Epic Universe: Peter Went and it was EPIC!

Thanks for listening to Season 5, Episode 13 of Dialogue Alley! In this episode, Erik, Peter, and Melanie talk about:

Mild spolilers this episode

Peter went to Epic Universe! Hear him give first hand experiences about this amazing, new park at Universal Orlando!

Dialogue Alley is the official podcast of The Potter Collector
Carly @alltheprettybooks on Instagram
Erik @knockturnerik on Instagram
Melanie @theharrypottercollection on Instagram
Peter @ThePotterCollector on Instagram
Thanks to our Editor: Tommy
Thanks to our Editor for this episode: Erik!

Images of books that are discussed on this episode will be available on Instagram @dialogueallypodcast, as well as DialogueAlley.com and alltheprettybooks.net 

For more content from The Potter Collector, visit Peter's Website

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Music:The Magic Shoes 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three up, two across, tap that play button three times,
and walk through the archway into Dialogue Alley. Hello everyone,
this is like kind of a chill Dialogue Alley episode.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
It's not our usual intro, not our usual stuff.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Because we're doing a off the Beaten Path podcast episode.
For those of you who are new, we are a
Harry Potter book translation podcast, but we talk about all
things magical here on Dialogue Alley. We are the official
Potter Collector podcast, and today we have Peter with us

(00:46):
to talk about some.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Epic content, super epic, super epic, Universal Orlando resort content.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, just got back. How tired are you?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
I am so tired, like so tired. So I mean
just a quick little rundown, got there whatever day I
got there. And that's, by the way, I'm not going
to be a good episode, guys.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
No, by the way, American, I'm here too.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh yeah, hey, yeah, So I shot a video the
day I got there. It was a pre media preview
of the new Helios Grand Hotel, which is spectacular, spectacular, spectacular,
and it's right on the border of the Epic Universe

(01:41):
theme park, so it's basically in Epic Universe and it
has its own separate entry and security, so literally rawl
out of bed, you know, get some breakfast, maybe get
a coffee, go through the security that's just off of
the lobby, and you're inside of Epic Universe. Like such
a cool concept to have a hotel within basically the

(02:03):
theme park. The rooms their park view rooms that just
face the theme parks. You can literally just sit in
a chair in your room and just watch the theme
park and the roller coasters and it's it's an amazing hotel.
I'm actually gonna be staying. So I'm going back to
Epic Universe next weekend because they's just announced pass holder

(02:26):
previews so you can get some discounted tickets if you're
a passholder. And I'm staying at the Helios and I
cannot wait to like stay there.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Did you stay there on the now? No? No, just
let you give you.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Like a tour, yeah, just just a quick tour. I
stayed at the Stella Nova. So the Stella Nova and
the Tarra Luna. Those are the two new more budget
friendly hotels. Sister hotels that are super nice, really nice pools,
great food, like really good food, kind of more of
a quick service issue. You go up to a counter

(03:05):
and then you go and pick up your food. But
it was really really delicious. Yeah, so stayed there and
I can't wait to go back. But back to my
crazy story. I wanted to get a video out of
that day like asap, so I stayed up until four

(03:26):
am or it went up at four am or maybe
it was three am, I don't remember. And then then
the next day was Epic Universe, so I had like
three and a half hours of sleep and then I
we'll finish up the story, let's get the fun stuff.
And then I made the mistake of promising that the

(03:47):
Epic Universe video would be coming out, so I had to,
you know, spend all day editing that and that went
out at like one am or two am. So I've
not slept very much, but you know, I'm very very
I'm still like sleepy. Yeah, no one can like see
me except for Eric and mel and I am not
visually pleasing right now. So very sleepy. But and then

(04:11):
tomorrow's Harry Potter Chicago. It's crazy, It's like Harry Potter
that Yeah, I know, there's Harry Potter all over the place.
It's it's a great day to be a Harry Potter
fan for a great time. So anyway, what do you
guys want to know about Epic Universe.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
I think before we get into like going to the park,
just a little like background on the logistics of your visit.
So it was not open to the public. It was
not a passhold the preview. Its an invitation. Yes, how
many people do you think we're with you? And was
it the same group that was all day? Was it
limited park hours? Like like just to explain the logistics

(04:51):
of how the day went and sure, what you were
able to explore and stuff and how much you had
to just kind of go where they told you to go.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Sure, So it was it was a media preview, so
they invited you know, newspeople, uh, content creators, bloggers, and
we were broken into groups and my group group number eleven.
High Group number eleven. We were thirteen people and then

(05:22):
we had two reps from Universal Media reps as well
as a VIP tour guide which was very cool. So
each group had their own VIP tour guide, which was
great because you know, it was good good practice and
training for the VIP tour guides to prepare for the
opening up Epic. It was so epic Universe had been

(05:46):
doing and is still doing previews for team members and
team members are able to bring their families and so
it was it was still a team member day, so
we had some team members and their families as well
as you know, of the media day happening people there.
And it was the first time that they allowed people

(06:07):
to take photos, allowed cameras in the park, so that
was very exciting, and you know, everyone had their cameras
out obviously because of how exciting, you know, it was
to be in Epic Universe. So total I remember seeing
a group number sixteen. I'm assuming there were more groups

(06:29):
than that. Again, I was in group number eleven, so
you know, there were probably three hundred plus media people
invited to this event, I would guess, wow. And yet
no no restrictions with well, no, that's not true. We
weren't able to film shows, the live shows, or certain

(06:51):
parts of cues, mainly like the show section of cues,
you know.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Like any storyline plot ye.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Like yeah, yeah. And then obviously none of the rides,
no filming on the rides. But besides that, everything was
was a free for all and you can film anything.
And the embargo was lifted, so the embargo is basically
just like a you know, a date or a time
where nothing is allowed to be be photographed or shown

(07:19):
or secrets told or anything. So the embargo is lifted.
So it's it's here, we are here, we are here.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
We are here, we are So did you have to,
like I'm assuming with three hundred people, there was no
waiting in the queue, so you could kind of just
like explore the queue.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah, so yeah, so with the VIP tour guide, which
is true for the other parks as well. If you
if you you hire a vip P tour guide or
pay for that, you know, you go through the exits
usually or different ways to get onto the rides. So
we did miss a lot of the queues, which is sad.
Thankfully we didn't miss which I don't think that they

(07:59):
would have skipped it anyway, but we didn't miss the
Oh my gosh, guys, like the elevator. The greatest queue,
the greatest, largest, most spectacular queue in the world is
at Epic Universe, and I'm talking about you know, the
Mystery of Magic.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
It's like, well, because it's to scale, like that's.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
What it is.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
The office is a real offices. People work there and
they're like, oh, I wish.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I would it be so cool like someone like.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
Out of a window and yeah, Well, even in the
background you could see it's it's a screen. But it
looks like kind of as though they're it's not a screen.
I don't know how they did it, honestly. It looks
like the mystery just goes on and on and on
and on. Magic duh, magic duh. That's true. But you
see the the memos flying around and in the background

(08:56):
behind the the the wizard portion of the statue of
starts with the magical Brethren, Brethren, thank you. What was
I saying? Oh, yeah, to scale, it's it's to scale.
So I had heard, oh, it's going to be to
scale and it's going to be huge and blah blah blah.
And and usually when you hear that, you walk into

(09:20):
it and then you're just a little disappointed. It feels
a little smaller than you expected. It felt exactly how
I hoped it would, if not better, Like, you guys
are going to flip out when you walk in there,
like and and the way you get into the atrium
of the Ministry of Magic was so so cool. Oh,
by the way, this is like a spoiler filled episode.

(09:43):
So if you guys don't want to hear any spoilers,
you may not want to listen to this one. All right,
let me continue.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
So I'm anticipating people listening to this are people that
watched your video probably and then yeah, are coming here.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
We'll probably title the episode something like spoiler filled spoilers
are us like spoilers?

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Eric Grabb dependent who spoilers?

Speaker 4 (10:10):
Write that down copyright. But the.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Way you get in you go through fireplaces. So there
you're you're the the Q starts and you wait in line.
There were how were there? There were four or four
or five fireplaces? And then there's a little light on
the top and the numbers, the numbers there are no

(10:37):
maybe there are four fireplaces. Each Each number symbolizes something.
I forget what it was. It's something to do with
the other lands or the other worlds that are in epic.
But but that's besides the point. So so so the
number lights up and it's like your time to go,
or your group's time to go. So you walk towards
this fireplace and then fog like blasts up with green light.

(11:02):
So you walk into too the fireplace, into this fog,
and then you go along this really this very quick hallway,
and then at the end of the hallway, another burst
of fog comes up with green light, and then once
you go through that, you're in the atrium.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
So it's cool for both like the person going through
as well as anyone watching. Yeah, people walk through or
even entering from the fireplace into the atrium, like, it's
such a cool visual.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
How do you And then you're how do you feel
like that's gonna work when it gets really crowded, Like,
do you think that effect will still be as powerful
or do you think if it's just like a slog
of people slowly.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
It's no, you're so. So when you start the queue,
the Q starts outside of all that, okay, and there
are team members who are directed to when to.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
Go because I know they had mentioned that there was
an option for people that weren't willing to go on
the attraction to still go in and see the Ministry
of Magic. Did you see how that was going to
be set up?

Speaker 3 (12:06):
It looks like you'll still have to just be in
the queue, okay, and kind of go through it kind
of like greenots.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Sure, then you just you just you just ditch out
as soon as you get in there. Actually, I'm just
actually here to file a permit for my dragon, my.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
My whatever is my purple horns snort, snorkacs. Yes. Yeah.
So then you're in the atrium and you see the
Fountain of the Magical Brethren and like, guys, I can't
I can't even describe how huge it is.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
You you thought in the initial like video walk through
that they that they released a couple of months ago,
that it looked kind of cheap. Do you remember saying that?
You're like, I think the fountain looks kind of cheap
or not?

Speaker 3 (12:56):
It's perfect?

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Okay, We're like, I bet that was just the photo,
Like I bet they actually.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Yep, and it's and it's and it's it's it's not
dark in there, but it's like it's like the perfect
amount of light that it just it. You're you're literally
stepping into the ministry of magic, as we see in
the movies.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Like that's so cool, how so spectacular?

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Because I know, obviously it's seemed like French Harry Potter,
like you're in France, Like how did it feel like disconnected? Obviously,
Like the whole concept of the ride is like you
take the Flu network and whatever to the Ministry. But
like I in my head, I'm like, oh, this just
feels like a bit disjointed.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
That like you're in French.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Wizard en twenties too, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
Exactly, so you're time traveling and do like, yeah, I
imagine that the story like makes it make sense, but
like do you think that it's reaching Like.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
So there there kind of isn't an obvious story. The
ride and Wizarding Paris and the Ministry Magic aren't like
one thing. So it's it's like that you it didn't
it didn't necessarily feel weird because I wasn't thinking about it,
but the whole Wizarding world of Harry Potter Ministry of

(14:20):
Magic kind of outside section, so not including the metro flu,
which is how you get into the Ministry of Magic,
the English Ministry of Magic, and then nineteen hundred or
the nineteen nineties, it you kind of just don't think
about it. It's it doesn't work. I mean, it doesn't work,

(14:42):
but you don't also don't think about it. And I
guess it's just the best way I can describe it
as it's like it's it just works because of magic.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Magic makes it work, So I mean, yeah, I guess
that's the other weird thing.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
No, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
The other weird thing is I had an interaction with
one of the shop keepers at Caramel, which is the
sweet shop. It's called Caramel, like it's spelled different, but
it's it's it's like caramel or whatever. It's like kind
of kind of cute. I actually didn't even pick up

(15:20):
on that. It was Molly from Mammoth Club, who she's like.
I kept looking at it and kept looking at it
and then realized, Oh, it says garamel, like it's called garamel,
and then that's how I realized what it was and
we laughed. Anyway, So she talked about like time travel,

(15:40):
so they kind of mix time travel in with it,
I think, with the team members to maybe make it
make sense, because she talked about how I think I
had talked about Harry Potter or something, and she talked
about how like, oh, yeah, someone else talked about or
I heard that hid name from someone else earlier today

(16:01):
or something and must be someone from your time or
I don't. So it's like it's it's kind of weird,
but again, it just you almost don't think about it
when you're there.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
That was like I feel like that was like my
bigger concern. I have just like such like a type
a personality. But in my head, I'm like, okay, well,
having a Hogsmead and a Hogwarts and a ride in
Hogwarts makes sense. Having a dig like a diagon Alley
with a Gringots ride makes sense because Gringots is in
diagon Alley. But then like the fact that there has

(16:32):
to be this whole like story of Okay, I'm in
nineteen twenties French like Wizarding World, but then the ride
is the Ministry of Magic back in the nineties, and
like how do we get here?

Speaker 2 (16:52):
I guess that was my concern.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
But I guess if there is just enough like magic vibes,
you don't even like think about the.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think if the Fantastic Beast movies had
done better, if they were better received and the series
was still actively going, I would have guessed that the
main attraction would have been from that era and I
and with this like disjointing time and physical space, you know, disparity,

(17:27):
I feel like it's a safe bet to go with
the Ministry of Magic. It's a very iconic set from
the films. It's a place that people want to go.
It looks really cool. So I think maybe they had
something else, like tentatively planned, and we're like, nah, I
don't think enough people are going to relate to this,

(17:47):
so let's do this. People will care about it. So, like,
I think it's more of a fan service type. I
don't know reason that it exists. That's just my thought.
I don't know. I have nothing to base that on.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
But no, it makes perfect sense, and there's not much
you know, crimes of It's so it's set in the
Crimes of Grenvolved era, but there isn't really much of
that storyline. It is more focused on the magical creatures
and fantastic beasts. You do see Newts commander in the show.

(18:21):
There's like a stage show, magical creature stage show in
the circus. But besides that, there's really not a lot
of fantastic beasts and where to find them storyline, which
is good, which I'm sure they cut and then didn't
want to or probably I'm these buildings are massive, massive,

(18:49):
so they I'm sure that they were already building these facades.
You know when when Fantastic Beasts was being released, and
then however, the millions of dollars were spent, it wouldn't
have been easy to you know, kind of scratch and
start from start from scratch. But they are sixty five

(19:11):
to seventy feet tall. And just to give some perspective,
comparing that to diagon Alley, the shortest building in Wizarding
Paris is taller than the tallest building in diagon Alley.
So it's like, so if you've been a diagon Alley

(19:31):
and know how tall those buildings are there that the
scale and massiveness of these buildings is crazy.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
So do you.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Think that if you were to go straight from like
diagon Alley or Hogsmeade to to French wizarding worlds, like,
do you think that you would notice like a difference
in scale that it would like feel weird.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
I don't think it would feel weird because I don't.
I don't think that. No, I don't, I don't think so.
I think it's it's not like they because it's it's
true to like the architecture of Paris and diagon Alley
is like true to the size of what Diagonale, you
would be like, So, so I don't think that that

(20:20):
it would feel disjointed or weird. I think if you
went from Diagon to Wizarding Paris, you would notice these
buildings are so much taller. But it's not like they
they took something that was short and just like supersized it.
They just kind of made it like realistic, which is cool. Yeah,

(20:40):
but it's called Wizarding World of Ferry Potter Ministry of Magic,
but like the Paris section of the nineteen twenties Paris,
it's it's Wizarding in Paris.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Yeah, and then I don't know, do you want to
wrap up this area? And then I have some other
just like general questions. We can talk about the other
areas of the park.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
We got to go back into the We got to
get back into the Ministry and logic.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Yeah, so so get Yeah, I get back into there,
and then I want to back out and kind of
talk about the rest of the park briefly. But yeah, yeah,
go back to the Ministry of Magic.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
And then so the cue is it's it's the it's
a massive queue, but the thing that's at the end
of the queue is also massive. You guys best ride
in the world. Like, I don't say that lightly. I
think this is the best ride in the world. It

(21:33):
is spectacular. I don't know if you want it. Do
you want to hear anything about it? Do you want
to like ex I don't know.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
I've been holding off and watching your video because Son
and I are like, uh, I want to know and
I want to know more about it.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
But at the same time, like, I don't think I
talk too much about the ride in the video besides
like technical things, I'll just let me talk about I'm
cool you talk about it.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
I'm cool hearing about it. I just do not want
to watch any videos of it before I go on it,
so that's going to be so difficult for me. But yeah,
I don't mind hearing about it because I especially want
to know, like and I think exactly and so like
people like me going on the Forbidden Journey ride, I
can maybe do it once, and I really have to
be in the mood for it because it's just mostly

(22:22):
looking at screens, and you know, I like transform Us
is like that, Spider Man's like that. I can't handle
those anymore. My thirty five almost six year old your
ear just can't handle that. And that's I'm disappointed with
that because I used to be able to do Forbidden
Journey like twenty times in a row, and like the

(22:43):
last time I went like maybe a year ago, two
years ago, I don't remember now, but yeah, I was like,
I did it right in the morning, right after Hagrid,
and I'm like, I nope, I needed to sit down
for like a half hour, and I'm like, what's wrong
with me? This is terrible? So yeah, I do want
to hear about the right want to hear about it.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
So so after the after the Atrium, you're going through
various places in the Ministry of Magic. You go through
the Hall of the Fallen Oars and you see you
see matt I Moody and Frank and Alice long Bottom
and a different Fallen or who I don't remember who
they are. You go through a room with all the

(23:25):
portraits of the ministers and you see Scrimmage scrimge I
can never pronounce his name, scrim Scrimmage Mare, Scummar, scrimams.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
Are and.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Fudge is there, and then you see the jaw scrim jar.
I always that's what they say, scrim jaw, scrim jaw.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
I thought that Jim Dale wants to say scrim jaw.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
I'm not saying a British scream.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Drawer s Staddy S Staddy, so you see s Staddy
there and the fudge and the current Minister from Magic.
You see Kingsley his portrait. He you also see him
on the giant banner in the Ministry of Magic atrium
where it's showing like, oh, it's the trial of Professor

(24:19):
Umbradge today. So that's that's the storyline of the ride,
is you happen to be at the Ministry of Magic
during the trial of Professor Umbridge, you know, after the
fall of Voldemort, and she's going to pay for her crimes.
So you go through various places. You go through kind

(24:39):
of like the Orrs locker room, which has a bunch
of lockers, and then the three lockers that are open
are Neville's, Harry's and and Ron's lockers, and they each
locker has like, you know, different Easter eggs inside of it,
like the Wizarding Wireless Network radio and hat or on

(25:00):
Ron's and Harry's jacket from It's like kind of bluish
jacket from Deathy Hollows is in there. There's a plant
of the medical plants of the Mediterranean book in Neville's
locker but you heard that. What a crazy And then

(25:23):
then you go through.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
I thought Neville was a herbology professor.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, well will Will.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
Was.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Isn't it canon that he started or was an or
at one point.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
And then went to be a professor.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Yeah, Oh, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but anyway,
he's got a locker.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
He's honorary locker.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
They were just given out lockers like who was who was?

Speaker 2 (25:53):
You fought at the Battle of Hogwarts. You you get.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
A lot of locker.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
You get a locker, you and you and you get
a locker. Everybody gets it's a locker.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Everyone then gets it not you a yeah, exactly skip umbrage.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
No, yes, So speaking of umbrage, So then you go
down a hallway and you see a lot of pink
and a lot of things in boxes. So the Ministry
has rated Umbradges offices and they're boxinger stuff up. And
then you turn a corner and you you hear this voice.

(26:29):
You know, you hear this voice talking, this very high
voice speaking. And then you go around a corner and
you're in Umbridge's office, still kind of raided by the Ministry.
There's some magical things happening and then what do you see, Eric,
what do you see?

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Probably the new biggest thing to come out of this
old shabam is our new house self character.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Our new house self character. Go ahead, announcer.

Speaker 4 (26:59):
I don't remember them, and I I'm fifty percent sure.
But I wasn't gonna shout out something that I don't.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Want to shout it out.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Let's no, no, no, no, no no, you gotta do it. Haiggeldy,
haiggl I was gonna say. I was gonna say piggle y.
So that's good. I was close though, higgeldy.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
So you see higgeldy higgl hit higgl dy. The house self,
which is you know, Umbridge's former house self. And it's
so cute because she's like sitting on top of a
pile of papers and she has one of Umbridge's shoes
like dangling from one of her feet, and she's taking
notes of like all of the stuff in Umbridge's office,

(27:40):
and she's talking about how, you know, how how Umbridge.
I think Umbridge has a plan of something, and I
think she's up to something. My my old mistress and
something about time turners, you know, that's mentioned, and then
she talks about how like, uh, there's pink. There's just pink.
Everything were so much pink, which is accurate.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
And that's probably the last time we see Higgely, right, that's.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
That's the last last and only time you see Higgeley. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
that's a lie. You see Higgeldy in the ride.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
I know I figured you would.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Oh yeah, yeah you do so so you see, yeah,
so you it's you get some information, you know about
what you're about to see. Little little storyline plot points
are coming to life. And then you go into the
the lifts room that we see. So you go into

(28:37):
the lifts and the ride vehicle is probably about the
size of like the Tower of Terror ride vehicle, maybe
a little bit. Is it two rows? No, it's only
two rows, Yeah, it's only two rows deep. No, maybe
it's three rows. I don't remember. It's about this.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
I remember seeing a picture and thinking that looks very
similar to a Tower of Terror ride vehicle.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
So it is. Yeah, it's very it's very similar to
that really beautiful little ride vehicles, very ministry of magic,
you know, leather tufted seats. Look, it's just it's just
very nice. And the so the way I can describe
the ride is it's kind of like it's kind of

(29:27):
like Spider Man meets Forbidden Journey meets Gringotts. Like it's
just it's it's it's hard to describe. Tower also mixed
Tower of Terror in with that. So the lifts, so
there are a lot of screens. However, the screens are

(29:48):
so crisp and so clear that there are points where
you don't know whether it's a screen or not, which
is quite a feat in my opinion. And there are
practical effects and you're moving up and you're dropping, and
you're going side to side and the screen is moving
that makes you feel like you're moving fast along. You know,

(30:12):
the hallways on these lifts, and you see familiar faces,
so you see the Golden Trio and you see Higgelde.
So I'll kind of give just the basic the basic storyline.
So Umbridge she has helped from Death Eaters and is

(30:32):
in a lift and basically escapes and her goal is
to turn back time back to the time of Voldemort,
so she can you know, fix things and you know,
change change the past. The animatronics are the most spectacular

(30:54):
things I have ever seen. So I always thought that
Disney was the great the greatest animatronics in the world.
The so you see to Death Eater animatronics. The Death
Eater animatronics are the most fluid, realistic, moving animatronics I've
ever seen in my life. They are there, it's like

(31:16):
they're actors. They're so good. You see. Uh, we go
into the Department of Magical Creatures where magical creatures escape
and there's some chaos with that, and you see a
massive irrumpant massive. It's huge. The amatronic is huge. So

(31:39):
you remember, have you been on Kong the Kong Ride,
and you you know how big King Kong is. It's
bigger than King Kong. Wow. Wow, it's huge. It's so cool.
And he's like lit up, his nose is lit up,
and so let's see what else. So then you're kind
of just going around different areas of the me and

(32:00):
you get to the time room and there's a broken
time turner and Professor Umbradge tries to repair the time turner,
which I guess you can't.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
Do and everybody knows that.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
Yeah, so Higgildy is like warning I think it was
Higglety who warned her not to do that, Like don't
do it, don't do it? And then there's like a
big explosion and Umbridge is caught again, and then you
see are there are animatronics of the Golden Trio?

Speaker 1 (32:31):
There's where can I stop and ask you? Is the
voice of Hermione better?

Speaker 3 (32:36):
It's better. It's not perfect, but it's better. Yeah, Ron
sounds most realistic. I don't know if Rupert Grint reprised
his role again for it or not. Danny Rycliffe's is okay,
and then I think Emma Watson's voice is okay or
Hermione's voices okay?

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Are there any anyone besides Umbrage that is a faithful
like the person reprising the role?

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Supposedly Eddie Redmain reprised his role for the Circus Show,
but he does not sound anything like him. He sounds
like Megan from the Miss Wizarding World set. He sounds
like Professor Slughorn. I don't think it's it's I don't

(33:31):
think it's that's that's his voice, but that's what he
sounds like. But it's like Eddie Redmain. So I don't
know if he reprised his role or if he just
like acted and didn't use his voice I have, it's
it was weird.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
He gave it, he gave it a D plus job.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Yeah, something something, But I think it was just Emmelda
who reprised her role for this and no, wait, who else?
Uh I think No, I think mad I prize his
role for the portrait or uh what's his name? What's
the actor's name? I can't think right now, but anyway

(34:09):
that that sounds just like him. I mean, who knows
what's I at this point anymore, but sounds just like him.
But yeah, Emmelda I think is in Lee one. And
then yeah, so they're they're animatronics of of her as well,
which are also really really good. And then the ride
ends with you going into the courtroom and you see

(34:30):
Bridge back in her her striped her striped pajamas ready
for Askaban prison and being sentenced, and yeah, I mean
like to. Obviously, everyone in the group was so excited
that we we didn't know if we were gonna be
able to ride Battle of the Mystery or not because
it hadn't been opened until that day, and so we

(34:54):
were hyped and excited to be able to ride it,
for one, but also just just how good the ride was.
Literally things would happen, and the whole elevator car was
like cheering. I don't see all we're all Harry Potter
fans too, but like we saw the freaking animate traumaic
tronic death Eater for the first time, and everyone's like

(35:17):
flipping out just at how good it was. It was.
It was, it's it is such a good ride. It's
so good.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
It was probably pretty cool also that everyone there, which
are most people were content creators, but you had to
just ride the ride without filming stuff. Yeah, true, Like
so that's really cool, Like at the core, if you're there,
you like Harry Potter, you like theme parks, you like
Universal and it's like the one part of the day

(35:44):
where you actually get to just like enjoy it and
you don't feel any obligation to capture any footage for people, which, yeah,
that's got to be super cool. Like you're all cheering
about the same thing because you all like the same
thing and you're actually just like witnessing it for the
first time. Yeah, without having to think about anything besides
just enjoying the ride, which is awesome.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah. No, that that's that is a very good point
and very accurate. Yeah. Yeah, and then you exit through
a gift shop which has a ton of new merch.
You guys, there's so much new merch.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
What did you buy?

Speaker 3 (36:17):
I bought all of the wands, all of the exclusive wands.
That makes sense, So there'll be a YouTube video about that.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Did they like, is your annual pass holder discount?

Speaker 3 (36:28):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Oh that's good because you can use totally see them
being like sorry, event, it's actually the double double price
at the Breview event.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
I bought the new Whooper plush and the new Moon
Calf plush. What else I buy? I bought a bunch
of shirts I bought. Oh, I bought a ton of
candy from uh Caramel. You have to look up after
this how it's spelled, because it's like it's you try
to like you read it and like k aramla or whatever,

(37:02):
and it's like, oh wait caramel. That makes total sense.
So I bought a bunch of the new new candies,
which are packaged so beautifully.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
What else?

Speaker 3 (37:13):
Oh, they have some new mystery pins, chocolate frog card
mystery pins, so I had to get some of those. Yeah.
Oh and then I got this the cutest whole thing
I don't you may have seen on my Instagram story.
You know the Headwig backpack. Yeah, they for U, Yes,
the Touthless. They have one now for for Isla Burke

(37:35):
merch and it's It's Toothless from How to Train Your
Dragon the Night Fury backpack. It's so cute. So I
got that.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Speaking of so we did we did put like a
you know, a time stamp on this because like I
just got back from a trip from Florida where I
just swam in a pool like every day. I didn't
do anything like crazy epic, but like Peter just got boxed,
We're all just like beat. So we did put like
a time limit on this episode to talk about this.
Obviously we're spending majority of our time talking about the

(38:07):
Wizarding World stuff, but I do need to hear about
the Isle of Burke because I love How to Change
Your Dragon and I am so excited about the Yellow.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
I am obsessed with Isle of Burk.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
So how about we do this? What let's can we
just go through all the other leure and.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
I've got more I've got more time.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
We can go.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Okay, if Mallet doesn't fall asleep.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
That's okay.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
You see my eyes.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
So I'm having a rough time logistically when I was
watching your video and other people's videos as well, it
seemed like the flow of the park, like getting in
and out of all the areas. Are there more ways
to do that than just going through the little portal
things or you have to back out to the middle

(39:01):
and then go to the next one.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
So they they do have side exits, so on either
side of the portal there are exit paths, so the
the it'll be interesting to see how they when there
are a lot of people in there, how they uh
uh guy traffic, traffic.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
That was my first thought like when I saw that,
And of course it's not like well look at look
at last jail Parket's are beautiful. I'm like, how are
the people going to fit in there? That one guy
in the back? Like where are they going to stand?

Speaker 3 (39:34):
So you you enter through the portals, but there aren't
like any like oh, you know, one hundred feet to
the you know further there's an exit or whatever. So
it's basically the entrance and exits are all right there
at the portal. Okay, I do feel.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
For emergency purposes you can probably get through their yeah,
like if they had their vac because that's like that
was the other part of me and like mister safety,
like we're people are gonna go yeah, okay, So that's
that's cool though, because it is it makes it so
the transitions between the different areas like is exactly how

(40:11):
they want it to be. There's no sight lines, there's
no like weird, hey, there's Jurassic Park and the back
of Hogwarts Castle like which in some cases it's unavoidable,
like if you go on Velosa Coaster, of course you're
going to see everything in that park, but it seems
like the way that this park was designed, you really
can kind of keep everything to itself. I mean, I'm

(40:31):
assuming if you go on the the what are they
called the Stardust Stardust Racers Stardust Racers, you probably can
see other parks.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
You can see if you're if you're looking, But with
Stardust Racers, let's just go there quickly, which is located
in Celestial Park. So there are two rides in Celestial Park.
There's a Stardust Racers and then the Constellation Carousel, which
is cool. It's so it's a beautiful building, the buildings beautiful,

(41:00):
but start us Racers. You're not looking around, you are
looking at the other car that you're racing or the
other train that you're racing. It is such a blast
like it it's it's like dueling dragons if you rode
dueling dragons, where you know you were you were competitive
with the other the other train, and and you're just

(41:22):
you're you're zooming by each other and flipping over each other.
It was It's a great ride. I still prefer Velocit coaster.
I think it's more thrilling, but Startus Racers is fantastic
roller coaster. But the portals are huge, like they they're
in person, they look they're they're huge, They're massive, so

(41:44):
flow wise, you know, I don't think there'll be a
concern to get people in. But what's cool about the
portals and just the different worlds is you you, like
you said, there the there's no sideline. You can't you
literally cannot see the world. Well, I mean various parts.

(42:06):
I guess you can see parts of the world worlds,
but like if you're in Celestial Park you can. I
think maybe it's maybe you can't or maybe I'm thinking
like if you were outside of I don't I don't know,
and now I don't remember. But for the most part.
You can't see the different worlds if you're in Celestial Park,

(42:27):
which is so cool, so cool. So Isla Burke. You
go through the portal and Isla Birk is the largest
of the lands or the largest of the worlds, and
you're just immediately met with the melody of the soundtrack, and.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Which is such a good soundtrack.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
I have been listening to that song. It's so that
the song is is test flight is It's what the
sound the song song is called. And I've just been
listening to that on repeat. I love that song so much,
that melo. But you walk in and you you're just
met with Isle of Burke, just the the bar.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
Are there a lot of dragons around?

Speaker 3 (43:12):
Yes, amazing, a lot of dragons, a lot of sheep.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Can you touch?

Speaker 3 (43:20):
You can touch one two that the ones that I
saw that you could touch are two, so you can touch.
You can meet Toothless and touch Toothless. And then Astrid's
dragon also comes out with Astrid and you can you
can interact with it's it's it's amazing. And the show,

(43:44):
so the show is spectacular. I mean, if I if
you're a fan of dragons and how to train your Dragon,
just spoiler warning. When Toothless and Hiccup come flying out
of the clouds, We're talking a full on puppet of
Hiccup of Toothless and a live actor playing Hiccup sitting

(44:05):
on the back of Toothless flying over you in the
theater to that, to that music, them tear is gonna
gonna start flowing.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
Oh gosh, wow.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
I'm like it's I remember seeing How to Train Your
Dragon the first movie in Imax, sitting like in like
the third row and being like, I feel like I'm
flying on a dragon, Like that's just how that movie is.
And the fact that, like, I just feel like Universal
is very smart. They're smart and dumb, I feel like sometimes,

(44:42):
but I feel like How to Train Your Dragon was
a smart choice for a land, especially because yes, the
animated movies, like there are the three animated movies, but
they are coming out with the live action. It is
staying alive, and I feel like that timing wise makes
a lot of sense. I feel like Universal Studios has
a habit of picking ride choices that aren't very timeless,

(45:06):
and that's why you see a lot of like turnover
and the rides over there, like you have the whole
Simpsons area, which I mean that could just be because
I'm not like the biggest Simpsons fan, right, but like,
I just feel like it's not timeless. I feel like
Men in Black is not timeless. I feel like Pious
not timeless, Transformers not timeless, Like any of those rides,

(45:30):
I feel like, come and go in a second. I
feel like they made a huge mistake getting rid of
rides like Jaws and like those are classics even like
I mean, I can't really say that, like Twister is
a classic.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
Well, the Terminator show, like that's kind of or like
or coming to the classics.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
No, or.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Back to the Future, Like that's a timeless that's a
timeless classic. And I feel like that was what was
so great about You Versus Studios, and I feel like
they've kind of lost that like essence, you know in
that park.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
And I feel like I that was like my big.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
Hope for Epic Universe was that it would pick themes
that would hold true to that like timeless nature of
universal you know, university.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
As a whole. And I feel like How to.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
Train Your Dragon is the only one out of the
section like the different worlds at Epic Universe that I
like I am questionable of, but I do think that
it has the potential to be a timeless type of area.
Dragons are just cool, you know, Like I feel like
everyone always loves dragons.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
Yeah, you don't have to have seen the movies to
like appreciate real, right, And that's where I feel that
it's the theming of the area itself. I mean, it's
it's fan service to people that like that ip. But
also you don't have to know anything about it to
just walk around and be like, I'm in a world

(46:59):
where daggons coexist with people, just like you don't have
to be a Harry Potter fan to walk through Diagon
Alley or Hogsmead and go, wow, this is really cool,
Like it looks like I'm in a world where wizards
could live, Like, but you don't have to be a
fan necessarily Harry Potter, but you can still appreciate just
that aesthetic and that vibe. And I think this dragon

(47:20):
area is kind of like a good resurgence of what
the area where dueling Dragons initially was in Islands of Adventure,
Like this is kind of just just like a more
polished version of that with yeah thumb tie to an ip,
so it does have that staying power. So yeah, I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
The universe is kind of like the like redemption story
in the Three Parks in my head because I do
feel like Universal Studios has lost so much of like
that timeless charm, especially like all the minions, Like it
drives me crazy, like we're investing so much in minions
and they're just minions.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Annoy me, I don't know about.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Yeah, and that's that's the first thing that you enter into.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Exactly where is this?

Speaker 1 (48:05):
I feel like I like that you enter into a neutral,
aerial celestial park where it's like, that's a beautiful theme. Okay,
it's just is a beautiful looking space. And I feel
that way about like Islands of Adventure too. When you
first walk into Islands of Adventure, it's very neutral and mystical,

(48:25):
and I can hear that music like in my dreams,
you know. I I love how Islands of Adventure is built.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
Okay, we have the Marvel superheroes timeless, we have the
old classic cartoon characters, timeless dinosaurs, timeless Harry Potter, timeless,
Poseidon's Fury, which I hope never leaves over unless it
turns into Chamber of Secrets Land. It's not really timeless,
but like I love it, and then ducks gone like

(48:54):
Poseidon's Fury.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Don't tell me, no, Peter.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
You didn't know they shut that down. It's I'm serious.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
I think I did know.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
I know, I think I kind of did know, but
like that just like yeah, I think maybe I like
just had a trauma response in black I was.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
I was talking to someone on Instagram the other day.
They had posted a photo of or a reel or
something about Poseidon's Fury, and I was like, I just
I wish I could just have one more tour that's
gonna happen, one more tour, I know, and just and
see Taylor one more time.

Speaker 4 (49:26):
I think I did because I went in like the
first year that that park opened, and I think I
went on the tour when it was the original story
and not the updated story, and like the CG effects
were even worse. But yeah, it was it was like
a it was a way different story. There's a great
YouTube video I don't remember which channel that goes through
like the whole history of that ride, and it goes

(49:47):
through the two stories about how like one of them
is just like I'm gonna kill you all. Oh that's
so dark, gonna kill us all great, And then now
it's just like so take a tour and oh look
here they are.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
All right, so wait, this doesn't have anything to do
with that big universe, but like, what are they doing
with last Continent?

Speaker 4 (50:08):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (50:09):
No one really officially knows. Zelda has been floated.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
Around, has been floated around.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Yeah, yeah, expansion of Wizarding World has been floated.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Listen if that if Poseidon's Fury either turned into like
a walk through water temple dungeon of Legend of Zelda
or it turned into a chamber of secrets experience cool.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Either way.

Speaker 4 (50:33):
Now they're going to they're going to turn it into
the Luxembourg Ministry of Magic. In the year seventeen fifty.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
Traveled back to the nineties. You know, Hogsmeade.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
You go there and there was like a guy and
he's like, oh, hi, all right, Isle of Burke, Yeah,
super Nintendo.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
In dark Universe, and I know, but like.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
I'm doing it in order of I know.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
Well, so what attractions could you go on?

Speaker 3 (51:04):
Just Isla Burke. There is a family roller coaster. It's
more of a tame Hagrid's it's a it's a good
starter coaster. It's very cute. Hiccup Is is building this
contraption that is allowing people to fly like dragons without
having to fly on a dragon. But he makes the

(51:27):
mistake of telling Toothless that, you know, you don't need
to fly on dragons, and Toothless doesn't like that, So
before the wings are on this contraption, Toothless sets it off,
and you're in this contraption and you're flying around Burke
and kind of a little bit of chaos, and then
you I won't spoil the next part, but there's another

(51:47):
fun little part in in the in the roller coaster,
and then there's the what's it called. I forget the
name of the ride, but it's it's one where you're
kind of on like a teeter totter thing and you're
you're you're doing dragon racing.

Speaker 4 (52:06):
Yeah, we have one of those at them all of
America here. Yeah, okay, I know it's an intimate. Yeah,
you can like tip your things and yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
Things spin around and yeah, that was cute. It was
a little short.

Speaker 4 (52:17):
It's a slow load like that was something when they
I saw they're installing them, and they have two of
them there. I'm like, on a busy day, that's gonna take.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
It take a while, take a while. So that was cute.
But what's nice about it is is like it doesn't
have to be a thrill ride and you don't get sick,
Like I can.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
I can do that one totally. I can totally do
that one, no problem. And I know how to make
it spin like I can do it. I want to,
and I just choose not to because I will get
sick if I do that.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
So a great way to like just see the park.
And then there's a water ride, one of those like
you know where you're like trying to battle the other
boat and you're kind of going around and you're spraying everybody.
And and then there's like a uh, interactive play area

(53:05):
within Isle of Burke as well. And then obviously the
show and character meet and Greet's like I love it
because it's it's it's there's there the characters rough Nut
and what's oh my gosh, what's the other name that
the the the brothers sister in rough Nut and oh

(53:28):
my gosh, I can't well it's rough Nut in the
other one. But yeah, I forget. But they're just walking
around and you can interact with them. And obviously Asterid
is there and you can meet her and and uh
and Chief Hiccup.

Speaker 4 (53:48):
I love that it's rough nut and tough nut.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
To it is tough nut. Okay, rough nut and tough nut.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
Yeah, it can't be that similar, it is.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
So the character interaction is is is rate They're excellent?
Uh yeah, and then lots of merch, a lot of
restaurant options. Yeah, it's it's it's a really really beautiful area,
beautiful benches and colors and again, dragons everywhere, and it's

(54:18):
it's it's it's spectacular.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
All right.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. Didn't
spend a ton of time here because so we we
we're going to Donkey Kong's mind Cart, and which is
like the it's a really cool looking roller coaster where

(54:44):
you're in a mine cart and you're you're jumping the tracks.
So the way they've like set it up, it's if
you you haven't seen it's there's you're the you're you're
kind of on a uh, it's it's a roller coaster.
You're on an arm. Your cart's on an arm almost,
but then it's like side mounted, so it's the wheels
are on the side, and if you think of like

(55:04):
a roller coaster track, that's level. It's like just tilted
to the side. But then in front of you and
under you is a faux track, a fake track that
looks like a mine track, a mine cart track, and
so it feels and looks like you're, you know, going
on this rickety track and you're jumping the track at

(55:27):
various points and stuff. When we got up there, the
ride had broken down, so I didn't get to ride it, unfortunately.
Or you could just watch the video from the version exactly,
or just watch the video on japan Is it is
the exact ride. So I feel like Super Nintendo World

(55:49):
is bigger at Epic than it is at in Hollywood
Universal Hollywood. Obviously it has done Kikong Country, but like
just kind of the main area, I feel like it's bigger.
I could be wrong, but I it felt bigger. So
you go through the portal and exit out of you.

(56:13):
You get you, you enter into Princess Peach's Castle, and
then as you exit the castle, you are just met
with like a party a Nintendo Party, Like it's like
everything is there, the mushrooms, the coins, the boxes. Music
is so loud, but it's so great, the you know,
the dun dun dun dun dun du. It's just so good.

(56:37):
We didn't spend a lot of time in there, unfortunately,
it was towards the end of the day and I
wanted to end the day in Ministry of Magic, and
so I kind of just walked through Super Nintendo World
into Donkey Kong Country to go on the ride, which
didn't ride. But but Donkey Kong Country is very, very

(56:57):
cute waterfalls every where and fun fun nods to various characters.
There's a Funky's Funky has a store. I'm sure Diddy
has something there, you know. It's just I'm excited to
spend more time in Donkey Kong Country and obviously ride

(57:19):
the ride. So it's beautiful, it's loud, it's a party
in Superintendo World. Yeah, and then I also didn't spend
a lot of time in Dark Universe because we had
gone in to ride ride the main ride, which was
Monsters Unchained, which is inside of Frankenstein Manor, and that also,

(57:44):
unfortunately was down when we got got to the uh
to the load station. But I heard that that is, like,
so that's kind of similar to Forbidden Journey, but without
the screens, and it's all animatronics and practical effects. And
I hear that the animatronics in there are to die for,
which is probably why it's was shut down. They're still

(58:06):
frigging figuring that out.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
Yeah. I saw a lot of really positive feedback for
that attraction, with some people saying it was their favorite
one in the whole park. So that's okay, shame you
didn't get to God, I.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
Know, I know, I'm so sad. But but next week,
next week, next weekend. Yeah. And then the other ride
in there is h Curse of the War Werewolf, and
that's a roller coaster where you're in kind of like
a circular or no, you're not in a circular train,

(58:41):
but like the individual like cars of the train rotate
as you're going around and there's show scenes.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
We have a roller coaster at adventure Land like that.
It's like, okay, twenty seconds long, but it's a little
it's like a little roller coaster. It's called like Turbulence,
but it's like little circles where it's like two people
sit facing forward to people sit facing backward, and the
individual cars like spin out, spin.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Yeah yeah yeah. So didn't ride that either, because again
I wanted, well left Dark Universe to go to ride
the mine cart ride, but then when that closed, I
was like, Okay, I've got I've got to get to
a Wizarding World for the last hour. But I think
Dark Universe, Dark Universe, everything is black and dark and hot,

(59:31):
like it's so hot in that land, So nighttime is
going to be the time to be there. Well, for one,
it's like that's when it's going to be spooky and
going to feel like Halloween and feel like Universal Monsters
and there's fog and everything's lit up beautiful, or it's
going to be a little from the little it was
still light out, but I could see the lights and stuff.

(59:53):
It's it looks so fun and so good. So that
for me at least will be more of a nighttime thing.
I don't know if I'll go in during the day
very often, because again, especially on a hot day, it
was really really hot in that area, and it's celestial.
Celestial Park is just beautiful gardens everywhere and fountains and

(01:00:15):
waterfalls and this giant Vegas style fountain that does a
show in front of the Helios Grand throughout the day
and it's it's universal killed killed it. They knocked this
one out of the quidditch bitch for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
And can you share probably the best Easter egg in
Celestial Park that you sent me?

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
Which one was it?

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
Wow? When you said you were so tired last night
and I said, well you should just lay down and
watch Back to the Future.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, which is.

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
Which might be one my, if not my favorite movie
in my top five movies ever. And I don't know
if I told Melanie this, but I watched it on
a plane on the way home because that's always like
my go to I'm tired movie.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Yeah, when I were just talking about, like we need
to watch Back to the Future.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Oh, I could watch Back in the Future Part one
once a week for the rest of my life and
never get bored with it. But I watched it on
the plane and I was wearing a Back to the
Future T shirt while I was want I didn't even
realize it, and I don't think anyone else realized it too.
But like it would have just taken light attendant walking
by being like okay, oh oh super fan over here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
Hey, so start us racers. The trains are powered by
the flex capacitor.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
Do they say that outright or do you just have
to know they don't?

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
You just have to notice. Yeah, your mellow, I'll pull
up the video of it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
You sent it to me.

Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
I saw, yeah, Oh I sent you to the group.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
You sent it to the group.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
Oh got it, got it, got it, got it? Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
I will say that I was disappointed to learn that
it does not go in eighty eight miles per hour.

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
Yeah, disappointment.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Missed opportunity there, missed opportunity.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
So the fastest goes is is just over sixty two
miles per hour. So wa wamp doodle doll. And then
at night, oh, Celestial Park. I haven't seen everything at night.
I saw Isle of Burke at night and Celestial Park
at night and both are freaking gorgeous, Like I just

(01:02:30):
I don't. I mean, you know, you know, when you're
like you you have to leave Diagonaley, you know, the
the the white dressed professionals come out and they escort
you out and it's very sad. And the security guards
but that yeah, the security guards, you know, started to
escore people out, so I'm like, okay, it's time to go.

(01:02:52):
And it was very sad, but it's beautiful. Everything's lit
up so beautifully.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
So how long were you able to spend in the
park then?

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
So we got there at nine am and I left,
uh so Megan from Miss Wizarding World and I. We stayed.
We were told that like you, if you want to
take the bus back to the hotel, you know, the
buses will leave at like seven oh five or something.
But if you missed the bus, you know, you can
walk back or take an uber or whatever. So we

(01:03:23):
elected to walk back and stayed until you know, everyone
was as asked to to to leave the park, which
was like around eight pm or so. So the park
officially closed at seven. So very similar to like Universal,
where you know you're able to kind of hang out
a little bit and take your final photos and and

(01:03:45):
do your final shopping. And so we went into the
store at the the front of the park and did
some shopping and content creation and and then and then
walked back back out into our world.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
My final question about the park, I guess I have
two and this probably applies to melod Okay and that'll
be it. The food that you had during the day.
Was everything open or was it pretty much told like
you can go here or here or.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
Most most things were Most things were open. They provided
a buffet for us, so it's it wasn't like the
food was like slightly modified from what you would receive.
So food wise, I didn't I wouldn't. I didn't try anything.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
I kind of be my question.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
Yeah, so they if the food that they served this
Fay style was you know exactly how it would taste.
It tasted very good, but I think some of the
things were modified to feed us. Megan from Miss Wizarding
World did try the butter beer crapes, which I I

(01:04:58):
don't know how I did, and hear her saying she
was going to try the butter beer crapes. All of
a sudden, she was like we were together in the
dark alley area, and she went into this restaurant and
I followed behind a few seconds later and couldn't find her,
and then learned later that she was in the restaurant
eating the butter beer crapes because she had said, Hey,

(01:05:19):
I'm going to go get the butter beer crapes. Do
you want to get the butter beer grapes, and so
I almost tried the butter beer crapes, but I don't
know how I didn't hear. I was so overwhelmed by the.

Speaker 4 (01:05:27):
You're probably stuck still standing in front of the caramel store.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Yeah, probably a.

Speaker 4 (01:05:33):
She's like, I'm going to get a crape. Okay, am
karoma karm.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
But they looked so good and she said that they
tasted delicious. Let me pull up a picture for you
guys really quick that she had sent me.

Speaker 4 (01:05:53):
But it was that your question, Melanie was about food also, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Knowing Peter as I do, my question was going to
be what was your favorite thing that you ate?

Speaker 4 (01:06:03):
Oh, that looks spectacular. I wonder how it was with
the strawberries.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Though I probably would be pretty good, I think, but
so food wise, so I had a there was like
the day was over. We were like here there boom boom,
bam bam, like my plant. So they in the schedule,
we were told, like you know, that the tour would
go until about three pm and then we would have

(01:06:28):
four hours three of four, five six, yeah, four hours
to kind of do our own thing. So my goal
was to go back to Wizarding World and go to
a restaurant and order all the food and do a
video on that and trying the foods, but there was
no time. It was crazy, and we also wanted to
stay with our tour guide because if by staying with

(01:06:50):
the tour guide then we were able to get onto
the rides kind of immediately and wouldn't have to stay
stay in the queue, which weren't too long anyway, but
it was still nice to just get right onto the ries,
so we had time to film stuff next time. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
So then I guess my final question was for people
like Melanie and myself who have small children. Do you
think this would be a park to take children to?

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Yeah, without a doubt. I like that absolutely, Oh yes,
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (01:07:23):
That's the Yeah, that's the big hangout fork. Like my
daughter can go on lots of things, she's over forty
eight inches tall, But my son, who loves going on stuff,
I can see him just being really disappointed because he
can't go on lots of things. Like I'm thinking of
the other two Universal parks specifically, like, there's not much
for someone that's not forty eight inches to go on

(01:07:45):
unless you get that Doctor Seus's landing over.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
You have to be forty inches to go on to
Hiccups Wing Glider, which is the roller coaster. I think
that's the same with the mine Cart. There's Mario Kart,
there's the Yoshi People Mover, the Wizarding World, the shows.
There are just character interaction. I mean, I guess for me,

(01:08:11):
I'm not thinking rides because I don't often go on
rides when I go to the parks, to be honest,
like it's if i'm there, unless I'm there with people.
I don't usually ride things. I'm just there in the
ambiance and experience and of of the park. So I
guess I'm thinking more along the lines of, you know,
character interaction and seeing all the colors and the play

(01:08:34):
areas and the shows.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
It's just so hard going from like like with Kids Disney,
where the answer is never know.

Speaker 4 (01:08:47):
Too or very very rarely no, and if it's like
they usually don't want to go on it anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
Right, there's like one or two rides in Like there's
one ride or two rides in Epcot that Nora can't
go on, you know, There's like one ride in Hollywood
she can't go on.

Speaker 2 (01:09:03):
There's one ride.

Speaker 1 (01:09:05):
At now I think she's she can go on anything
at Oh no, there's two rides that she can't go
on at Magic Kingdom, you know. So it's hard when
she's like, let's go on this ride, Let's go on
this ride, Let's go on this ride. Then going to
Universal and up we can go on ET and that's it.

(01:09:25):
Like that's hard. And then it also makes it hard
because then it's like, oh, well, I can't do anything,
and I can't experience any of the rides with my
husband because the only way we can experience rides is
doing child swap or kid swap or whatever they call it,
you know. So, like I mean, I'm looking at like
the height requirements now it does seem like that there
are like quite a bit more forty inches. Having said that,

(01:09:49):
Norah just hit forty inches this year. So for first
three years for her to not be able to go
on anything, when Disney doesn't have a height requirement for
majority of their rides like that, that's.

Speaker 4 (01:10:01):
Tricky because I'm trying to like think I'm going to
try to go to this park and I don't within
a year, within the first year of opening. Don't know
if it's gonna happen. I'd like to make it happen,
but I don't think it would be like a full
family of four trip my first time, you know, Like

(01:10:22):
and so that's hard like to say, like, well, okay,
who's gonna go, like just me, my wife and I,
my wife and I and my second grader or you know, nobody,
because they're all going to be like you can't go
unless we all go, you know. So it's, yeah, it's
just a weird family conundrum that I guess I'm stuck
in that Melanie is kind of going to be stuck into.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
I mean, it seems like monsters and chained uh and
the Dragon Racers and start Us Racers are the only
things that you really can't go on, right those are
the old like four eight inches Yeah, yeah, so Norah's
forty two inches now. But obviously, like with Bennett, like

(01:11:08):
I can't.

Speaker 4 (01:11:08):
Go on well and for the first probably a year
of this park, the queues are going to be really
long for like that park's going to max out in
capacity for a long time. So yeah, like bringing a
kid that's gonna have to wait two hours to go
on everything like that's that's a different.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
Yeah, that's different. That's a different, whole different thing too.

Speaker 4 (01:11:33):
Yeah, like Disney, you can you can convince your kid
to wait for an hour and a half like one
or two times a day, but there's so many other
things to supplement that you can just walk on to
like make something happen. So, yeah, it's interesting. We'll have
to talk about it as a family to a family meeting.

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):
Family meeting, who's going? Who's not? We all going? Are
we just not all going?

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
I want to go, but yeah I can't. I can't
go until I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
If Alan and I could like a solo week and
weekend trip or something like that would be the only way. Eric,
you want to come, Peter can come. Yes, we'll grow up,
Carly and we'll just have to.

Speaker 3 (01:12:09):
Have a party and epic time. We're gonna have an
epic time.

Speaker 4 (01:12:12):
Man, how many okay, how many times did you hear
people around you making some sort of pun to epic.

Speaker 3 (01:12:19):
All the time? And it's never gonna end, Like and
I know you're.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
Gonna how fast did it get old? Though?

Speaker 3 (01:12:25):
It's never got old?

Speaker 4 (01:12:26):
Never got old okay because.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
Because because it's like it's because it just is. Yeah, Okay,
it's it's almost when you're there, it's it just is true,
like it's it's a pun, but it's it's a pun
that you is accurate, true and you appreciate.

Speaker 4 (01:12:43):
Like I mean, I.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
Will say my favorite thing was like I was talking
to like my family about like Epic being open for
like media whatever, and I was like, oh, yeah, my
friend Peter is there today and all my family is
in Florida, Like this was when I was down there also.
I was like, yeah, my and Peter was in Epic today.
And my uncle Bill was.

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
Like, Epic.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
Has an Epic been open for like a really long time.
What's so special about Epic? And I was like, Uncle Bill, No,
it's it's the new Universal Park. It's opening up like
in May. It's not it's not open for a while.
And he's like, no, Epic, you know with the Big Ball.

Speaker 4 (01:13:23):
Uncle Bill?

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
Do you mean Epcot. He's like, oh, no, I yeah,
I guess I mean Epcot. I'm like, yeah, first of
all Epcot, second of all Disney.

Speaker 4 (01:13:34):
Like yeah, he was referring to like the epic. Like
hospital operating System company in Madison, Wisconsin that has that
insane campus for its employees and they have like a
Harry Potter.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
No, no, he got to think.

Speaker 3 (01:13:47):
An epcott that's funny. Well, it's just funny some some Yeah,
some of my my friends, they'll and when they hear like, oh,
I'm going to Florida or whatever, going to Wizarding World,
they always think that it's like in Disney World, like
Wizarding US. It's like, oh my gosh, no.

Speaker 4 (01:14:08):
It's not.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
Thankfully it's not in Disney World. I'm so thankful and
grateful that Universal and JK Rolling partnered because the plans
that Disney had for can you I can't. That's another
let's not even go there.

Speaker 4 (01:14:27):
That's another topic, because I'd love to talk about that too.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
Episode.

Speaker 4 (01:14:31):
Yeah, exactly, that's awake Peter, episode that we can do.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
Yeah, yes, I got a pack.

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
Yeah, I'm going to say.

Speaker 1 (01:14:40):
On that note, this has been an epic discussion about
an epic park and an epic adventure.

Speaker 4 (01:14:51):
I don't know. That was great.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
I loved it. Wow, I loved every moment of that epic.

Speaker 4 (01:14:56):
Melanie episode, Peter Peter. If people want more epic content
about this, what can they check out?

Speaker 3 (01:15:05):
They can, Well, they can check out my video of
my experience, which is a bit chaotic because well, for one,
it's like I'm learning about the park as I'm you know, vlogging,
and it's like we're here, we're there, we're everywhere. But
it's it was still a fun, fun day, and just

(01:15:28):
it makes makes for a fun vlog. Honestly, I think
I would highly recommend checking out Molly's vlog. So Molly
is Mammoth Club, So go to Mammoth Club on YouTube
watch her video. It was so inspiring to watch this woman,

(01:15:49):
this content creator work. She has this list of research,
she knows exactly what she's gonna film. She she knows
exactly what to say. She's talking non stop about tricks
that she's learned heard about or like how things were made.
You know, she like listens to podcasts like like to

(01:16:10):
get all this information. Her video is so detailed, so
packed with content like backstories of Celestial Park and how
this was made and the benches are carved out of
wood in isle of Burke and it's it's from a
concept art from the third movie and they said, send
us a picture and we'll create that for the park.

(01:16:31):
Like it's just all this really fun detailed information. Her
vlog is fantastic, So highly highly recommend her vlog for
information about epic and then I'll be putting more videos
out in the coming weeks as I'm going back, so

(01:16:52):
I'm bringing bringing everybody with me via video.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
Really bud it friendly way of going.

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
You should establish, like a the last thing I'm going
to do every time I go to that park is
ride the carousel. I don't know, something like, yeah, something,
I'm going to end every one of my things here with, yeah,
sitting on this.

Speaker 3 (01:17:20):
Bend this bench right here here, and if someone's standing
on there, you got to kick him off and say,
I have to end this video.

Speaker 4 (01:17:25):
Because really, like this is the beginning of you going
there a lot of times. So you can you can,
you can come up with something and start something for
yourself that makes it a giggle moment.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
Someone on Instagram messaged me and said, you know, I
was disappointed not to see the windmill on fire in
Dark Universe and you yelling at it saying well done, windmill.
So you have that's in the back of my mind

(01:17:59):
and it's gonna happen. So when we see the windmill
in a video, expect, you know, expect that exclamation.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
Got to do something. Yeah, Oh my gosh, that's amazing, Peter.
It has been absolutely epic.

Speaker 3 (01:18:17):
This was very epic being here. I loved talking about
it with you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Yeah, we can't wait to hear more of your adventures.
Especially stay tuned because we're going to have you out
to talk all about Harry Potter Chicago.

Speaker 3 (01:18:33):
Yeah, it's crazy, so excited to see it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
Yeah that sounds great.

Speaker 1 (01:18:38):
So for today, it is now time to walk back
through the Archwaine into our daily lives.

Speaker 2 (01:18:45):
So we'll catch you next time.

Speaker 4 (01:18:47):
Bye bye. Oh yeah. Epic