May 26, 2025 • 18 mins
Main Street Talk: Disney News, Astro Orbiter History, and Lightning Lane Tips
In this episode of the Main Street Talk podcast, hosted by Nick and recorded on May 24th, listeners are updated on the current Disney World news including the quick sell-out of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets, new shaded areas at Woody's Lunchbox in Hollywood Studios, updates on the Muppet's Courtyard closure, and refurbishments at Magic Kingdom. The episode also features a detailed spotlight on the history and features of the Astro Orbiter ride, along with a tip on using the 'burner ride' strategy for Lightning Lane booking. Plus, a special guest is teased for the next week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Hello everybody and welcome backto the Main Street Talk podcast,
your go-to podcast for all thelatest Disney World news and
updates.
I am your host Nick.
Thank you for joining us againthis week for this new episode
of Main Street Talk.
I am recording on Saturday, May24th, so all news that I will be
discussing will be current toMay 24th.
(00:30):
And I just gotta say off, offtopic, here it is, obviously May
24th, late May, and I live inWestern Illinois.
I.
Or Northwestern Illinois, andthe nights are still pretty
cold, and it's starting toirritate me, like it's getting
like between 45 and 50 everynight.
So I, I typically leave for workabout 6 45 every day.
(00:53):
And it is, it's pretty brisk outin the mornings now.
I understand that, it's theMidwest and the weather
fluctuates, but it seems to methat.
It's getting pretty late inspring for it to still be
getting 40, 45 degrees at night.
I don't know, maybe it's justme.
I mean, don't get me wrong,we've had some nice days like
today out it's very nice out anda couple weeks ago we hit record
(01:16):
highs with 93 degree days, whichis crazy.
Um, it was very hot for a coupledays.
That was actually a good thingbecause we turned on our air
conditioner.
And it was not running well.
So it's, it was good.
We caught that in May instead ofthe consistently 95 degrees days
(01:38):
in July, 95 degrees, hot andhumid.
So I'm glad that, uh, that wecaught that in May.
We had a repairman come out andhe got it fixed up and it's
running great now.
So.
Anyway, enough about my homesystems and my local weather.
Let's, uh, get into what youactually tuned in for.
And that's the news in DisneyWorld.
(01:59):
Not a lot of news in DisneyWorld this week.
Kind of a slow week.
So, we're gonna get to what wedo need to talk about, and of
course, we'll do our spotlighton attraction segment.
So let's get into the news.
We're gonna start out withMickey's not so scary.
Halloween party tickets went onsale for everybody on May 22nd,
(02:19):
and of course, Disney Resortguests could purchase one week
prior to that.
But after going on sale on May22nd, just hours later,
Halloween night has sold out.
Now, Halloween night is on aFriday, so I'm sure that
contributed to it being sold outso quick, but it, in any event,
it is sold out for Halloweennight.
(02:39):
Um, usually Halloween night andopening night are the ones that
sell out first.
So my suggestion is if you planon going to Disney World in the
Halloween season.
Disney's Halloween season, Ishould say, and you want to go
to the not so scary Halloweenparty.
I would get your tickets soonerrather than later.
It says here, last year, allnights were sold out by
(03:02):
September 24th, but I'm underthe opinion of why wait.
Let's just, get our tickets andget'em secured.
The party starts on August 15thand runs on select nights
through October 31st.
Tickets range from$119 to$229with the high end, the 2 29
being October 30th and 31st.
And annual pass holders canenjoy a$10 discount on select
(03:23):
dates in August and September.
And we're gonna jump over toHollywood Studios where Woody's
lunchbox is finally getting someshaded areas to eat.
Um, that's been a problem overthere, that there was no shaded
spots to eat, but now they arefinally getting some covering
over there.
And I know people say thatAnimal Kingdom is the hottest
(03:46):
park in Disney World, and yes,it's hot.
It can't, all the parks can behot, but people typically, I
hear a lot of people say Animalkingdom's the hottest.
I will put toy story land's,heat up against anybody else's
heat in Central for that landjust seems to get hot and
there's no breeze.
It seems like every time I'vebeen in there, there's
absolutely no breeze.
(04:06):
We were there a couple years agoin line to meet, Woody and
Jesse.
And the line was long.
And this was in April.
This was late April last week ofApril.
Line was long.
And you know, in that line atthat time, I don't know if
they've changed it, there waslike four or five umbrellas to
stand under, like five footumbrellas.
So once you got up to theumbrellas, you were, uh, okay in
(04:29):
the shade for a minute or two,and then you had to move on.
But man, it was hot that, thatmight be the hottest I've ever
been in my life.
Definitely one of the mosthottest.
And that was in April.
I can't imagine standing inthere and.
June or July or August.
And then, you know, of courseit's hot.
The characters have to takebreaks often.
So you're in the line a littlelonger.
No, I'm not complaining.
I know that's, um, it's, you,you have to, it's hot and it's
(04:53):
dangerous, but, uh, yeah, I willput Toy Story lands heat up
against anybody.
And also over at HollywoodStudios, the villains, unfairly
Ever After show has gotten somenew signage and the theater is
painted.
So yeah.
Looking forward to that.
I, that is, that's gonna be agood show.
I'm, I'm really looking forwardto that show.
(05:14):
I know there's been some castmember previews going on.
But, uh, I am not gonna watchanything until I see that show.
We are going to Disney inDecember of this year., We were
gonna do a resort only stay, butwe might do one Park day, and I
think Hollywood Studios may bethe park to go to just for, the
season new villain show.
And as far as the Muppets goover in Muppet's Courtyard in
(05:37):
Hollywood Studios, theattraction will be closed.
On June 7th, but they areplanning a special sendoff on
June 10th.
After the park closes to regularguests, cast members will have
the exclusive opportunity toenjoy Muppet's Vision 3D one.
Last time.
This farewell event will featurefood games and the reopening of
(05:57):
pizza brizo for attendings.
I think that is really cool.
I think that's really cool ifDisney to do it, to, get the
cast members together to sendthe show off.
I, I know a lot of people aresad to see Muppets to go.
But I am super excited forMonster, monster Ziland.
I think that's gonna be a, areally, really cool and fun area
over there.
(06:18):
So, yeah, June 7th Muppets willbe closed and over at Magic
Kingdom.
As we know, the Astro Orbiterhas been under refurbishment,
and it is the central post fromthe offshore orbiter is now
reinstalled at Magic Kingdomover there in Tomorrowland.
The refurbishment is expected tobe completed in the summer of
(06:40):
2025.
Sometime it is not known exactlywhen, but it does say through at
least July 18th.
So when that gets back up andrunning, we will definitely let
you know about it here on thethe Main Street Talk podcast.
And there's been some updates onthe, das Pass.
Disney has extended the validityperiod for the disability access
(07:01):
service or das pass to one fullyear or length of the ticket,
whichever is shorter.
This means that eligible guests,including annual pass holders
won't need to reregister asfrequently making the process
much more convenient forfrequent visitors.
Previously, the das validityperiod underwent several
extensions from 30 days to 120days, then to 240 days.
(07:24):
Now with the one year validity,guests can enjoy a longer
duration before needing to renewtheir das registration.
It's important to note that thisextension applies to new das
registrations.
Guests with existing DA passesunder the previous 240 day
policy will still need tore-register upon expiration.
So that's gonna do it for the,Disney World News this week.
(07:46):
Like I said, there wasn't a lotgoing on, not a lot of big
things happening, for sure.
But, that's it for the newssegment.
And now we're gonna head on overto our spotlight on attraction.
And since we were talking aboutthe Astro Orbiter and the news
segment with the refurbishedgoing on, I think we're going to
dive in a little bit to theAstro Orbiter, the history of
it.
(08:07):
So on the Disney website, underthe Astro Orbiter, it says This
is for any height.
All ages is a spinning ride, aslow ride.
And their description says, holdon tight.
As your retro two passengerspacecraft levitates high into
the air, picks up speed andbegins orbiting a galaxy of
planets.
(08:27):
While the sights and sounds oftomorrow land whirl far below.
You're the captain now controlhow high you fly by pulling or
pushing the lever inside of yourship.
So if you've ever been to MagicKingdom, you've definitely seen
the Astro Orbiter was spinningrockets high above tomorrow,
land stationed just above thepeople mover.
Did you know the Astro Orbiterhas been around in one form or
(08:49):
another since Magic Kingdomopened in 1971.
Originally, it was not calledthe Astro Orbiter.
It was simply known as StarJets.
Back.
Then it featured a large rocketin the center modeled after the
Saturn five.
And the vehicles looked likelittle space shuttles.
This was at the height of thespace race era, and tomorrow
Land was all about lookingtoward the real life space
(09:11):
exploration.
For decades, the Star justthrilled guest with its high
flying views and retro spacevibes.
But in 1994 tomorrow, landunderwent a big thematic shift.
Instead of being focused on realscience and space travel, Disney
decided to go with a futuristicspaceport city.
Something more timeless andimaginative.
That's when the Star Jets wereretired, and in 1994 the Astro
(09:34):
Orbiter was born.
Astro Orbiter isn't just asimple name change.
The entire aesthetic wasreworked.
Gone with the NASA style centralrocket and in its place became a
beautiful golden steampunk styleplanetary pylon, complete with
spinning orbs and rings.
Designed to look like aCelestial Observatory from a
science fiction novel.
(09:55):
The ride vehicles wereredesigned too now resembling
sleek retro rockets with finsand flame decals.
Another really cool thing aboutthe Astro Orbiter is its
location.
It is a spinning ride, butunlike Dumbo or Aladdin or the,
old Triceratop spins over atAnimal Kingdom, the Astro
(10:17):
orbiter is elevated.
It sits on top of the PeopleMover platform, which gives
writers some of the best omicviews of Magic Kingdom,
especially at night.
It is a short ride, but if, ifyou're up there at night, above
tomorrow, then wow, those aresome amazing views.
I would love to ride this thingduring the fireworks sometime.
I think I might do that, thatthat would just, I think be
(10:39):
absolutely phenomenal.
Let me know if you've done thatbefore.
Have you rode this during thefireworks?
The attraction hasn't changedmuch since that time, but it did
get a big refurbishment in 2014.
That update focused mostly onrefreshing the mechanics and
repainting the structure.
Everything got a, a nicerefresher polish and Disney made
(11:00):
sure it still fit in with the,uh, futuristic world of Tomorrow
land.
And Astro Orbiter holds aspecial place in Tomorrow,
land's history.
It's a beautiful nod to bothDisney's past and it's ever
changing vision of the future.
But yeah, I, if you've neverbeen on the Astro Orbiter or if
you are a first time visitor toDisney, I would highly recommend
(11:22):
writing the Astro orbiter atnight.
The views you get of Tron andSpace Mountain and of the castle
is they're absolutely beautiful.
It, you know, it's, it's a funride.
But I personally ride it for theviews.
It's a great view from up there.
And, full disclosure here, to beperfectly honest, I don't think
I've ever wrote it during theday.
(11:44):
I've always waited till night.
So maybe I'm a little biased,but I will continue writing it
at night.
I will do other attractionsduring the day time hours.
And that's gonna do it for ourSpotlight on Attraction this
week.
The, the Astro Orbiter.
Go ahead.
If you never wrote it, take aride on it.
You can see it towering out oftomorrow land from, from pretty
much a lot of areas in the park.
(12:05):
And I'm gonna get onto thisweek's tip or trick.
This week's tip or trick has todo with lightning lane booking.
I know there are a lot ofdifferent strategies out there.
A lot of different ways to booklightning lanes.
Maybe you do it just on what youwanna ride, what's important to
you.
Maybe you do it on, you want tohit the big hitters.
(12:26):
Some people do'em on shows theywanna see however you wanna do
it is, is not incorrect.
You do it the way, the way.
What fits for, for your goals ofyour, park visiting time.
I'm just gonna tell you a littletip about what we did.
And this worked out great forus.
I know I've read a lot of peopleonline.
Don't like doing it this way,but I'm gonna tell you our story
(12:47):
and how we did it.
We, we selected burner rides,and I'll give you the example
'cause it's really the only oneI that's sticking out in my mind
is, magic.
The magic Kingdom burner ridestrategy we used.
So what is selecting a burnerride?
Selecting a burner ride is youselect a ride.
(13:09):
That typically doesn't have along wait.
You select that right at ropedrop so you can get in on it,
scan into it, and you're able toopen up all the tier of the
park.
If you're new to Lightning Lane,there are, when you pre-select,
there are tier you can book.
So basically you can pre-bookyour rides seven days prior if
(13:29):
you're staying on as resortguest three days prior.
If you're offsite, I don't knowhow well this would work,
staying offsite,'cause thelightning lanes tend to fill up
from the resort guests.
So when you're three days hit,if you're offsite, a lot of
rides are booked.
So for this example, we're gonnause staying on site.
So seven days out you can bookthree lightning lanes, you can
(13:51):
book one tier, one in each park,and two, two tier twos.
Tier one rides are the bigrides.
Um, you know, Tiana's, uh, PeterPan Jungle Cruises, you know the
lines that, the ones that linesget very, very long.
I'm not gonna get into all thatright now.
Maybe we'll do a future show onlightning lanes, but the Burner
(14:11):
Ride theory is So you have yourone tier one and your two tier
twos.
Now, once you scan in to any ofyour rides when you're in the
park.
The tier system goes away.
So as soon as you scan into aride, all the tiers are open.
You can hold three tier ones ifyou wanted to.
So the burner ride theory isthis, at rope drop you, you book
(14:36):
a ride, a burner ride thattypically doesn't have a long
wait and you scan into it and itopens up all the tears.
I'll give you an example.
We are at Magic Kingdom inNovember.
We early entered seven drawers.
Mine train.
We also had Under the Sea at 9 05.
(14:57):
So the park open rope drop wasnine o'clock.
Park opened at nine o'clock.
We early entered.
We got on seven drawers.
I think we waited 15 or 20minutes as seven drawers.
Was able to go over to Gastons,get some breakfast, and then by
the time we got to LittleMermaid, it was 9 0 5.
We scanned into Little Mermaid.
Now all the tier ones were open,which worked out for us because
(15:21):
our tier one we had scheduledfor that day was Tiana's.
We had it at like noon.
So when we scanned into a littleMermaid, we were able to snag a
big thunder at like 1145.
And you know, Tiana's, a bigthunder are right next to each
other.
So that worked out for us.
I suggest using the burner ridetheory, or burner ride strategy.
(15:43):
Excuse me.
Just because I think it, itopens up a lot more things to do
because when you get to thepark, your lightning lane
availabilities are dwindlingquickly throughout the days,
especially for the tier ones.
When we were at Epcot..
We didn't pre-book frozen.
I can't remember what we booked,but I tried booking frozen from
(16:05):
like nine 30 in the morning onfrozen was completely booked.
I tried several times throughoutthe day to get a frozen slot and
then it would say it was open,but by the time I got in, which
is, you know, a second, lessthan a second, it was taken.
So the tier ones book up fastthroughout the days, if there's
(16:25):
even any available by the timethe park opens, but that's the
burner right?
Theory.
Um, I think it works out great.
Some people are totally againstit and they have different
strategies, but that's the, uh,the strategy we use.
And, uh, let me know and thecomments send me a message if
you, if you have a betterstrategy, you think one that's
better.
I'll certainly talk about it.
(16:47):
I like to give people options.
Everybody does Disney Worlddifferent.
Not everybody does it the same,but I think that's gonna do it
for this week's show.
Next week we are going to have aguest, a very special guest on
the show.
I'm super excited for that and Ithink we're going switch up the
format a little bit.
So, um, the show may be a littledifferent from here in the
(17:09):
future, but it's a good change.
I'm super excited about it.
Like I said, we're gonna have aguest on next week., So make
sure you subscribe, get notifiedwhen our show goes live.
It comes live on Mondaymornings.
Head over to our website, mainStreet talk pod.com.
That is kind of the home basefor everything.
If you wanna book a vacationwith me, I am certified Disney
(17:32):
Travel agent.
I can do that.
The links are on the websiteunder Book of vacation or get a
quote and there's a free quoteform there, and it'll come right
to me.
Our Facebook page is Main StreetTalk podcast.
Our main Street talk group iscalled Walt Disney World Tips
and Talk.
So go over to the group, it's anopen discussion.
Discuss anything you want todiscuss involving Walt Disney
(17:53):
World.
We are on Instagram at MainStreet Talk Podcast.
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And if you wanna book a vacationwith me, you go to the website,
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(18:14):
There's a link on the website.
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So, like I said, we are going tohave a, a guest next week, so
make sure you tune into that.
All the links are in the shownotes as well, so you don't have
to write any of this down.
So that's gonna do it for thisweek.
(18:36):
I will talk to you all realsoon.
Hello everybody and welcome backto the Main Street Talk podcast,
your go-to podcast for all thelatest Disney World news and
updates.
I am your host Nick.
Thank you for joining us againthis week for this new episode
of Main Street Talk.
I am recording on Saturday, May24th, so all news that I will be
discussing will be current toMay 24th.
(00:30):
And I just gotta say off, offtopic, here it is, obviously May
24th, late May, and I live inWestern Illinois.
I.
Or Northwestern Illinois, andthe nights are still pretty
cold, and it's starting toirritate me, like it's getting
like between 45 and 50 everynight.
So I, I typically leave for workabout 6 45 every day.
(00:53):
And it is, it's pretty brisk outin the mornings now.
I understand that, it's theMidwest and the weather
fluctuates, but it seems to methat.
It's getting pretty late inspring for it to still be
getting 40, 45 degrees at night.
I don't know, maybe it's justme.
I mean, don't get me wrong,we've had some nice days like
today out it's very nice out anda couple weeks ago we hit record
(01:16):
highs with 93 degree days, whichis crazy.
Um, it was very hot for a coupledays.
That was actually a good thingbecause we turned on our air
conditioner.
And it was not running well.
So it's, it was good.
We caught that in May instead ofthe consistently 95 degrees days
(01:38):
in July, 95 degrees, hot andhumid.
So I'm glad that, uh, that wecaught that in May.
We had a repairman come out andhe got it fixed up and it's
running great now.
So.
Anyway, enough about my homesystems and my local weather.
Let's, uh, get into what youactually tuned in for.
And that's the news in DisneyWorld.
(01:59):
Not a lot of news in DisneyWorld this week.
Kind of a slow week.
So, we're gonna get to what wedo need to talk about, and of
course, we'll do our spotlighton attraction segment.
So let's get into the news.
We're gonna start out withMickey's not so scary.
Halloween party tickets went onsale for everybody on May 22nd,
(02:19):
and of course, Disney Resortguests could purchase one week
prior to that.
But after going on sale on May22nd, just hours later,
Halloween night has sold out.
Now, Halloween night is on aFriday, so I'm sure that
contributed to it being sold outso quick, but it, in any event,
it is sold out for Halloweennight.
(02:39):
Um, usually Halloween night andopening night are the ones that
sell out first.
So my suggestion is if you planon going to Disney World in the
Halloween season.
Disney's Halloween season, Ishould say, and you want to go
to the not so scary Halloweenparty.
I would get your tickets soonerrather than later.
It says here, last year, allnights were sold out by
(03:02):
September 24th, but I'm underthe opinion of why wait.
Let's just, get our tickets andget'em secured.
The party starts on August 15thand runs on select nights
through October 31st.
Tickets range from$119 to$229with the high end, the 2 29
being October 30th and 31st.
And annual pass holders canenjoy a$10 discount on select
(03:23):
dates in August and September.
And we're gonna jump over toHollywood Studios where Woody's
lunchbox is finally getting someshaded areas to eat.
Um, that's been a problem overthere, that there was no shaded
spots to eat, but now they arefinally getting some covering
over there.
And I know people say thatAnimal Kingdom is the hottest
(03:46):
park in Disney World, and yes,it's hot.
It can't, all the parks can behot, but people typically, I
hear a lot of people say Animalkingdom's the hottest.
I will put toy story land's,heat up against anybody else's
heat in Central for that landjust seems to get hot and
there's no breeze.
It seems like every time I'vebeen in there, there's
absolutely no breeze.
(04:06):
We were there a couple years agoin line to meet, Woody and
Jesse.
And the line was long.
And this was in April.
This was late April last week ofApril.
Line was long.
And you know, in that line atthat time, I don't know if
they've changed it, there waslike four or five umbrellas to
stand under, like five footumbrellas.
So once you got up to theumbrellas, you were, uh, okay in
(04:29):
the shade for a minute or two,and then you had to move on.
But man, it was hot that, thatmight be the hottest I've ever
been in my life.
Definitely one of the mosthottest.
And that was in April.
I can't imagine standing inthere and.
June or July or August.
And then, you know, of courseit's hot.
The characters have to takebreaks often.
So you're in the line a littlelonger.
No, I'm not complaining.
I know that's, um, it's, you,you have to, it's hot and it's
(04:53):
dangerous, but, uh, yeah, I willput Toy Story lands heat up
against anybody.
And also over at HollywoodStudios, the villains, unfairly
Ever After show has gotten somenew signage and the theater is
painted.
So yeah.
Looking forward to that.
I, that is, that's gonna be agood show.
I'm, I'm really looking forwardto that show.
(05:14):
I know there's been some castmember previews going on.
But, uh, I am not gonna watchanything until I see that show.
We are going to Disney inDecember of this year., We were
gonna do a resort only stay, butwe might do one Park day, and I
think Hollywood Studios may bethe park to go to just for, the
season new villain show.
And as far as the Muppets goover in Muppet's Courtyard in
(05:37):
Hollywood Studios, theattraction will be closed.
On June 7th, but they areplanning a special sendoff on
June 10th.
After the park closes to regularguests, cast members will have
the exclusive opportunity toenjoy Muppet's Vision 3D one.
Last time.
This farewell event will featurefood games and the reopening of
(05:57):
pizza brizo for attendings.
I think that is really cool.
I think that's really cool ifDisney to do it, to, get the
cast members together to sendthe show off.
I, I know a lot of people aresad to see Muppets to go.
But I am super excited forMonster, monster Ziland.
I think that's gonna be a, areally, really cool and fun area
over there.
(06:18):
So, yeah, June 7th Muppets willbe closed and over at Magic
Kingdom.
As we know, the Astro Orbiterhas been under refurbishment,
and it is the central post fromthe offshore orbiter is now
reinstalled at Magic Kingdomover there in Tomorrowland.
The refurbishment is expected tobe completed in the summer of
(06:40):
2025.
Sometime it is not known exactlywhen, but it does say through at
least July 18th.
So when that gets back up andrunning, we will definitely let
you know about it here on thethe Main Street Talk podcast.
And there's been some updates onthe, das Pass.
Disney has extended the validityperiod for the disability access
(07:01):
service or das pass to one fullyear or length of the ticket,
whichever is shorter.
This means that eligible guests,including annual pass holders
won't need to reregister asfrequently making the process
much more convenient forfrequent visitors.
Previously, the das validityperiod underwent several
extensions from 30 days to 120days, then to 240 days.
(07:24):
Now with the one year validity,guests can enjoy a longer
duration before needing to renewtheir das registration.
It's important to note that thisextension applies to new das
registrations.
Guests with existing DA passesunder the previous 240 day
policy will still need tore-register upon expiration.
So that's gonna do it for the,Disney World News this week.
(07:46):
Like I said, there wasn't a lotgoing on, not a lot of big
things happening, for sure.
But, that's it for the newssegment.
And now we're gonna head on overto our spotlight on attraction.
And since we were talking aboutthe Astro Orbiter and the news
segment with the refurbishedgoing on, I think we're going to
dive in a little bit to theAstro Orbiter, the history of
it.
(08:07):
So on the Disney website, underthe Astro Orbiter, it says This
is for any height.
All ages is a spinning ride, aslow ride.
And their description says, holdon tight.
As your retro two passengerspacecraft levitates high into
the air, picks up speed andbegins orbiting a galaxy of
planets.
(08:27):
While the sights and sounds oftomorrow land whirl far below.
You're the captain now controlhow high you fly by pulling or
pushing the lever inside of yourship.
So if you've ever been to MagicKingdom, you've definitely seen
the Astro Orbiter was spinningrockets high above tomorrow,
land stationed just above thepeople mover.
Did you know the Astro Orbiterhas been around in one form or
(08:49):
another since Magic Kingdomopened in 1971.
Originally, it was not calledthe Astro Orbiter.
It was simply known as StarJets.
Back.
Then it featured a large rocketin the center modeled after the
Saturn five.
And the vehicles looked likelittle space shuttles.
This was at the height of thespace race era, and tomorrow
Land was all about lookingtoward the real life space
(09:11):
exploration.
For decades, the Star justthrilled guest with its high
flying views and retro spacevibes.
But in 1994 tomorrow, landunderwent a big thematic shift.
Instead of being focused on realscience and space travel, Disney
decided to go with a futuristicspaceport city.
Something more timeless andimaginative.
That's when the Star Jets wereretired, and in 1994 the Astro
(09:34):
Orbiter was born.
Astro Orbiter isn't just asimple name change.
The entire aesthetic wasreworked.
Gone with the NASA style centralrocket and in its place became a
beautiful golden steampunk styleplanetary pylon, complete with
spinning orbs and rings.
Designed to look like aCelestial Observatory from a
science fiction novel.
(09:55):
The ride vehicles wereredesigned too now resembling
sleek retro rockets with finsand flame decals.
Another really cool thing aboutthe Astro Orbiter is its
location.
It is a spinning ride, butunlike Dumbo or Aladdin or the,
old Triceratop spins over atAnimal Kingdom, the Astro
(10:17):
orbiter is elevated.
It sits on top of the PeopleMover platform, which gives
writers some of the best omicviews of Magic Kingdom,
especially at night.
It is a short ride, but if, ifyou're up there at night, above
tomorrow, then wow, those aresome amazing views.
I would love to ride this thingduring the fireworks sometime.
I think I might do that, thatthat would just, I think be
(10:39):
absolutely phenomenal.
Let me know if you've done thatbefore.
Have you rode this during thefireworks?
The attraction hasn't changedmuch since that time, but it did
get a big refurbishment in 2014.
That update focused mostly onrefreshing the mechanics and
repainting the structure.
Everything got a, a nicerefresher polish and Disney made
(11:00):
sure it still fit in with the,uh, futuristic world of Tomorrow
land.
And Astro Orbiter holds aspecial place in Tomorrow,
land's history.
It's a beautiful nod to bothDisney's past and it's ever
changing vision of the future.
But yeah, I, if you've neverbeen on the Astro Orbiter or if
you are a first time visitor toDisney, I would highly recommend
(11:22):
writing the Astro orbiter atnight.
The views you get of Tron andSpace Mountain and of the castle
is they're absolutely beautiful.
It, you know, it's, it's a funride.
But I personally ride it for theviews.
It's a great view from up there.
And, full disclosure here, to beperfectly honest, I don't think
I've ever wrote it during theday.
(11:44):
I've always waited till night.
So maybe I'm a little biased,but I will continue writing it
at night.
I will do other attractionsduring the day time hours.
And that's gonna do it for ourSpotlight on Attraction this
week.
The, the Astro Orbiter.
Go ahead.
If you never wrote it, take aride on it.
You can see it towering out oftomorrow land from, from pretty
much a lot of areas in the park.
(12:05):
And I'm gonna get onto thisweek's tip or trick.
This week's tip or trick has todo with lightning lane booking.
I know there are a lot ofdifferent strategies out there.
A lot of different ways to booklightning lanes.
Maybe you do it just on what youwanna ride, what's important to
you.
Maybe you do it on, you want tohit the big hitters.
(12:26):
Some people do'em on shows theywanna see however you wanna do
it is, is not incorrect.
You do it the way, the way.
What fits for, for your goals ofyour, park visiting time.
I'm just gonna tell you a littletip about what we did.
And this worked out great forus.
I know I've read a lot of peopleonline.
Don't like doing it this way,but I'm gonna tell you our story
(12:47):
and how we did it.
We, we selected burner rides,and I'll give you the example
'cause it's really the only oneI that's sticking out in my mind
is, magic.
The magic Kingdom burner ridestrategy we used.
So what is selecting a burnerride?
Selecting a burner ride is youselect a ride.
(13:09):
That typically doesn't have along wait.
You select that right at ropedrop so you can get in on it,
scan into it, and you're able toopen up all the tier of the
park.
If you're new to Lightning Lane,there are, when you pre-select,
there are tier you can book.
So basically you can pre-bookyour rides seven days prior if
(13:29):
you're staying on as resortguest three days prior.
If you're offsite, I don't knowhow well this would work,
staying offsite,'cause thelightning lanes tend to fill up
from the resort guests.
So when you're three days hit,if you're offsite, a lot of
rides are booked.
So for this example, we're gonnause staying on site.
So seven days out you can bookthree lightning lanes, you can
(13:51):
book one tier, one in each park,and two, two tier twos.
Tier one rides are the bigrides.
Um, you know, Tiana's, uh, PeterPan Jungle Cruises, you know the
lines that, the ones that linesget very, very long.
I'm not gonna get into all thatright now.
Maybe we'll do a future show onlightning lanes, but the Burner
(14:11):
Ride theory is So you have yourone tier one and your two tier
twos.
Now, once you scan in to any ofyour rides when you're in the
park.
The tier system goes away.
So as soon as you scan into aride, all the tiers are open.
You can hold three tier ones ifyou wanted to.
So the burner ride theory isthis, at rope drop you, you book
(14:36):
a ride, a burner ride thattypically doesn't have a long
wait and you scan into it and itopens up all the tears.
I'll give you an example.
We are at Magic Kingdom inNovember.
We early entered seven drawers.
Mine train.
We also had Under the Sea at 9 05.
(14:57):
So the park open rope drop wasnine o'clock.
Park opened at nine o'clock.
We early entered.
We got on seven drawers.
I think we waited 15 or 20minutes as seven drawers.
Was able to go over to Gastons,get some breakfast, and then by
the time we got to LittleMermaid, it was 9 0 5.
We scanned into Little Mermaid.
Now all the tier ones were open,which worked out for us because
(15:21):
our tier one we had scheduledfor that day was Tiana's.
We had it at like noon.
So when we scanned into a littleMermaid, we were able to snag a
big thunder at like 1145.
And you know, Tiana's, a bigthunder are right next to each
other.
So that worked out for us.
I suggest using the burner ridetheory, or burner ride strategy.
(15:43):
Excuse me.
Just because I think it, itopens up a lot more things to do
because when you get to thepark, your lightning lane
availabilities are dwindlingquickly throughout the days,
especially for the tier ones.
When we were at Epcot..
We didn't pre-book frozen.
I can't remember what we booked,but I tried booking frozen from
(16:05):
like nine 30 in the morning onfrozen was completely booked.
I tried several times throughoutthe day to get a frozen slot and
then it would say it was open,but by the time I got in, which
is, you know, a second, lessthan a second, it was taken.
So the tier ones book up fastthroughout the days, if there's
(16:25):
even any available by the timethe park opens, but that's the
burner right?
Theory.
Um, I think it works out great.
Some people are totally againstit and they have different
strategies, but that's the, uh,the strategy we use.
And, uh, let me know and thecomments send me a message if
you, if you have a betterstrategy, you think one that's
better.
I'll certainly talk about it.
(16:47):
I like to give people options.
Everybody does Disney Worlddifferent.
Not everybody does it the same,but I think that's gonna do it
for this week's show.
Next week we are going to have aguest, a very special guest on
the show.
I'm super excited for that and Ithink we're going switch up the
format a little bit.
So, um, the show may be a littledifferent from here in the
(17:09):
future, but it's a good change.
I'm super excited about it.
Like I said, we're gonna have aguest on next week., So make
sure you subscribe, get notifiedwhen our show goes live.
It comes live on Mondaymornings.
Head over to our website, mainStreet talk pod.com.
That is kind of the home basefor everything.
If you wanna book a vacationwith me, I am certified Disney
(17:32):
Travel agent.
I can do that.
The links are on the websiteunder Book of vacation or get a
quote and there's a free quoteform there, and it'll come right
to me.
Our Facebook page is Main StreetTalk podcast.
Our main Street talk group iscalled Walt Disney World Tips
and Talk.
So go over to the group, it's anopen discussion.
Discuss anything you want todiscuss involving Walt Disney
(17:53):
World.
We are on Instagram at MainStreet Talk Podcast.
Podcast.
And if you wanna book a vacationwith me, you go to the website,
like I said, or you can email medirectly at
nick.Garcia@academytravel.com.
And we are now a proud affiliateof the Magic Candle Company.
(18:14):
There's a link on the website.
You can use the link on thewebsite and use the coupon code
Main Street Talk to receive a15% off of your entire order.
So, like I said, we are going tohave a, a guest next week, so
make sure you tune into that.
All the links are in the shownotes as well, so you don't have
to write any of this down.
So that's gonna do it for thisweek.
(18:36):
I will talk to you all realsoon.
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