,and uh, we'll absolutely have to
talk next year about D 23 or orsooner if something else comes
up.
So thanks again for coming on.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
You should have me on before and I can make a bunch
of predictions that will not beright.
Completely whiff on everything.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
You got it.
We'll hold you to it.
Cool Sounds good.
Thanks, scott.
Well, thanks again to Scott forcoming on with me.
Alicia is off and recoveringthis morning.
She's absolutely doingfantastic.
I did get her to sit down foran interview.
So if you haven't listened toour bonus episode that dropped
yesterday, if you listen to thison day one when it comes out,
(55:16):
please go ahead and give it alisten.
It's really fantastic and kindof inspiring and gives you some
behind the scenes of what we'vebeen going through.
It's all good, but she issleeping a lot.
And with that, please doremember that we and, of course,
scott, we're not affiliatedwith Disney or any of their
(55:37):
subsidiaries.
These are personal opinions andsuggestions based on our own
experiences.
If you have questions orsuggestions or would like to be
interviewed on our show to shareyour Disney experiences, please
send an email to podcast at ourmousecapadescom.
Please follow us on socials.
We are at our mousecapadespretty much everywhere you can
(55:57):
find us.
Of course, that would beInstagram, facebook threads and
YouTube.
And, of course, please do giveus a rating and review in your
podcast app.
That really does help peoplefind us.
And lastly, of course, don'thesitate to share us with your
friends and fellow Disney loversof all ages.
Thanks for listening.
(56:17):
We'll be in your ears next week.
Thank you for flying Star Tours.
Bye-bye.
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