Unplugging (our opinion on) SeaWorld's NEW Penguin Trek

Send us a text

What if you could turn a trip to SeaWorld into an adventure filled with roller coasters, dolphin encounters, and delicious food? Join us in this high-energy episode of Orlando Unplugged, where despite Ashley's bout with allergies (possibly the flu), we keep the excitement alive with witty banter and stories from our jam-packed schedules. From celebrating Ashley's birthday to upcoming trips to CreepyCon and a coaster adventure, we share our latest food obsessions, including Crumble Cookies and Knoxville favorites like Cookout and Osaka Japanese Grill.

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
contains information about universal becoming social
media account holders.
You're listening to orlandounplugged, celebrating life in
living color with dustin andashley.
Grab a cocktail or a mocktailand let's get Unplugged.
Orlando.
What's up Unplugged, fam?

(00:34):
I'm Dustin.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
And I'm Ashley.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
And welcome back to the actual 27th episode of.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Orlando Unplugged Podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
How you doing over there, ashley.
You sound a little stuffy.
I'm very sick.
Are those summertime allergieshitting you strong?
I don't think it's allergies, Ithink it's allergies.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
You sound like this all the time.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't sound like this all the time you say you
have a cold every two weeks.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Because I feel like I have a cold every two weeks.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
That's probably allergies.
To be fair, though, I don'tthink this is allergies, but
there's a couple people in myoffice that have tested positive
for the flu so, and you'regonna sit in the same room as me
two weeks a week, exactly oneweek before we're supposed to
get on a plane.
You're gonna get me sick, yephow dare you?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I warned you ahead of time you are an evil, evil
human you know it.
Listen.
Can we?
Can we at least?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
you didn't tell me about the flu until literally
right now.
You said I think I have a cold.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, well, now I have the flu.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Can we at least like can I get through my birthday
before we get through a trip,please, because this week is
going to be hectic, and thennext week is going to be hectic,
and then the week after that isgoing to be hectic, and then I
get a break.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, that is your own doing.
You have created that ownmonster.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
No, you well.
My parents created the firstmonster having my birthday be.
You know this.
And then you created the secondmonster by dragging me to
CreepyCon.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
And then I didn't drag you.
You're going willingly.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
And then I can't say the boys, because Jules is in it
too, but everybody else draggedme to the coaster trip.
So You'll be all right, I'lldie, it's fine.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Hey, hey, what.
What are we snacking on rightnow in that delicious pink box?

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Crumble cookies because it's my birthday week
Calories don't count.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Do you know?
For the longest time I refusedto go to Crumble because it was
like the hype is so dumb, thisis so stupid and I had it and
now I'm obsessed with it and Iwant the crumble cookie all the
time are you serious?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
what's your favorite crumble cookie you've had so far
?

Speaker 1 (02:31):
uh, it's that the golden oreo that I had last week
golden oreo has that.
The first time you went waslast week with me um, I think I
might have had a crumble cookiebefore, but it was not warm, it
was like cold.
It had been like several hoursold and it was something with a
weird like compote on top that Iwas just not there for so it
doesn't count.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
So last week was your first time with me.
I didn't know that if I wouldhave known that we would have
made it more of a big deal, yeahbut tonight we had chipotle,
yes, we did.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Chipotle is life and crumble cookie for dessert.
I love crumble cookie.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
It was really good.
Yeah, I think this week's myfavorite is the confetti one and
the Sticker Doodle Cupcake.
Those two are tied for firstplace for me, but my overall
favorite Crumble Cookie is theRed Velvet Cookie.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
I've not had that one .
Oh, it comes around like.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Christmas time.
Oh that, and the pumpkincupcake.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Do you know what I'm super excited for about next?
Week cookout, so yeah, so whenwe travel back up to knoxville,
there's several things that theyhave there that we don't have
here in florida, one of whichbeing cookout, which we are
getting a cookout in florida,but it's going to be in tampa,
not here um, we'll be osakaosaka japanese grill, which is
the restaurant that I worked atout of high school.
My friend's parents owned it.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
I just love their fried rice.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's so good.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
And their shrimp sauce.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
They have the best shrimp sauce, or yum yum sauce,
whatever you call it, they havethe best of any place ever.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
And their tea was good.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, their tea hot green tea.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
And then we're going to have some coffee and
chocolate, coffee and chocolate,coffee and chocolate.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
I'm so, so ready for that and uh, some vienna coffee
house.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
So I cannot wait.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I'm so excited.
I'm so excited to see everybodyI know I'll.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
For the record, I will link all of the uh websites
for those food locations.
Well like for vienna and umcoffee and chocolate.
I'll link those under ourfacebook so you guys can like
check it out.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I know that coffee and chocolate you could get
their chocolate delivered to youyou can I need to do that.
I need, I need to like get thatdelivered to me every day.
It's so good they're a littlelike to me, like you need tea
right now probably, but they'relittle dark chocolate squares
with their little sea salt ontop of it.
Are we going back to our candystore again, where we're gonna

(04:48):
get 12 pounds of candy?
oh, the, the fizz, fizz popsomething, something on market
square, the one across thestreet from alice in wonderland
alice in appalachia.
Yeah that, yeah, we can gothere oh, we could go there too,
you know the convention's justright down the block from there
I know, know it is, we couldjust walk, it'll be great, but
okay.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
So we have an interesting episode planned for
you guys today.
We're going to tell you alittle bit about our SeaWorld
adventures and the new PenguinTrek ride that just recently
came open Spoilers they're notall great opinions.
And then there was somethingelse we were going to talk about
.
Oh, um, there was somethingelse we were going to talk about
.
Uh, oh yeah, we might touchbase just a little bit on the
whole joe biden dropping fromthe race and the donald trump
assassination, if we have timewill depend, because, you know,

(05:31):
politics are not our number one,but we do definitely think that
these are things.
They're going to shape our, uh,history books moving forward so
shape something yeah, um andall that jazz.
But before we do that, we'regonna jump in and we're gonna
tell you, uh, about our funvisit back to bar 17 on the

(05:51):
rooftop of aventura are youready?
oh, give me another glass, let'sgo so this week, ashley and I
made the decision that we weregoing to swing by uh, our new

(06:13):
kind of favorite bar spot here,just right down the road from
the house, which is bar 17 onthe rooftop of the aventura
resort at universal um.
We talked about that last week.
So if you're just joining us,or this is the first time you're
ever hearing our podcast, firstoff, go back 27 episodes and
listen from the beginning.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
You loser.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
But we talk about Aventura and all of that in last
week's episode.
So yeah, Ashley.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Dusty.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Go.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
What do you got to?

Speaker 1 (06:39):
say about Aventura.
You're the one that wanted togo specifically to Aventura the
one that wanted to gospecifically to aventura.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
So I like this bar, I think it's, it's, it's.
So we, we dabble between we wealways used to go to our beauty
and the beast bar, the enchantedrose, over at the grand
floridian we just haven't.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
We haven't been to disney in a minute I know it's
been kind of nice, um.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
So we, you know, typically try to do that once a
month.
We sit and we, you know, gossipand we chat and we play catch
up and we, you know, discusspodcast stuff or we discuss just
life in general, and it's nicejust to kind of get away from
everybody else in the group andwe just kind of separate and
have a good time.
So this time I don't know, likewhen you and I sat at that bar

(07:19):
last week, I was just kind oflike I want to do this this
again and I'm so glad we did.
It was such a blast, it was agood day, it was windy as shit
it was.
It was super windy oh my god, itwas so windy.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
I'll have to actually , bruce is trying to get out and
he's blocked.
She's blocked in.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Are you trying to leave?

Speaker 1 (07:35):
um, yeah, it was super windy that day.
Um, it was actually.
I got off work and you wantedto go there, so I was trying to
like go home and change and grabwhat I needed to do and get
some things and come back, butit had stormed some and I wasn't
sure if we were going to makeit.
Fortunately, the weather heldout and we were able to stay

(07:56):
doing what we were doing and gothere, which was really nice,
but it was very windy.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
It was so windy, Like disgustingly windy I need to
start always having a claw clipon me at all times because, like
it was nastily windy.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Oh yeah, that's right , because you didn't have
anything to hold your hair back.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
No, I had nothing, but no, it was good.
I like, like, every servicewe've ever gotten from them has
been super good.
I got, of course, a glass ofSauvignon Blanc good um.
I got, of course, a glass ofsevillon blanc because you're a
basic white girl and that's allyou ever drink.
Listen, I have two moods.
It's either bud light andtequila or sevillon blanc.
There is no in between.

(08:34):
That's how it goes, okay I got afoggy sunrise this time that
thing was very good, though Idid try that after you while you
were.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
It had um patrone silver tequila, lemon juice,
pineapple juice and I'm a slutfor some pineapple juice uh,
cream of coconut and grapefruitjuice and it was actually like
really good do you know whatyou're gonna have to try the
next time we go to sloppy?

Speaker 2 (08:56):
what I just had a shot of tequila with a pineapple
juice pick like back, I want tosay pickleback I don't do.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
I don't do shots, I just I don't.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's not something I do oh no, but you're gonna
have to be a shop boy.
No, and try that, because itwas delightful that's not gonna
happen.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
When you get to be my age, shots will literally put
you in a nursing home.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
You are like two years older, older than me
exactly.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
You've got two more years to enjoy the shots, while
you still can.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
I don't want to to talk about it.
Okay, we also were kind ofsnacky and I am a big advocate
for girl dinner.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
What was your girl dinner?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
We got Brussels sprouts and French fries.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
No, we got roasted Brussels sprouts and truffle
fries.
You have to say it fancy likewe're fancy people.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well, they were flash fried.
Brussels sprouts, they weredeep fried.
Those are good.
I do not understand trufflefries.
I've had them from EnchantedRose.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
I've had them from there.
I've had them from Cowfish.
They're just fries with somelike Parmesan cheese, like
grated on top of them and youdip them in a sauce which that's
where you get the truffle partwhich that's where you get the

(10:10):
uh, the truffle part.
But the thing that annoys me isthat dipping sauce is very,
very hit or miss.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, I like.
I definitely like the one atenchanted rose more than the one
at at um bistro 17 bar 17 bar17.
No, is it?
I thought it's bistro 17 it'sbar 17 oh, I definitely wrote
bistro.
My bad, it's bar but that'sfine.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Um, but no, I are.
You are you fact checking ifit's bar bistro?

Speaker 2 (10:36):
because now you've got me wondering it is, it's bar
b it's bar 17 bistro okay, soit's bar 17 is.
I saw bistro and went oh, it'sbistro 17.
You know what it is?
It's because my hotel'srestaurants one of my hotel
restaurants is a bistro.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yeah, I've got the.
I have to apologize I'm withthe twist, I'm gonna sound weird
because like I'm talking butlike I have not, like I guess
it's indigestion from thechipotle that I've had and I
keep getting like the hiccupsand the burps.
So so I'm like halfway throughmy sentence.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
We're doing great.
You are just throwing upChipotle and I sound like.
I've got something stuck in mythroat.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, it is what it is, hi Bruce.
Welcome back.
We're recording in Ashley'sbedroom floor tonight because we
were like we need to try tostay focused and not get
interrupted by everyone.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
And I love because we were like we need to try to
stay focused and not getinterrupted by everyone.
And I love that because we'rein our room tonight, in our room
.
Are you staying here?

Speaker 1 (11:33):
yeah, okay, this is my house now, I figure.
Um, now that we're in your roomas friends?
Um, we won't.
Ashley refuses to close thedoor because she wants bruce to
be able to come in and out.
Um, so today is the day that,like all of the noise is
happening in this house, in thekitchen pots, pans, dishes,
cooking, all sorts of noises.
Um, so I love how we did that,but we pay for a nice editing

(11:54):
software that, hopefully, isgoing to edit out all that
background noise.
So you guys are going to belike why are they going on a
tangent?
Because it's silent.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Hey, do you know what , speaking of Bruce, do you know
what era she's in now?
Sleep with her mom era?
Oh, yeah, yeah, she's been likelike obviously I didn't, I
didn't go to the office todayand I left really early
yesterday from the office and Itook a nap.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
I've literally been asleep since like noon of
yesterday until today and sheslept with me the whole day I
let my roommates dogs sleep withme yesterday because my
roommates have been out of townfor like a week and a half now
for, uh, they're on a businesstrip, uh, they're doing some
fabrication for a haunted houseand, um, the boy dog, he was up

(12:36):
there for like 30 minutes and hewas like you know what, I don't
think I want to do this anymore.
So he got down and went away.
But jemma, their girl dog, shecan't jump up and down from that
height.
So I was like, uh-uh, I'masleep, you stay in.
Which she was fine.
She like rolled over on herback and she had, like her feet,
like you know, the cartoon ofthe dead dog, where their feet
are straight up in the air.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
That was literally this dog all night long.
And then she would get up andshe would walk to the other
corner of the bed and then she'dlay right back down, feet
straight up in the air.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I'm dead.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
But this morning it was like 545 and Joseph Dan,
which is the boy dog, startslike I can hear him crying and
I'm like you have to wake me upearly, because I know that if he
starts making that noise earlyin the morning it's because he
has to go to the bathroom.
So I was like, okay.
So then I got up and I'm stilllike asleep, my eyes are still

(13:28):
closed.
And then I'm like oh great, Igot to get Gemma down off the
bed because she can't jump atlike 545 in the morning.
I'm exhausted and I'm like comehere.
She didn't want to get up atfirst, so she nip noodled in the
bed, not letting me pick her up, and I was like girl, I am
gonna take you outside and letyou go to the bathroom and if
you miss this opportunity, I'mgoing back to bed for two hours

(13:50):
and you're not gonna get to goback outside.
And then she was like okay, youcan pick me up.
I said the magic words whichwere outside.
And then she was like oh, okay,I'm awake I'm up, I'm up but it
was nice to have a little, alittle snuggle seshy with the
animals.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's been so nice.
I really like that.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Speaking of animals.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
I want another one.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
We have an interesting episode planned
today.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
We do have an interesting episode when we're
going to talk about a theme park.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
That's all about animals.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Are you super excited to talk about SeaWorld?
Are you ready to?

Speaker 2 (14:17):
talk about SeaWorld.
Here we go.
All right, let's go all right.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
So we're pretty sure that most people out there know
what sea world is.
Um, you know, knowing the factthey have orlando san antonio.
Um, do they have more or theyjust have the two?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
or they know, san antonio, san diego, williamsburg
, and I think that's it okay, sothere's, there's multiple of
these but for those of you thatdon't know, oh, what?

Speaker 1 (15:13):
bush?
Bush gardens, okay, um.
So, for those of you that don'tknow, sea world orlando is an
animal theme park.
We have one located, obviously,here in orlando, florida.
Uh, although it is, uh,separately gated, it's often
promoted with neighboring parkssuch as discovery cove and
aquatica, as well as bushgardens, tampa bay in florida,
all of which are owned andoperated by united parks and

(15:35):
resorts.
Now, in 2022, seaworld orlandohosted an estimated 4.45 million
guests, ranking it the 10thmost visited amusement park in
the united states, and boy didthey not let you forget that um,
which is kind of funnyeverywhere because, um, we're
gonna, we're gonna talk aboutthat clientele here in a bit oh

(15:56):
um, so sea world originally gotits start as the animal park, it
was the animal sanctuary, itwas the animal show park.
Um, and over time they havekind of shifted their um persona
to be more about ocean rescue,uh, and ocean rehabilitation and

(16:16):
roller coasters.
One thing a lot of people don'tknow is that, um, sea world
orlando actually is the rollercoaster capital of Orlando, with
a total of eight rollercoasters Shocking, at least I
think it's eight.
It may be nine now with PenguinTrek, I'm not sure if that
number has been updated.
And then, ironically enough,with them being an ocean park.

(16:38):
They only have two water rides,which I thought was interesting,
but the park's broken down intoseveral zones and sections.
I have been to sea world, Ithink, three or four times my
entire life.
Um, I don't understand how thepark works.
I don't understand literallyany of the theming.
Um, that's very strange, but Ithink that's because I've not
been invested in what the loreof sea world is, as I am with,

(17:01):
like disney and universal anddollywood and all these other
parks.
Um, because to me it's just,it's an ocean animal park and
that's all it is to me.
What is, what is?
How would you describe seaworld?
What is it to you?
a zoo with a couple rides youknow I've never seen oh, I know
that's a lie.
I was gonna say I've never seena dolphin at sea world, and then
I was like oh wait, they justsaw them yep, you know, I was at

(17:24):
sea world a couple months agowith jordan and we watched while
this they were doing like anenrichment thing with these
dolphins right at the entrance,across from the one where you
hang on your stomach.
Um, is it manta?
Yeah, right across from mantathere's like a little pool area
that they're in and this dolphinwas clearly agitated and they

(17:46):
had toys in the water and itknocked one of the toys up into
the air and then flipped andkicked it and the toy flew out
and it pegged this kid, likeknocked the kid to the ground,
like skid the kid skidded acrossthe sidewalk.
That thing hit it so hard and Iwas just like and like,
fortunately the kid was okay,but it was just one of those
scenarios where, like, everyonejust kind of froze because we

(18:08):
were all like what just happened?
it's kind of funny I mean it isthat it isn't um.
But you know, you know we'vetalked about sea world a little
bit in the past and we weretalking about the city beautiful
and breaking down, like whattheme parks there are here in
this area, and we still want todo a full episode that is, like,
solely devoted to just thehistory behind sea world, like

(18:31):
we're, you know, doing with thehistory of disney world and
universal and all those things.
Um.
But if you've only heard of seaworld one time in your entire
life, it's probably involving um, the incident from February of
2010, which included the deathof one of their ambassadors,

(18:52):
dawn Branch Show, which wetouched on a little bit in the
past.
She was performing in the Dinewith Shamu show when one of the
killer whales, tilikum, pulledher into the water and she
unfortunately passed away.
We are, I think, glad to saythat we've seen SeaWorld kind of

(19:12):
pivot from that aspect.
They no longer have theirtrainers or their ambassadors in
the water with the animals.
They're no longer breeding thekiller whales.
So we've definitely seenSeaWorld do like this big pivot
and focus more on the theme parkaspect.
When they brought in um, whatwas that kids show?
Uh, the whole.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
They have the whole land around the kids show sesame
street, that's right um, we sawthem bring that in, though what
are you talking?

Speaker 1 (19:37):
I don't know, I never watched sesame street, so I'm
just not sure?
No, I had cable growing up itwas the cable growing up it was
on cable, I thought.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Sesame Street was on like Channel 3, like the free
channel.
I don't know, I could havesworn it was on both.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
I don't know.
I watched Blue's Clues, Iwatched Nickelodeon.
I mean, so did I?
But I definitely still watchSesame Street.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
So there is City.
World has really been crankingout attractions recently.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, I think they're trying to compete.
I think that's the thing with.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
SeaWorld.
There's not a lot to competewith in this area.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Universal.
I think that's what they'retrying to compete with.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Well, there's a difference in theme park and
roller coasters.
And SeaWorld.
They started cranking outattractions during the pandemic
with Icebreaker, which took Ithink it was like three years
for them to build, but theystarted on it right at the start
of the pandemic and thenconstruction started and stopped
, and started and stoppedthroughout phases.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
I know I felt so bad for them.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
I finally got to ride it.
I've ridden it one time.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
And you hate it.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
No fan finally got to ride it.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
I've ridden it one time and you hate it.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
No fan not a fan.
Why do you hate it again?
Um, so, with that and withpipeline, which was the second
newest roller coaster thatthey've opened, which is a
standing surfing coaster, um,they're really small, rides like
small.
They're fairly small rollercoasters.
They're built in very compactspaces yeah, which means they
have a lot of really sharp turnsum which provide or change

(21:07):
their.
They're not tiny by any means Imean in my opinion they're tiny
roller coasters.
I don't think they're tinythey're not very tall, they
don't go very fast okay I meantheir top speed's like 45 to 55
miles an hour.
That's fairly slow, in myopinion, when you have lightning
rod that runs at 73 oh god,tornado that runs at 70 15

(21:30):
minutes.
We're already talking aboutdollywood 320 or 325 there you
go I don't remember its topspeed, but it's huge because
it's a giga coaster, but anyways, um, they're very compact, so
they have really sharp turnsthat provide positive G forces.
I'm not a huge fan of positiveG forces.
That's what makes me like sickand nauseous nowadays.
Um, I didn't used to be likethis.

(21:51):
This has been like the lastfive years of my life I've
determined that I get sick onrides.
Now, uh, and that is, that ispretty much what those all of
their new rides are.
Penguin Trek did not do it forme me but we also went a
whopping like 43 miles an hour.
We'll get there.
What is your favorite ride atsea world?

(22:11):
mexico what tell?
Us about it scary is that thebig one?
Yeah, on the back end of thepark that we didn't ride when we
went last week yeah, that one'sterrifying.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
it's, it's, it's not a, it's not a fam.
I wouldn't count that as afamily coaster.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
It's not a giga coaster.
It's not big enough to be agiga coaster.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Is it over 300 feet tall?

Speaker 2 (22:34):
I think it's like two something, three something, I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
I don't.
No, it's only 200.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, so it's not but you do go 73 miles per hour on
that one.
It is orlando's tallest andfastest roller coaster, though
okay, what's the theme of it?

Speaker 1 (23:02):
exactly?
It's based off of a shark okay,what's the theme of it exactly?

Speaker 2 (23:08):
it's based off of a shark.
Okay, oh, that's literally itsee what has the most bland like
explanations when it comes totheir, their hair.
This is coming right off of theseaworld app.
Are you ready?
Go for it name for one of theocean's fastest known sharks.
This roller coaster speeds upto 73 miles per hour and up to
200 feet high.
Search through shipwreck reefon orlando's tallest and fastest
roller coaster oh, that's itthat's it.

(23:33):
See, well, does not like I don'tknow, like I feel like there's
for me?
I've always been a big fan of,like the storylines behind
roller coasters, you know, likewith manta, I really like the
idea that you know I'm laying onmy stomach.
I am, you're supposed to beenvisioning a?
Um, what do you call it?
A stingray, like I think that'sreally neat.
Or like, up in cedar point,steal vengeance.

(23:55):
I am stealing money.
I'm part of a group of peoplethat are that are being chased
through a robbery of a gold minewait, is it?

Speaker 1 (24:05):
is it interesting?

Speaker 2 (24:06):
okay, let's see so, like that, I've always enjoyed
that because for me I feel likeI can kind of like focus more on
the story and less on the bigterrifying roller coaster that
I'm about to ride you know whatI mean?
Yeah, so where, with sea world,there really isn't a storyline
like mako shark, I'm a giantshark so my favorite ride is

(24:29):
journey to atlantis see that onekind of has a well storyline
kind of kind of, but not as muchanymore.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
So according to their website it says water ride
enthusiasts are in for a thrillas this mythical paradise
reveals its darker side thisexciting flume ride.
Slash roller coaster hybridtreats you to more than its
share of surprises as youexplore the dark, watery
passageways through the sunkencity before being flung from its
gates down a thrilling plungeinto the waters below.

(24:57):
So if you go back and you watchvideos of this ride a long time
ago, it was really good.
They had videos of this ride along time ago, it was really
good.
They had amazing specialeffects.
Uh, you walk through it now andyou still see like I think it's
like medusa's head or whateverit is.
Um, but she doesn't work.
She doesn't light up, shedoesn't move, she doesn't do

(25:18):
anything and my and the I nevergot to experience the ride
during that Right, which makesme sad, but I do love a good
water coaster hybrid typesituation, which makes me really
like this attraction.
We didn't ride it last weekbecause I didn't want to get wet
at the end of my day.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
I was also kind of done with people after Penguin
Trek.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yeah.
You ready to talk about that.
Let's talk about Penguin Trektrek.
I was excited for this.
I was ready to go.
I thought it was going to be somuch fun.
Um, oh, wait, wait.
Before we talk about that, wehave to talk about what came
first so chicken or the egg theegg.
So in this case, the egg.

(26:02):
So in 2013, SeaWorld opened theEmpire of the Penguin.
Oh yes, we had to talk aboutthis first, this section of the
park replaced the previouspenguin encounter and it
contained a trackless dark riderevolving around penguins, which
closed in 2020.
It was the world's firsttrackless dark ride, which I did

(26:25):
not know I unfortunately, Iunfortunately never got to
experience the attraction,because the first time I ever
went to sea world was, uh,during the pandemic, when
everything, when the parks, hadreopened, so that ride itself
remained closed, but the penguinexhibit was still open did you
do the penguin?
exhibit.
We did we walked in and welooked at the penguins.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
And it froze your butt off.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yep, and I was like, okay, it's cold.
So then we left, because theonly other penguin exhibit I've
ever done has been at Ripley'sAquarium and the Smokies or the
Knoxville Zoo, and both of themare African penguins.
So it's hot, they're not coldpenguins.
And that was a very, very coldplace, cold penguins.

(27:06):
But so this new ride PenguinTrek actually takes place inside
the building and outside of theoriginal Penguin ride, empire
of the Penguin.
Is that what the ride wascalled, empire of the Penguin?
Mm-hmm, no, mm-hmm, itcontained a trek.
I don't know if that actuallywas the name I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
I don't think so what ?

Speaker 1 (27:27):
regardless?
There was a penguin dark ridethere.
Um, part of the roller coastertakes place inside that building
and then the other half of ittakes place outside.
Um, so this area of the parkhas been closed since 2020.
Uh, while they've been buildingthis ride, um, kind of
surprised that it took as longas it did to build this
attraction, when it ended upbeing as small as it is.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Um, when I've seen other parts, it was emperor
empire of the penguin okay, sothat's what the attraction was
called.
Yep, okay, okay or antarcticaempire of the penguin gotcha
okay oh, I didn't know that.
Antarctica.
So, yeah, empire of the Penguin.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Penguin Trek.
Tell us about it, Ashley.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
First off, let's start.
Oh, you want me to read thatthing.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, maybe let's let everyone know what we read and
what we expected going in.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Any day Okay.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
I'm going to hurt you Now.
This is a description thatSeaWorld Online gives.
Now, this will be the coolestresearch mission you'll ever
join.
Prepare for Penguin Trek, anunforgettable family launch
coaster adventure through thebreathtaking vast of Antarctica.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Vastness Vastness of Antarctica.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Board your snowmobile and race along with your
expedition team at up to 43miles per hour, navigating
twists and turns and narrowlyescaping the crumbling hazards
of an icy cavern.
Reach the end and you'll makethe ultimate discovery a real
penguin habitat.
This new indoor slash outdoorfamily ride is the most
immersive addition to thecoaster capital of orlando and,

(29:11):
with a height requirement ofjust 42 inches, it's just a
perfect journey for the familyto share.
So that's a.
Are we swearing in this episode?

Speaker 1 (29:23):
no, we are not okay.
Well, that's a bunch of bullshirt you can tell someone's
been watching the good placeagain.
Yes, I have.
Thank you, um.
So walking back into that, sothis whole area of the park has
been closed since 2020.
Uh, walking back in the outsideof the area, everything looks
really nice, everything's donereally well.
They had a gift shop area that,uh, across from the ride that

(29:46):
we didn't go into, um, and somedining options that we didn't
check out.
No, no, the one, the one acrossthe street from the ride we
didn't check out.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
No, no, no.
The one across the street fromthe ride.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
We didn't go to that one.
Oh yeah, no, no.
So we were super pumped.
We had some friends that wentand rode it.
They were like, yeah, it's good, they're coaster people.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
So they were expecting you know, big and
crazy and wild and that's notwhat SeaWorld produced of it's a
good family edition which isthat's what sea world wanted
yeah, but that was the review Igot from, like all of our
coaster friends was it's a goodfamily edition.
You know, and I think that'sthe same thing that people say
about um universals the minionsshoot them up, beat them up.

(30:28):
Gameem-up game was a goodaddition to a family attraction
and I think this.
I went in with that, thinkingoh, this is going to be like
barnstormer 3.0.
This isn't first roller coastervibes by any means disney's
barnstormer.
By the way, this is like adollywood fire chaser I would

(30:50):
say this is probably a littlebit more extreme than fire
chaser, though.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Fire chaser goes faster.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah, but I'm thinking with all the twists and
the turns that this one had.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Fire chaser launches you forwards and backwards.
Okay, well.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
I'm gonna need you to hush.
I was really disappointed withthis one for a lot of reasons.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Um well, let's, let's , let's get started with, like
so, our entrance um, we had towalk through an extremely long
outdoor queue um, that was empty, correct we made it into the
door and like, as soon as wemade it in, like it looks really
nice, it looks crisp and cleanand really cool and themed um

(31:33):
well, no, even even looking atthe details, like the first, the
first, like 15 feet of us beingin the building, it looked nice
, they had the door.
Yeah, it was peeling no, not,not in the first 15 feet when we
first walked in it lookedreally nice, we made it to the
first board, like the overallviewing, which was which was a
map of what the buildings looklike, because we were, you're,
in an antarctic base, yep?

(31:54):
Um.
So we walked in and the firstlike thing we walked up to
looked really nice, but that'sbecause there was no depth to it
there wasn't stuff for peopleto touch, correct um.
And then when we pass that andwe get to the first, like
there's racks with, uh, snowequipment on there and gear and
things and people had alreadylike scratched the paint off of

(32:14):
the gear.
They were sticking their handsthrough the grates and like
already destroying things.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
The one with the sign that's across from there you
could see they'd like, I thinkthey went to like repaint it.
And then there was like a,because I don't think the paint
matched the original color thatthey wanted, so they painted a
different color.
But it was like peeling, likepeople were peeling off the
paint.
Yeah, they were peeling off thepaint and you could see it
because it was on the floor.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
And there was a window that they had stuck some
like I'm assuming was likepictures or sticky notes and
stuff too, but you could seewhere people had pulled it off.
So just that layer of like.
You know, when you go to pulllike a price tag off of
something and then you get thatlayer of sticky that stays there
and then you get this like thatlayer of fuzzy on the sticky.
That's what it was should wetalk about the trash can too oh

(33:01):
yeah and the kid that vomited inthe queue the overflowing trash
can, to the point of someoneput their trash and this is not
like a trash can that's hard toget to.
No, like the people, there wereseveral team members, employees
, whatever they're calledAmbassadors Ambassadors that
were standing right at the door,which is the entrance to the
ride.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
God, there was like what?
Four of them or something, fourof them.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
And this trash can is overflowing to the point of
someone set a cup on it and thenstuff like cascaded into the
floor Fall stuff like cascadedinto the floor and they never
changed it.
Um, so we get up to like thenext window and it's interesting
because they have all thesethings that are designed to look
like windows and you'resupposed to see like the
silhouettes of equipment behindit, but it just looked like 90s

(33:44):
cgi.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
It was really bad um, it's not impressive and then we
get up to waiting in the queueforever yeah, the queue didn't.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
It was weird because it was labeled a 60 minute wait.
Uh, the queue really didn't movelike we would walk maybe four
or five feet and then we wouldstand in the same spot for what
felt like forever.
It wasn't really because weended up getting on the ride in
what 40 minutes, 45, 45 but itfelt like we would be spending
like five to ten minutes at atime in one spot and then we

(34:12):
would move, and then we wouldmove again for five or ten
minutes, um, but then we get upto the throw up.
Oh god, so you have one girl.
We get up there and they've gotthe like the chemical powder
stuff on it and she's juststanding there and she's

(34:33):
standing there for like fiveminutes and then they come up
with another can of this, thepowder, the powder, which I
don't understand why those canswere so tiny.
They were waiting.
We, we stood there for like 10minutes waiting on them to clean
it.
One of the things that theywere waiting on was another can
of powder, but this kind ofpowder is like the same size of
a can of hairspray.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
It was small, very small.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
So it took two full cans of that stuff for them to
clean it up.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
It took up a lot.
And then it was so potent, thesnow was so potent.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yes, it took them a while to get it cleaned.
It took them a while to get thematerials needed.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
I felt the materials needed.
I felt so bad too, becausewhere this poor kid threw up was
like in the middle of thewalking queue, so you had to
like suction, cup yourself tothe wall not to step in.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
It was very everywhere.
Yeah, they had.
There was no ambassador on ourside, like no one was on our
side of the queue they were allin the fast lane and just
standing over on that side and Iwas like, okay, that's fine,
they didn't communicate with usso it was one of those like do I
go, do I wait?
What do you want me to do?
Um?

Speaker 2 (35:37):
I just want to get away from the smell.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
It was so potent and you know, we, we did, we finally
got past it and then we gotinto the I'm calling it the big
room it's not that big of a room, but it's the switchbacks you
had, like there was like one,two, three, four, five, six,
seven I room but it's theswitchbacks you had, like there
was like one, two, three, four,five, six, seven.
I think there was eight or nineswitchbacks.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Something like that.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
And they were probably 15 foot long.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yep, and this is also the same room that you merge
with the quick queue.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Quick queue that's what they call it, and that is
why I think their line wastaking so long because I was
sitting here going the amount oftimes we're not moving, but
then you could see where thequick cue ended and then I was
like that's why we're not moving, because they don't know how to
merge no so every time someonefrom quick cue would walk up,
they would just automaticallystop the regular line and let

(36:23):
them go.
Yeah, so it was like 15 peoplewould go by and then they would
let the regular line go andthey'd get like three or four
from the regular line and thensomeone else would walk up for
quick use and then they wouldstop and then they would let the
next five to six people thattrickled in go and it was just
one of those things where it waslike that's not how this works
and can we talk?
like I understand sea world is aslower park, but can we talk

(36:44):
about how you are debuting abrand new attraction?
It's been open a week andyou're already having it on your
quick queue.
That's unheard of?

Speaker 2 (36:52):
can we talk about the fact that they had a merged
person but they did not have agrouper?

Speaker 1 (36:58):
so I.
From my understanding that'sfairly common for sea world
attractions, they don't use abrand new one they had it on
opening day.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
I heard, yeah, but one day you had a grouper for
one day.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
That's the reason why that ride takes so long,
because nobody knows whatthey're doing yeah, that was a
thing we watched when we finallyso we made it past the, the
grouper, and then you have to goupstairs yes, a lot of stairs a
lot of stairs um, and then?

Speaker 2 (37:25):
you are on a bridge on the ride, so the ride is
underneath you think.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Guardians of the galaxy at epcot very similar
concept uh, then you go down thestairs and then you get.
You pick your rows.
We watched this.
This lady in the row next to usoh, jesus christ so, okay, I'm
gonna give some advice toeveryone.
Okay, when you are trying toride an attraction and there's
not a group here and you havemultiple rows that you need for
your ride, pick your rows pickthem you get in your rows and

(37:52):
then you stay there.
You don't worry about how manypeople's in front of you or
behind you, until the firstperson in your party makes it to
the gate, if they are at thegate ahead of you.
They turn around and look at thepeople and go hi, do you want
to go in front of us?
We're going with those peopleand if they say no, you go.
Okay, you let that gate openand you just stand there,
correct, because it is not yourfault that the attraction

(38:13):
they're not grouping you.
But this woman was so panicked,three groups ahead, that she
was like hollering at people andtrying to move people and then
it ended up.
They ended up screwing up, liketwo other parties that were
trying to ride together becausethey were so concerned with
getting people in front of themthat it just it screwed with

(38:33):
everything.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
This is why I go back to that concept of having a
grouper.
You need to have one of themalso.
I mean that also screws up.
I mean I this is the part whereI get to sound like a nerdy.
You know coaster enthusiastbecause I live with people who
work for coasters and crap thatyou you listen to them talk
about their, their full trainsand their empty trains and stuff

(38:57):
like this and making sure thatthey hit a certain number before
they're going on.
The amount of trains that wesaw that were going past, that
were not full none of them werebecause there's no grouper, so
you're not filling up thesethings.
This isn't a constant movingline, you're just oh, go ahead.
And then the best part aboutthat lady she couldn't even fit

(39:17):
um so one thing to preface.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
What you were saying is so rides, they are what I
call um red budget.
Uh-huh, rides do not make moneyno so, when it comes to if an
attraction is successful or not,what they do is they look at
your capacity per hour todetermine on if your attraction
is making its money's worth forthat day or not, if it's

(39:41):
profitable.
Correct.
And when you are not groupingmost attractions, do not do that
, because there are so manyempty seats and empty rows.
Rows go empty because people arewaiting to ride with their
parties.
Uh, and it's just a muchsmoother process.
Now I will say I've alwaysheard that sea world does
groupers on fridays andsaturdays, but that's it well,
we're gonna have to test it outon fridays and saturdays.

(40:03):
I do not want to go to seaworld on a friday or saturday
and we'll get into that aftertoday or after that trip?
I don't think I'm gonna see youwith any time again, so let's
talk about the ride okay, we'regonna talk about wait, wait.
We have to talk about what itwas like to get on the ride,
because I had a pretty intenseexperience with that okay did

(40:25):
you I walked over and I set herstuff in a bin and I sat down
and pulled my restraint down howwas it for you to sit in that
seat?
I mean it's a bucket seat, it's, it's a b&m bucket seat it was
that ride.
That ride was built by b&mright I think so yeah, I believe
so too, because it was verymuch a wild eagle.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
That was a bucket seat it was so tight she's a hip
hugger she was worse than a hiphugger and I think that the
worst part about it is like okay, so if you're a theme park
enthusiast, you will noticethere's a screen that you can
see that will show the rows ofeverybody on the ride and then,
once it turns green, that meansthat they are, they passed a

(41:04):
certain percentage and they can,they can fit inside.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
Means that their restraint is locked at the
lowest position it has to be.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Thank you.
Sick brain's not letting mespeak, so I looked back.
Now I'm a big-hipped kind ofgirl, okay.
So I look back and I'm like,okay, no, I'm good, I'm Gucci.
It's real tight, but I'm fine.
I've got this Cool, and I hadheard reviews prior to this that
this was a pretty tight seatand there was a lot of people

(41:38):
that were around my size thatwere difficult sitting inside of
it, like being able to fit.
So I was like, no, I'm good,I'm good.
The girl that came over tocheck my lap bar threw her
entire weight up in my seat,like I was the girl two rows
before or two, two trains beforethat couldn't fit in the ride,
and I'm like, oh my god.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
And she dug that lap bar so far in me I had bruises
so what you, what happened toyou, is a, a phrase that we
refer to in the industry calledstapling.
It's bull shark.
Um, most theme parks willactually write up attendance for
doing that.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Good.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Because when you staple someone in the seat, you
are then putting excessive forceon the restraint.
Uh-huh.
Which causes restraint failures.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
And I'm not saying that's going to happen to you in
this situation because you werenot in danger of your light not
being green.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
No, but it creates a very uncomfortable ride it did
and I had shorts on that day andit there's like where the seat
is, like where the the the spacebetween the seat and the lap,
there's like a little like anindent, almost like I don't want
to say like a, like a fork, butit kind of gives me fork vibes
and it like dug into me like Igot off and there was like two

(42:53):
marks on my thighs where it wasand I bruised for a couple days
well that is we'll not be ridingpenguin trek again.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
That is what.
So this?
This brings up a very commondebate in the industry of ride
restraints need to be moreaccommodating to people of a
larger size.
But at the same time, assomeone who has been a ride
operator most of my adult life,I have to remind people if they

(43:19):
make it more accommodating forlarger guests, then children
cannot ride it.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
True.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
This is a family attraction.
No, I'm not saying Well no, no,no, I'm not saying that you are,
but this is the point that I'mjust trying to make for people
to understand is, in order for aroller coaster to be
accommodating as a familyattraction for children which
means larger adults are going tohave more of an issue fitting
into this restraint, because ithas to hold the children in when

(43:57):
it goes 90 degrees into a steepcurve, and that's why I think
they're seeing this issue with,uh, larger adults not being able
to fit.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
And that's valid.
However, I just did not.
I think I would have been finehad she not stapled me in.
It was so tight so when theride actually got started though
, oh my god we were so excited Iwas, it was really, it was so
it looked so cool.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
The trains are so cute, they're snowmobiles and
they make little snowmobilenoises whenever the ride first
starts and when it comes to anend.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
I thought it was adorable.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
And you go into this ice cavern and you round the
corner and you just see thisdark hole and it says danger.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Falling ice.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yep, because you're gonna just fall into oblivion.
And we rounded the corner andwe dipped like two feet.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I don't even feel like we dipped.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
We did, we went.
It was a little hill, a little,just a little dippy.
And when I say a little dippy,I'm not talking like Mystery
Mine first drop plummet.
No, I'm talking like speed bump, like we just went down.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
I don't even feel like we dipped, did we dip?

Speaker 1 (45:06):
We really dipped.
We did a little baby dip andthen we went around the corner
and then we came to a completestop and then when the last like
two cars were going down thedip is when the sound effect and
strobe lights went off and Iwas like you think that should
have happened like as the frontof the train approached it, so
you couldn't see what you weregetting ready to go into,

(45:27):
because we just went into ablack room there was no theming
in that area.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
There was nothing in there Until you got next to the
launch and then they had, likethe, the rock opening yeah, and
then I got hot and yeah and thenit launched us out uh-huh, um
on, and I mean that was a funlittle ride segment.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Uh, the outdoor section was nice, um it was.
It had smooth turns, um, butthere were a couple of like
jolts which is so weird, it hadbeen for two weeks we made it to
the end of the second launch,so it's the one like.
So it launched us out, we did alittle bit and then we hit that
launch where we went up the bigturn yeah once we hit when we

(46:06):
like, we approached the end ofthe launch and started to do the
incline, it was almost like thetrain like slammed into the
track because you could feellike the jolt as you started to
go up and I was just like, ohjesus okay, and then you end the
ride, you turn the corner andthere's the load platform yep,
and that was it um I feel likethat whole thing lasted maybe a

(46:28):
minute yeah, it felt like a veryshort ride it was was very
short, very small.
It is for, I think, children, Ithink, and family rides, which
are the target audience for thisattraction.
I think that this is theabsolute perfect attraction for
SeaWorld to add.
So children finally have anopportunity to ride a roller
coaster with mom and dad and Ithink it's going to be fun for

(46:48):
those children and for families.
For a roller coaster enthusiast, it was a great credit.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
But that's Definitely got to have one of those.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
That's what it is.
It is a credit that I stillneed to log in my LogRide app.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
It just was not, I don't know Like.
I was very disappointed in that.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
It seemed when they unveiled it at IAAPapa and they
unveiled the ride vehicle, um,they made.
There was so much hype aroundthis attraction that I I felt
like we were gonna get athrilling attraction that
children would also enjoy.
But what we got was a thrillingattraction for children yeah um

(47:28):
, but like I said, I think, Ithink it's going to be great.
I think parents are going tohave that, that photograph with
their children that photo took.
That was the oddest photo ever.
It took the photo at the verybeginning of the attraction as
the first launch was happeningyeah, bad idea, but can we talk
about how you exit that ride?
Yes cold very cold.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yeah, so you exit the ride, you get off and I don't
remember if you go downstairs.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
No, I think it's just straight it's the little ramp
yeah, it's a ramp, and then yougo through the penguin exhibit
well, you go through thesereally awkwardly long hallways
with nothing in them becausethat's where the the ride was,
and they would.
They do have a section of thearea where you can just go into
the penguin exhibit withoutriding the ride.
And as we were approaching thepenguin exhibit, there were also

(48:19):
random park guests coming in togo into the penguin exhibit and
these teenagers in front of uswere like, oh, let's exit this
way.
And they started to turn leftto go where the people were
coming from.
And the ambassador was like no,you have to exit this way, you
have to exit through the penguinexhibit yeah and I was like
okay why don't we let theannoying teenagers that I wanted

(48:40):
to punch in the face becausethey were tripping each other
the entire time so we had to getinto this tiny room and they
had to close the door beforethey would open the other door
to let us in do you know whythey do that?
So the penguins can't get out,uh-huh.
And to keep the temperatureregulated.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Uh-huh, and it was cold.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
It was.
Now it is the same penguinexhibit that it was originally
from the original attraction,correct?
And there was one fat I meanP-H-A-T.
Penguin lounging on a rock.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Can we talk about how ?

Speaker 1 (49:14):
you didn't let me bring a penguin home with me.
I didn't tell you you couldn'tbring a penguin home with you I
said, dusty, let's take apenguin home with you.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Me, I want to put him in my bathtub.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
And you were like oh yeah or we could exit yeah, well
, I don't think that the reallytall, like seven foot tall guy
working the exit door was gonnalet you out of that place with a
penguin he was kind of cute,though he might I don't know if
I said pretty please, maybe hewould have please please, can I

(49:41):
have?

Speaker 2 (49:42):
a disgusting that was disgusting.
Thank you, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
But yeah, when we finished up with that, we walked
over to atlantis and we lookedat it and we said let's go have
a good night uh, we chose not toride that ride, even though it
was a walk-on at that point um,but publics.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
It was like eight o'clock.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Bed sounded a lot better and I think the issue is
sea world makes me this is gonnasound horrible, but sea world
really makes me hate people soI've noticed something in the
few times that I have been thereand there is a stark difference
in clientele at sea world anduniversal and disney 110 there's

(50:26):
a stark difference in theticket prices to those parks, I
think, which brings a hugedifference to the type of people
that go to those parks.
Um when at seaworld, I noticeda lot of unattended minors oh,
so many uh, and at seaworld, andnot just minor, like like.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
I'm not talking like 15, 16, 17 year olds, I'm
talking like 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,like 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
And at Universal, you are allowed to be on the park
without an adult at 13.
Correct Now, when it comes toCityWalk, you are not allowed to
be under the age of 18 after 8pm, unless you have a hotel room
key or a confirmed diningreservation at a restaurant.
Otherwise you have to have achaperone, Correct Now.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
That being said, See, we don't have that rule at all.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
It was chaos.
There were just kids runningand screaming everywhere.
Those teenagers got on my lastnerve while we were coming out
of Penguin Trick.
They were just so rude anddisrespectful of other people's
space, and I don't know if thisis just because I'm getting old,
but I don't think I was everlike that as a teenager no, my

(51:38):
parents would have beat my butt.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Yeah yeah, like if we acted like that, my dad would
like he'd pull somebody by thehair and be like you're going to
a car your day is now over.
Congratulations for ruiningeverybody's day yeah like or he
would have like tripped me and Iwould have fallen and he'd been
like and this is why we don'tscrew around, yeah fork around

(52:01):
and find out um, so I know, likeI, I know this episode sounds
like we're really harping on seaworld and that's not our intent
.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Uh, we're not saying that, you know, sea world is a
bad park or anything, becauseit's not it is a fun park.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
I have fun, but I think we have always said our
podcast is a very honest one,regardless of you know what we
do, whom we do, and and you knowwhere we go to play or hang out
or whatever we vowed to alwaysbe honest about our opinions,
with everything, and I think seaworld is a park that has
moments where it shines.
I think there are good thingsthat we could say about SeaWorld

(52:36):
, but I think this experiencethat we went through was just
not it wasn't a positive one.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Now, with that being said, to shine a little bit of
light on SeaWorld and look atthe good in that situation.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Something's burning.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
I am glad that SeaWorld provides a theme park
experience that some people arenot going to get otherwise.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
No, and I think it's great that they they keep it at
a price, minimal, that everybodycan afford, because I don't
think everybody can afford a$200 ticket to Universal right
now.
I don't think everybody canafford a $199.95 ticket to
Animal Kingdom right now.
I don't think everybody canafford a 199.95 dollar ticket to
animal kingdom right now.
So I think it's great that seaworld allows families to still
come together for a vacation.
That is still fun and there's,you know, moments where there's

(53:25):
good food.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Well, you can go to sea world for what?

Speaker 2 (53:28):
50 bucks?

Speaker 1 (53:29):
50, but so a hundred dollars for two days.
How much is their quick lane?

Speaker 2 (53:34):
like I think it's only in 60 okay 50 or 60 bucks.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
I know it's cheap at universal a two park.
Two day park to park ticketwith unlimited express is a
thousand dollars that's that'scrazy to me yeah, so well, and
now?

Speaker 2 (53:50):
what is disney's?
What did you see?
That disney's genie plusservice was like 17 dollars now
uh, didn't they?
They discontinued genie plusyeah, but what's their, their,
their?

Speaker 1 (54:02):
the lightning lane lightning lane.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
It's like 15 or something per person well, it
depends on the ride which isjust crazy to me yeah, well, no,
they have.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
They have a new thing .
Maybe we should cover that inthe podcast.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
They have a new, they have a new way, like you could.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
It's like a package deal so you can either do like
individual rides per price oryou pay like a premium and you
get like one top tier ride, twomiddle tier rides and like, I
think, all the lower.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Something like that in an episode um go over all of
the the changes at disney yeah,the lightning lane, and yeah,
there, we can't do it nextweek's episode though, because
that's my birthday episode, sowe have to talk about bush oh
yeah, that's right, that's righthave you been to bush, is this
your first time.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
This will be my first time going to bush, um, so
another good thing to talk aboutfor sea world is, um, the food.
Actually, let's talk about thefood.
I know we're talking aboutpenguin trick, but I want to
talk about some good you know,our good sea world stuff, uh,
and I've always heard that seaworld has the best festival
foods festival food 110.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
I will give you that.
I think their festival food isoutstanding, but I do not think
their restaurant food is goodI've never eaten in any of the
restaurants.
I've only ever had festivalfood and the bar okay, so sea
world has two festivals that aremy absolute under favorite.
They have the one that's goingon currently, which is their
it's barbecue brews andsomething.
Hang on.
I don't remember what it'scalled, but I know it's barbie

(55:22):
oh bands, brews and barbecueinteresting so they do a whole
bunch of different bands andstuff like that a different, a
whole bunch of different beerand then a whole bunch of
different beer and then a wholebunch of different barbecue
options.
But my favorite part about thisis every single festival that
SeaWorld does.
They try to do local stuff.
So it will only be like theyhave another festival during the

(55:44):
fall time which is one of myfavorites where they do it all a
whole bunch of Florida localbeers and crafters and things
like that.
It's so good, it's so good,it's so good.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
I'm trying to think of the what that one is called
neat and nice at the same time.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
I love that for you, I love that for me too.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
I liked when I went.
I went for Christmas.
Um, and they had.
They had some really niceChristmas snacks and everything
and, uh, one of the cool thingsthat sea world does that I don't
see the other parks do is theygive you, uh like festival food
comps.
so you like, if you have anannual pass there, you can get

(56:22):
like a free ticket to bring afriend and then you can get a
free festival food or discountsand things that um, like
universal and disney don't doLike Universal does a like, if
you buy a Premier Pass, you getlike free valet parking and one
ticket to HHN.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
The Seven Seas Food Festival.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
That's what it is.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
That's one of my.
You're burning something.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Okay, I love how we definitely were like let's go to
our room so no one interruptsus.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Today, well, zach knows that when anything starts
burning in the house I startfreaking out a little bit.
So low-key.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
They've been in there making a ton of noise for the
last half hour, so burning is myfavorite, is the worst, um, but
sea world's.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
My favorite one that sea world has is the seven seas
food festival, because they havethe best food I've ever eaten
at that one.
But I love their christmascelebration.
That's fantastic.
I have yet to do theirhalloween one.
Well, at least the the hollowscreen I've never done but I've
done their, their spookala orspook spookular event I don't

(57:28):
know.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
It's their kids event .

Speaker 2 (57:30):
And the best part about this kid event okay, is
you go in and they give the kidseach kid and adult a little
baggie and then they can gotrick-or-treating and you don't
have to pay anything.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
Which is a wild concept to me, because I've been
at theme parks where I'vequestioned that in the past.
And they're like you know, wedon't do that because it's a
liability.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Because you could give candy to a kid that can't
have candy, or you can give themcandy that blah, blah, blah and
you know, you apparently canjust run around sea world
without a guardian?

Speaker 2 (58:04):
so don't care, okay, I think it's fantastic, um, but
no, and so the bands, brews andbarbecue.
It goes on for january or, I'msorry, july 6th to august 25th.
So this is fantastic.
They have 10 flavorful finds,um, for your bands, brews and
barbecue adventures.
Um, they also have.
Let's see here.
It is a premier summer longevent at sea world where guests

(58:25):
can enjoy live music,mouth-watering food and thirst
questioning drinks during theirvisit.
Um, it is not a separatelyticketed event.
Um, it's the end of the summer,so you can join it throughout
the entire time and think of atlike just it's just a festival
yeah, but it's like a food andwine at epcot similar food and
wine at epcot, or it's likebluegrass and barbecue at
hollywood, correct?

(58:46):
um, now there is a event,special menus, but you're that's
available through your app, youcan download or they have a
full breakdown of it.
Um, some of the good.
I have a couple of the goodthings at the flamecraft brew do
they have poutine?
I believe so one of my favoritethings though is they have a
penguin soft pretzel in theshape of a penguin oh, that's

(59:10):
cute he's adorable, but it doesnot come with green cheese.

Speaker 1 (59:13):
Um, um I want one of those green sour apple popsicles
again that sounds so good.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
My favorite thing, though, is I actually did get to
eat from here, um, because weall know that I don't eat meat.
They had a vegan chili.
It's a tofu, tomatoes, greenpeppers, garlic and cilantro,
and it was so good.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
It was delightful, um I'm not a huge fan of cilantro
they have grits.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
They also have a smoked pulled chicken on a
biscuit and it made me think ofyou when I saw it.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Um, they've got bloody marys.
Why?

Speaker 2 (59:45):
did that make you think of me?
Because you're sausage andbiscuits sausage and biscuits
uh-huh, they also have um a lonestar hatch chili mac and cheese
which looks very delightful uminteresting.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
But yeah, guys, so that's I mean, that's sea world
in a bit of our oh, this one wassuper weird what they have
nachos that is made with cherrycoke barbecue sauce it actually
looks pretty good.
I hate cherry Coke, so no.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
You really hate cherry Coke I hate cherry Coke.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
It's gross.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
I'm trying to see if they have your poutine.
They have the bourbon pecan piewith caramel.
That looks pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Oh, that does.
Okay, that one sounds kind ofinteresting, but yeah, that's
pretty much about it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
That's not bad, no and they have the best thing at
sea world what ignite stillhaven't seen it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Don't know how I feel about having a super loud,
crazy show at a park that's fullof animals and fire.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
There's a lot of fire .
Yeah, like so much fire I feellike that's kind of not cool I
think the animals are just kindof like they're like how I am
during hhn season when I have tohear the time show next door to
my house, which started thismorning yeah, starting rehearsal

(01:01:05):
at 8 am or sound testing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
At least it was so loud.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
But yeah, no, just lots of fire, lots of fire.
But the music is so good, sowe'll have to check it out
sometime.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
Yeah, you're gonna have to watch it um, but yeah,
guys, so that is, that was seaworld that was penguin trek.
Uh, I know there wasn't a wholelot to talk about there, but I
mean at the end of the day it'snot a super huge attraction.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
There's not a whole lot behind it it's also not a
super huge park, so I think youcould probably do it in a day oh
, you can do it in a couplehours yeah but anyhow, but yeah,
so we want to hear from youthis week.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Go ahead, click that link, you know the one in the
description box, the one thatyou're pulling up on your phone
right now, and so you're gonnastart formulating that message
while you listen?
To the end of the episode do ituh click that link, send us a
text and let us know have youever been to any sea world ever?

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
bush gardens and what ?

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
was what was that trip like?
Did you like it, did you notlike it?

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
if you've never been to a sea world.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
What's your opinion on sea world?
Do you like them?
Do you not like them?
I know there's a lot ofcontroversy protesting outside a
sea world well, I don't thinkI've seen anyone standing out
there, but we didn't go throughthat entrance, where you do see
them.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
So that's why?
Oh, because they are out thereevery day I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
There was two of them oh yeah interesting yep well
yep yep it's, it's a blast.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
I want to be that person that doesn't have any
sort of other life other thanbeing able to protest outside of
SeaWorld.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Growing up as a kid, there was one person who would
build these banners that wouldsay shame on, and then they were
like shame on Maryville College, shame on Blount Memorial
Hospital, shame on McGee TysonAirport.
And he would just sit outside,whatever the entrance was, with
his big sign and I neverunderstood why.
No one ever told me why airportand he would just sit outside,
whatever the entrance was, withhis big sign and I never
understood why.
No one ever told me why.

(01:02:56):
But as an adult I think it hadsomething to do with when these
areas were being constructed.
Um, they used illegalimmigrants in their workforce,
so he was shaming them for usingillegal immigrants.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
I cannot confirm nor deny that that's actually what
it was, but I have heard thatthat's what I just would love to
be the person that doesn't havea single life or care, and it's
okay with my own thoughts youdo have a single life I know,
but like I want to, I want to bethe person that sits in a lawn
chair that's okay with my ownthoughts and that's all for
today's episode in next week'sepisode, I will be by myself

(01:03:32):
correct, because I'm gonna gohang out with the animals at
bush yes, hey guys, do us afavor before, uh, you log off
for the day or put that phonedown.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Please be sure that you comment, like, subscribe,
share our podcast with yourfriends.
We have almost 30 episodes out.
We have four reviews on applepodcasts help us guys.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
We want to be cool get us out there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Let your friends know who we are.
If you know someone that youthink would be a fun guest on
our podcast, or you know abusiness or anything that we
should interview, please let usknow.
You can also use that textfeature in the show to get in
contact with us directly if youwant to do that, but we need
your help.
We are technically a smallbusiness.
We are business we are currentlya business that's way in the

(01:04:24):
red very, very in the red um,but yeah, we definitely want to
do some things, pay our medicalbills so I could get some
allergy meds.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
We we want to be able to do some, definitely want to
do some things.
Help us pay our medical billsso I can get some allergy meds.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
We want to be able to do some more advertising and do
some bigger things with thepodcast, but in doing so we need
to be able to grow our podcastso we can start monetizing our
episodes and we can startspending some more money on
advertising.
So if you guys would help usout by organically helping us
advertise, by sharing us withpeople you may know, uh, we
would appreciate it yes, pleasethat's all you had to say.

(01:04:57):
I'm out here like begging forour lives and that's all you got
that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
You did all the begging for us.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
No need for two of us to sound pitiful and this is
why this is why no one's gonnado it now.
Ashley, what ashley meant tosay she'd be extremely grateful.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
I really would thank you so much um, but yeah, you
know what else I'd be gratefulfor?
What is, if all of thoselisteners that we have, all?
How many of them?

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
a lot we've got.
We.
We do some like random numbershere and there, but we have like
30, something consecutive.
They listen like within thefirst 48 hours the episodes out.
So we thank you.
First 48 law, Get it First 48.
That's the most importantamount of hours in a missing
person case.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
Oh, my God, I'm done now.
Thank you, I got to go eatcookies.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
Have fun oh okay, oh, she's back.
No, I'm not now.
Thank you, I gotta go eatcookies.
Have fun.
Oh Okay, oh, she's back.
No, I'm not.
Oh, I just came with you.
She's still here.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
The first 48 hours.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
What were you saying about our 48 guests?

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
I don't remember.
I don't remember.
Hey, it's my birthday in twodays.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Okay, bye.
Hey, it's my birthday in twodays.
Okay, bye, and she's gonna beold I'm not gonna be old.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
I don't want to talk about it.
I will be 28 years old ashley,what's one before we go?

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
one piece of advice that you want to give our
listeners today, any day now.
I'm thinking crickets shut up.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
You're not old.
You just need to find somethingfun to do with your friends.
That's it.
So do something fun.
Take a deep breath, take anallergy pill, drink your water
and go do something fun that's alot more than one piece of
advice well, that's my advicehydrate before you died right

(01:07:04):
you definitely do that.
Have find good friends, goodpeople and do something fun.
What's your advice?

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Hmm, if.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
Crickets.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
If no, I'm at least making noise.
You made no noise, I wentExactly.
Mine would be if there'ssomething you want to do, like I
don't know, getting out of yourhometown, go Do it Explore,
even if it doesn't like pan outthe way.
Getting out of your hometown,go Do it Explore, even if it
doesn't like pan out the waythat you hope for it to Do it

(01:07:39):
anyways.
And get out of your hometown andyou'll very quickly find out
that there are a lot ofdifferent people in this world
and you very quickly realize youare not Home Well, not home,
but like home, well, not home,but like I don't know.
You realize that the way oflife in your home is not the way

(01:07:59):
of life everywhere else in theworld.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
That's a valid statement and that is on point.
Boom.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
So, guys, until next time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
I think we're going to talk about your first time
going to Bush.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
Way to ruin that outro.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
Well, I have to talk about some things first.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
All right, Next week Busch Gardens.
And my birthday Until next timestay safe, stay educated.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
And, of course, share our podcast with your friends,
your family.
And maybe next week we'll haveour favorite bartender.