Unplugging Universal Islands of Adventure's 25 Anniversary & Universal's New DreamWorks Land

Send us a text

In this episode, We discuss what has been going on in our lives and celebrate the 25th anniversary of Universal Island's of Adventure! We also take you behind the scenes of our recent preview of Universal Studios new themed area Dreamworks Land!

We want to hear from you, use the link above to text in and tell us what you think about the new Dreamworks Land for a chance to have your response read on our next episode.

 Be sure to follow us on socials!
http://www.orlandounpluggedpodcast.com

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's episode contains information about
universal destinations andexperiences.
The opinions of the hosts orguest speakers may not align
with the opinions, values orethics of NBCUniversal or its
affiliates.
Orlando Unplugged Podcast doesnot speak for the brand or the

(00:22):
company.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Always be iconic yeah but she's the iconic shame.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I like it.
I like controversy.
Contains information I amdrinking kombucha.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
You're listening to Orlando, unplugged, celebrating
life in living color with Dustinand Ashley.
Grab a cocktail or a mocktailand let's get unplugged, orlando
.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hey there, guys, and welcome back.
I'm Dustin and I'm Ashley, andthis is our 20th episode of.
Orlando Unplugged podcast 20episodes.
This is crazy.
I know we're old, we're so old.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
No, you are old, you know, I have another I'm
thriving.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
I have another podcast now.
I think I've only made likeI've had it since 2022, and I've
only done like 12 episodes.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
That's because Orlando Unplugged.
There's so much to talk about.
Well, we're updating weekly.
We are updating weekly, Minusthat one week we won't talk
about.
It was a dark time for.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Orlando Unplugged.
Yeah Well, guys, we have agreat episode for you On today's
episode.
You can get ready to embarkwith us on a magical journey as
we take you behind the scenes ofUniversal Florida's newest
themed land, DreamWorks Land.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Join us as we give you peek into this enchanting
world where your favoriteDreamWorks characters will come
to life.
We'll be sharing our firstimpressions, thrilling ride
experiences and someunforgettable moments from this
whimsical wonderland.
Come on, guys, it's gonna befun.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
So one of the really great things about our hosting
site buzzsproutcom is they takecare of everything for us.
They push us out to all ofthese platforms that you guys
are listening to us on.
We use co-host ai to help uscome up with our episode
descriptions and chapters and itwrites our transcript for us.
So if you guys ever want toread through our podcast or
clarification on anything thatwe say, you can see it.

(02:21):
But one of the newest featuresthat they just released this
past week that we are rollingout officially starting today is
the new use of fan mail.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
I'm so excited for this.
I think this is so cool, thisconcept that our guests will be
able to listen to us when we'retalking and then be able to send
us a text message while they'relistening to us or even after
the episode is over, so to giveus some feedback, to give us
their thoughts or even just likehey, this is really freaking
cool.
I think that's so neat.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
That's basically what it is right yeah, it gives you
guys an opportunity to reach outto us directly without having
to go and find our various formsof social media.
Now, that being said, we stillwant you guys to follow us so
you can see what we're doingoutside of our studio.
But this way, you guys can textus directly and you can ask us
questions.
You can give us a pep talk, youcan tell Ashley and I that

(03:12):
we're rambling on a subject toolong.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Hey, you can also give us any sort of new podcast
episodes you'd like us to cover,so this is super cool.
So instead of having todinosaur Gmail us, you can text
us instead.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Exactly so today, having to dinosaur gmail us, you
can text us instead.
Exactly so today we're going togive you guys a specific call
to action to see who are islistening, because we know that
there are a few very devoutlisteners out there.
So after today's episode, wewant to hear from you guys, so
please text us.
That link is going to belocated on the episode
description for wherever you'relistening.
So if you're listening to us onapple, just look directly below
our photo on your phone ordevice that you're using and

(03:48):
you'll see the button that saystext us or message us.
Go ahead and click the link inthere, and we want to know what
your opinions are excuse me, onDreamWorks Land at Universal
Studios.
We want to know if you'reexcited for it, what you think
about it.
So reach out and let us know.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Oh, I can't wait.
I'm so excited to read all yourguys' response.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Another thing that we want to do before we jump into
today's episode is give you guysa weekly update on what's going
on with me and Ashley.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Woo so, ashley.
Our lives are so cool.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Oh yeah, Let me tell you.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
They're so cool, dude people.
People would look at the two ofus and be like I'm jealous.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, do you want to know something that's not cool
about me?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
So about in middle school I started having some
health issues.
Love that.
I get this weird pain.
It's like a really tight knotand it hurts really bad, and
it's about where my sternumstarts to separate, on my chest.
So about where your rib cageseparates to the top of my belly
button.
So about where your rib cageseparates to the top of my belly
button, and the best way that Ican explain it is think of it

(04:49):
like labor pains.
You know how it comes it spikesup and it goes away.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
I do know labor pains .
I gave birth to my daughter,bruce, good, good.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
So that is the pain that I get.
It's a really sharp pain inthere.
It can last anywhere from like30 seconds to over a minute, and
then it goes away for oneminute, 20 minutes.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
An hour comes back and when it comes back, is it
worse?

Speaker 3 (05:12):
I mean, it's like the same.
It's sometimes it hurts a lot,sometimes it hurts a little bit.
And then my doctor's like, oh,it could be gas, oh, it could be
this.
I've had a colonoscopy, I'vehad an endoscopy, I've had CAT
scans, I've had a HIDA scan.
I've had all these proceduresfor them to try to determine
what this issue is, and they'venever been able to figure out
what it is.
So probably about eight or nineyears ago, the pain became so

(05:36):
severe that I had to go to thehospital.
Because what happens when thispain hits?
It becomes so painful that mydoctor has explained that my
body believes that my internalorgans may be in danger.
So then it starts to restrictblood flow to the center of my
body, which in turn causes me topanic, which throws me into an
anxiety or a panic attack, and Istart hyperventilating.

(05:58):
And then the next thing, youknow, my face locks up like this
and I can't move.
My lips and my fingers lock upand my toes curl up and, like I,
just my whole body locks upbecause I'm hyperventilating and
I'm panicking, and it'sextremely painful.
It feels like my thumb is goingto literally rip off of my hand
because my thumb just folds inon the palm.

(06:19):
Yeah Well, two nights ago I wasout with some friends at STP
after I had a really long dayout in the heat.
It was, you know, 98 degrees andI worked outside for nine hours
, spent probably less in totalacross the entire day.
Less than an hour was spentindoors and my body was

(06:42):
exhausted.
I ended up helping anotherdepartment close their area
because they were a little shortstaffed, and for two and a half
hours I was doing manual laborout in the heat at seven o'clock
at night.
So the sun was going down,which was nice.
It was really hot and when Igot to STP I could feel the
twinge in my body and I knewimmediately.

(07:03):
I was like this is not astomach ache, it's higher than
my stomach and it's an odd pain.
Well, it came and went.
Fortunately it wasn't reallybad.
Woke up the next day, yesterday,and I just felt horrible and I
went to work and the current jobthat I'm doing I have to stand
for the whole job and that justmade it a lot worse because I'm
trying to interact withcustomers and, you know, put
your guest the whole job.
And that just made it a lotworse because I'm trying to

(07:25):
interact with customers and youknow, put your guest service
face forward and that's reallyhard to do when you want to
double over in pain.
So I got to go home from workearly yesterday.
I went home about four hoursearly and rested up.
Today it seems to have wanedoff a little bit.

(07:45):
I woke up this morning notfeeling too great and I kind of
still have that.
It's like a soreness.
I'll be sore for three daysafterwards.
It's so weird.
It's almost like I don't know.
I guess a muscle inside my bodyis probably like twitching or
something.
I don't know.
But it's not a fun time.
I don't recommend it.
And my doctor said if I windback up in the hospital, he
recommends an exploratorysurgery where they would go

(08:09):
inside my body through my bellybutton and just take a look at
the inside of my body and seewhat's going on.
Because when I'm experiencingthis pain and I wind up in the
hospital they take, you know,they give me a cocktail which is
essentially you're justdrinking a numbing fluid into my
body.
But usually by the time I getthere the worst of it's already
over and the only thing they'vebeen able to determine at the

(08:31):
hospital is my white blood cellcount spikes up during that time
, which tells them thatsomething is wrong with my body
and my body believes it's underattack, so it produces
additional white blood cells totry to fight it off.
But other than that, this issomething that I've lived with
since about 2008, 2009, and it'snow 2024.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
So you're doing great yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
I haven't had any of these issues.
I think I had one like about ayear or so ago, but outside of
that I hadn't had issues inalmost five years, so this is
the first time it's hit me.
I don't have a primary carephysician here in orlando yet.
I have, I have insurance, but Ijust I haven't gone out and I
haven't found one becauseorlando is just so big and I
just don't have time because Iwork seven days a week, um, and

(09:19):
I think that that might havesomething to do with it.
I think the fact that I'mworking seven days a week right
now, I think what happened wasthat day I pushed my body so
hard.
I think I pushed it past itsphysical limits.
So I don't know if this is aphysical issue that I'm having
or like a mental stress thingthat I'm having.
I don't know what it is.
Fortunately, like I said, youknow I'm feeling a little better
today, though, but yeah, that'swhat's going on with me this

(09:42):
week, ashley.
What's going on with you?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
that was I'm glad you're doing better.
I was very that freaks me out,um, but no, I'm glad you're
doing okay.
I was very worried for you, um,I I did something really
strange and to most are youyourself.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Strange and unusual correct.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Most people are going to be like oh, this is no big
deal.
But for those that know ashley,this is, this is a pretty big,
pretty big thing.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
I ran errands alone yesterday oh, I thought you were
gonna say you ran errands and Iwas like like you go adult but
I did them by myself, like Ididn't.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
so I struggle very badly.
Um, it came on about, uh, closeto two years now, um, of right
after to that very traumaticevent that happened in my life
happened, um, and I stoppedbeing able to do things by
myself.
I stopped being able to dothings by myself.
I stopped being able to like goto theme parks, go to grocery

(10:48):
stores, I stopped being able togo out to eat by myself.
And I used to like, prior tobeing in a relationship, I used
to do things alone quite oftenbecause I had siblings and I
have siblings and a loud house.
So it was nice to like take abreak from all of that and do
something by myself.
I genuinely enjoyed the silence.
And then I got in a relationshipand then it ended very abruptly

(11:10):
and I was like I can't do this.
I can't do things alone, Ican't do it.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
And I stopped being able to doit Like, I could not do it.
It would get to a point where,like, I would go to the grocery
store and I would call somebodyand I would be on the phone with
that person the entire time.
I was grocery store.
Grocery store, grocery shoppinglike I would call my mom, I
would call Rob.
Um, there would also be timeframes where, like I would avoid

(11:32):
going to my own house because Iknew nobody was going to be
home, so I could not sit at homeby myself oh wow, that's that's
.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
I enjoyed being by myself in my home no it took a
really bad breakup for me tofinally go somewhere by myself,
because I would never do that.
I wouldn't go to a restaurantby myself or anything.
But after I went through abreakup it took me a couple of
weeks.
I really wanted to go to thisrestaurant that I loved and I
went by myself and I ended uphaving a great experience.
The server kept chatting withme.

(12:02):
I kind of talked with therestaurant owner because I used
to work there many years agoshout out Osaka and Maryville.
Tennessee.
Um, but yeah, I've learned tolove going out doing things by
myself.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
I used to like I used to love it, I would thrive on
it.
I'd go to theme parks alone.
I thought it was the greatestthing in the world.
Like I'd go out to eat bymyself, I'd go to bookstores, I
thought it was the greatestthing.
And then, when, when thishappened, I was like, I mean, I
obviously became less of aperson and this was one of the
things that stayed and lingered,even after I started to become
back who I was.

(12:32):
So it just didn't go like itdidn't and it would get like
there'd be moments where it waslike progressively worse, like
when I moved back home, Iobviously I hadn't been there in
about six years.
So, yes, everybody's like oh,that's home, so you should know
that like the back of your hand.
But in six years, a lot changesin six years so and and

(12:52):
Michigan and where I'm from.
In Michigan, a lot changed inthat time period, so having to
to go and function and do thingsby myself and and whatnot, and
where one of the restaurantsthat I was working at it was was
in a strip, like in an outdoormall.
So I'd be like, oh, I'm goingto, after I'm done working, I'm
going to go and get a cup ofcoffee and I'll go walk around.
The idea of leaving the officeto go and get a cup of coffee by

(13:15):
myself freaked me out because Ijust couldn't.
I couldn't do it Like it.
It freaked me out.
So it was about weeks ago.
A very a friend of mine worksfor a restaurant I'm a big fan
of.
So she was like come to thisrestaurant, come sit, come get a
glass of wine, come hang out.
And I was like, okay, I'll godo that.

(13:36):
So I'm, I will.
I got there and she wasobviously very, very slammed and
very busy.
So I brought my Kindle with meand I was like I was enjoying.
I was sitting at the bar and Ihad my Sauvignon Blanc and I had
my Kindle and I was like, yeah,I kind of like this.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah, it's a nice feeling.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yes, she was there, which was nice, but like, okay,
I felt alone and as much aloneas I could and for what I needed
, this was as much alone as Iwas because she was very slammed
and very busy so she wasn'table to give me all the proper,
like friend attention that Itypically would, you know, need,
especially doing an event,doing something by myself.

(14:16):
So I was like, okay, I can dothis, okay, okay.
And then yesterday I had comehome from being at the hotel and
I was like I need a couple ofthings.
Everybody was at the office.
I was like, okay, you know whatI'm going to do it.
I threw on I've been listeningto our podcast, going back to a

(14:42):
couple of old episodes of ours,and I was like I'm going to do
this, I'm going to, I'm going todo this.
And I hit up Target and I hitup HomeGoods, and then I came
home and unloaded thosegroceries and then I went to
Trader Joe's and then you calledme and you're like, hey, do you
want to have dinner?
And I was like, yeah, but Ispent a whole afternoon.
I never called my mom, I nevertalked to anybody on the phone.
I kept my headphones in.

(15:03):
I have like these big blacknoise canceling.
I go running with them, um, andI wore those into Target and I
you get people that are lookingat you like you're crazy for
wearing massive headphones inTarget.
But it was so good, it was nicelike it was.
I got a Starbucks.
I got like things that werecomforting, so I went to a place

(15:24):
I was very comfortable with soI didn't feel like I was in an
area that like if a panic attackhappened I was going to be like
too far away from home.
I was you know, 12 minutes fromthe house, so it was not too bad
if I needed to go home quickly.
But yeah, no, and I did it andI was.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
I'm very proud so why don't you tell our listeners
about what?
What happened when you got outof your Uber the other day and
told the guy you know, thanksfor picking me up.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Oh yesterday, oh, my God, okay.
So for those that don't know, Idon't have a vehicle down here,
so I rely my transportation oneither friends.
I lift everywhere, I Ubereverywhere or I walk, and I love
all of those options.

(16:09):
By the way, I am perfectlycontent in my cute little, my
cute little non-vehicle bubble.
Um.
So I went to the, I went totarget and to home goods
yesterday.
So I am a reusable bag kind ofgirl.
I hate plastic, I hate paper,so I use my reusable bags.
So I had also bought a rug forour patio.
So I get in this lift to comeback to the house and he opens

(16:32):
his trunk so I can put mygroceries and my rug in the
trunk.
I get in the car booping we're,you know, I'm vibing out to
Post Malone's new song and I'mheaded to the house and we pull
in and I'm like, oh, thank youso much, have a great day, thank
you.
And I get out of the car and hestarts driving away with my

(16:52):
bags and my brand new rug stillin the back of his trunk.
So what did I do?
I started like running afterhim and then I like bang on his
trunk.
I'm like, hi, wait, stop on histrunk.
I'm like, hi, wait, stop.
And he was like and he stopsand I pop the trunk open and he
goes, I'm so sorry.
And I was like it's fine, it'sfine, it's fine.

(17:13):
And he's like I'm so sorry, Igrabbed my stuff and I grabbed
the rug and I closed the truckand I'm just like that just
happened.
You just tried to steal mygroceries.
I bought three bottles of wineand new wine glasses.
You just tried to steal my rug.
What?

Speaker 3 (17:34):
And yet you still rated them five stars and gave
them a tip.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yes, I did.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
I mean?
I think a situation like that'sfunny because you know, I'm
sure, a lot of Uber drivers inthis area and Lyft.
They're used to picking, likebusiness, people up from the
airports or families on vacationup from the airports and
they're going to and from andyou know, I think when they drop
people off at a hotel, that'sin their brain of, hey, I need
to open the trunk so they canget their suitcases.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, not when you're picking up.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, when you're picking up residents and you're
providing them transportation,most of the time they just have
a backpack or a purse which iswith them in the car, and then,
when they get out, they closethe door and you're not
expecting them to go to thetrunks.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
I think that well, and I also think it was my own
fault too, because I'm going tolike blame myself for this,
trying to actively steal my rug,but I was like have a great day
.
And typically you said yourgoodbyes I said my goodbyes, so
I didn't I, I forgot to likeremind him hey, I need you to
open the trunk.
I mean because I I stayed atthe hotel Saturday to Sunday to

(18:31):
Monday and I had to get in alift and put my, my suitcase in
the back of his car.
So before I left the hood,before I got out of the car to
get to the hotel, I was like hi,please don't forget to pop your
trunk because my suitcase is inthere.
So I didn't do that this goaround.
Because I was just like youshould know.
I put a rug back there.
But no, that was quite great.
But yeah, I, I'm doing thingsalone.

(18:53):
I'm very proud of it.
It's terrifying, though, likeit's, this whole thing is
terrifying.
I don't know how people do itevery day, but my goal is to to
get to a point where I am backat theme parks by myself.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
I want to do that too .
Speaking of theme parks today,we are recording on this day, so
this is going to come out on alater date.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
It's coming out tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
But today is May 28th .

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yes 2024.
Yes.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Which is the official 25th anniversary of Universal
Islands of adventure that'scrazy to me so it is wild and
crazy to think that that parkhas now officially been around
um since may 28th of 1999, whichis when that park opened.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Now, according to coaster, were you uh in 99 yeah,
how old were you?

Speaker 3 (19:42):
I was born in 93 so.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
So, six I was six.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Well, technically I would have still been five
because it was October, butaccording to Coasterpediacom, in
1991, actually prior to 1991,the plot of land that this park
is on was originally planned tobe the Galleria of Orlando a
shopping center Wow.
Apparently those plans fellthrough.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
I could have had a mall within walking distance of
my house.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
You have the Mall of Millennia.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Listen, we probably wouldn't have had this apartment
complex had there not been atheme park.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, that is true, but then that fell through.
So in the late 80s Universal, Ithink they, acquired that land.
I don't know if they had itwhen it was originally planned
to be the shops.
But in 1991 universal plannedon building a second theme park
called cartoon world.
Cartoon world, the park wouldfeature attractions themed to

(20:35):
popeye, dr seuss, looney tunesand dc comic characters.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
However, those plans got canceled by the mid-1990s,
universal planned to build theproposed theme park.
The new park would be calleduniversal studios islands of
adventure.
It would also feature popeyeand dr seuss characters.
But universal failed to securethe rights for for time warner.
Universal decided to make anagreement with dc's competitor,
marvel, instead now the marvelcharacters would replace the

(21:00):
canceled dc superhero land.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
In addition, the lost continent and jurassic park
were added to the park, and thepark would be themed to
literature.
It would feature lands themedaround fairy tales, dinosaurs,
animated shorts, children'sbooks and comics let's speak,
let's let's give islands alittle bit of attention here.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
What is your favorite ?
You have to.
If you are going to a park,you're going to islands of
adventure, you're doing a day.
What do you have to ride inorder for you to feel like, hey,
I went to islands of adventuretoday?
There's two all right, tell mecat in the hat.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
I love that right because it's amazing, it's
air-conditioned and it's so muchfun it's fantastic um, I have
guests that check in sometimesand they're like I'm not gonna.
They're like oh, we're gonnaskip that it's.
And I'm like no you cannot skipit.
You have to ride it, correct.
Uh, my other is, uh, thejurassic river adventure you're
obsessed I am.
I love jurassic park.
I listen to uh michaelcrichton's jurassic park every

(21:57):
night when I go to bed I'm awareI have my alexa turn on
jurassic park on audible and Itell her to read for 30 minutes
and then I just fall asleep toit.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
So for me I let's see here it's Spider-Man.
For me that's a good one.
I really enjoy it.
I think it is very well done.
I quite enjoy that whole entireexperience very, very, very,
very well.
And it's the Seuss trolley inthe sky sky in the high seuss

(22:29):
trolley train ride.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
Yes, and it's a fun one I love that.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
I love that for the views, I love it for the concept
that I get to see every singleride and attraction and food
option.
I, I love that and I, I really,really, really enjoy that.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
So I'll be sad if they ever take that away I read
online that that ride system cango up to 60 miles an hour.
Can you imagine 60 miles anhour on that?

Speaker 2 (22:52):
stop.
I would love that.
That would be crazy next time.
Listen, let's go right now.
Can we go and try to see ifthey'll bump it up to 60?

Speaker 3 (22:58):
let's go I'm game, all right.
Well, today we've got a superfun topic, so let's dive on into
our main show I'm reallyexcited for this let's dive on

(23:43):
into our main show.
I'm really excited for this, sohere.
Recently, ashley and I got togo out and visit universal's
newest theme land during aspecial preview, so we are going
to be discussing our time atDreamWorks Land, which
officially opens on June 14th.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
I'm so excited for this, like I think this is such
a great little addition tostudios, so I thought it was
very cool that we got to.
We got to experience this first, and there's some really cool
parts that I can't wait to talkabout.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
I think my first impression that I loved the most
about this is so it's still notopen to the public.
Right now they're doing specialpass holder, annual or annual
pass holder previews.
Yes, so they have the formaluniversal fence I call it.
It's the the silver fence withthe universal like imagery in it
crossing all the way across theland, all all the way over to

(24:27):
ET, and they have two entrancepoints that you have to go up.
You have to show your annualpass or your ticket, your
special ticket, to get in andlet me tell you, I felt like we
were full on royalty.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
I was.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Because we walked in, we showed them our little
tickets and we walked our happybutts into this land.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
And all of these people are standing outside the
Spongeob store just staring atus like they are peasants and we
are royalty who are you um, andit's so pretty, though is
everybody's just like staring atyou they're just like how did
you get in there?

Speaker 3 (25:00):
yeah, why are you so special?
How?

Speaker 2 (25:02):
do we get?

Speaker 3 (25:03):
um, but yeah, when you walk in, you're immediately
greeted by like a special littlemeet and greet area that they
had.
There's this character namedGabby.
I don't know who Gabby is.
I don't know what she is.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
I just know she's at DreamWorks and I know she's very
big with little girls.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, so they had her , and I think Puss in Boots was
out there at that time.
But from my understanding that'sgoing to be a like a Gabby has
like a spot and then beside herthere's like a general spot
where it's supposed to be a mixof different DreamWorks
characters throughout the dayyes, um, but I think your first
impressions I think it's verycolorful, oh, it's beautiful, um

(25:41):
, I think there's a decentamount of shade, even though,
like they, literally I mean,they took out everything from
the original land and put inthese new things, and I think
that it was great because theystill put in decent sized trees
and structures that create agood amount of shade.
Now, when you first walk in,it's a large open plaza, so
there's not a lot of shade inthe very beginning, but as you

(26:02):
get farther into the land,there's a lot more shade, um,
and you can still see what I'mgonna call hidden easter eggs to
the land that was there before,which we'll get into you know
what else I really enjoyed?

Speaker 2 (26:13):
I really enjoyed all the benches that were there.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
There was a lot of seating.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
That was nice, so like which is great because this
is a kid's area in a kid's playarea, so it gives parents and
people places to sit while thekids play there's also a lot of
it's a it was it felt, very openso that, like strollers could
get into this area as well,which was super nice.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
So I didn't feel like when, because there was a
couple strollers during ourpreview I didn't feel like they
were having to like hit anklesbecause this is such a tight
space that they're having towalk through, like in other
parts of of some of the otherlands yep, um, and before we
dive completely into that landbecause of this new area and
we'll go more in depth into thisbut there's a Shrek meet and

(26:51):
greet with and they builtShrek's house from the swamp.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
So I am a massive Shrek fan.
It's my sister's nickname, sowhen it came to this, I thought
this was so cool.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, oh, it's raining.
What's interesting about thisis they built Shrek's house
directly in front of an existingattraction, the ET Adventure.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
So ET has recently gotten a facelift.
She's got a new facading overher building entrance.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
I do have a photo, so I will be putting it on our
social media.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
They moved the sign for E's adventure farther up yes
, next to dreamworks land, andit's a beautiful new sign.
It's gorgeous um, so et got abit of a facelift.
All right, as you go in andit's really really pretty
because the entrance for et now,or the original entrance for et
, was right where shrek's houseis.
So they've moved the entranceto et up farther along the side

(27:44):
of dreamland, which created likea new area for it which is
really nice.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
I feel like it created a better flow there too.
So as much as everybody's likeoh.
Shrek replaced the entrance.
No, it was kind of needed.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
I think it's a little tight right now, but they still
have all the constructionfencing up or the preview
fencing up around ET, so no onecan sneak in from the side.
So I think once that comes downtoo, that'll open up space and
it gives more seating.
Yeah, um, but as soon as youget in past that meet and greet
area.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
On the right hand side you have the shrek area.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
Yes, this is so pretty, um, and, I think, one of
the coolest in their house.
I know I think one of thecoolest and things that they
have in this area is shrek'shome yes um, which is the formal
meet and greet, like we've seenthroughout the park in the past
.
Donkey is there.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Fiona.
We saw Princess Fiona.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
I saw she was out for one and then she wasn't out for
another, but Shrek and Donkeyare always there.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yes, but I think Princess Fiona is on rotation.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yeah, but it was neat .
We did not get in line and wedidn't do the meet and greet,
but we watched other peopledoing it and Donkey is just as
sassy as he ever was.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
I love it.
I love him.
He's so moody.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
And I think one of the coolest aspects that we saw
that you really like someoneI'll let you talk about is when
the characters are not out doingthe meet and greet.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, to me this was the coolest thing.
So we were sitting down at abench and we could hear all of
this, and so when they are intheir house, in their hut not
there anymore you can hearconversations that they're
having inside the hut, so it'sPrincess Fiona and Shrek having
a marital spat about what timethe kids were going to bed.

(29:22):
You're hearing Donkey make acomment about.
I think he was making a commentabout food or something he's
making waffles.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
I heard Gingy was in there, I believe.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
There was comments about waffles.
There was comments about whattime the kids should go to bed,
which I thought was super cute,but you can hear all of that
while you're waiting for them.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
I think that's great for the kids because it gives
you this level of immersion whenthe characters aren't there and
like the kids, like you know.
I want to see Shrek or blahblah blah.
Mom can say, like you know,listen, they're inside the house
, they're not accepting guestsright now, and I think it's cool
because it brings this wholelevel of immersion to where it
really brings you into the worldof Shrek and the land of Far,

(30:05):
far Away and those things, and Ithink it's great.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
But one of the other things that I love about Shrek-
but I really like the fact,though, that this is something
that they can use as a way tohey instead of.
I remember when we were a kid,we would go to Disney World, and
when the characters would needa break, they would be like, oh,
they have to go back to their,their land, or poo needs to go
get honey, or whatever, andyou'd be like, but he just

(30:30):
walked back there.
That's not as hot like that.
How's he gonna get honey?

Speaker 3 (30:33):
yeah, they walk behind a fence, yeah, so it.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
It didn't match this matches.
Oh, they're going in theirhouse, and not only are they
going in their house, but youcan actually hear them talking
while they're in the house yeahso way to go, universal.
I thought this was great.
10 out of 10 hats off.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Another thing that I love about the shrek area is
swamp snacks this was somethingthat I had been looking forward
to from the very get-go greencheese.
Um yeah, so one of the thingsthat I know that rob is the most
happiest about this, becauseevery time we go to disney he
has to get a mickey shapedpretzel yes and now, every time
we go to universal, he has theopportunity to get a shrex

(31:10):
shrexel which is a shrek shapedpretzel and it comes with green
cheese which is so weird.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
So we ordered this.
We got the, the shrek pretzeland and the green and the green
cheese and it shrexel, shrexel.
There you go, oh boy it threwme off, like the green cheese
threw me off and I think it'sthe weirdest, because I mean it
just tastes like nacho cheeseyes but it you're just like it's
green and it's not like limegreen.

(31:40):
No, this is like puke greenit's ogre green it is.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
It is literally ogre green cheese it's his earwax
that he pulls out of his ear ohmy god, it is but it I mean it
tasted really good yeah no, itwas great, but it's, it's green
now they have a couple of otheroptions that we didn't get, and
I believe everything that we'reabout to talk about is either 13

(32:07):
, I think 12 something was thehighest I saw.
So these are definitely snacks.
Um.
Another thing that we didn'tget was the swamp dog, which was
a green cheese hot dog, so, andthen it's wrapped in a pizza
pretzel bark um, I am not a bigfan of hot dogs at theme parks,

(32:28):
um, so I didn't get this one, um, but I've heard a lot of people
be like it's weird, but it'sgood because there's like green
cheese in the bread and it's,and I'm like this is a very
shrek thing it's just you knowwhat universal creative should
get a cookie for this, becausethey came out with some weird
snacks.
But it matches the theming sowell here can you imagine being

(32:51):
in the test kitchen for all ofthis?
Like being the person that getsto sit down and try these foods
.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
Stop, that's my dream job just to get paid to eat
theme park, to try differenttheme park foods oh, sign me up.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
What was one of the other things that we didn't get
that they had, so so they havetwo different options for a far,
far away waffle.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
So you can get this with either a ham and cheese or
you can get this as pepperoniversion.
So we decided not to do eitherof those two options.
But I thought it was super cutethat on the display that was
showing all of these optionsyou've got Shrek's face
plastered next to the Shrexeland the hot dog and then you
have Donkey that's the oneselling your pretzels or the

(33:30):
waffles to you, and I'm justlike this is so cute.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
And the way that I've heard it is it's like a waffle,
but in the batter of the waffleis the ham and cheese and the
pepperoni, so it's cooked in themiddle of it.
Correct, which I think isinteresting and weird.
I want to go back and try itsometime um one of the 14th when
it opens one of the items thatI did get that day because we
want to try it out, was the mudpuddle pudding.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Um, I think the name was a little deceiving but it
was still really good, becauseit's not pudding, it's cake yeah
, like it's cake and I don'tknow.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
I think it might have been pudding, but it was more
of an icing texture because it'sa frozen treat.
So I think it's a frozen treatthat gets thawed out for sale.
But it was.
I mean it was still good.
It comes with chocolate pudding, cookie crumbles cake and then
gummy worm and it had theseweird little white crunchy dots
on it like Rice KrispieCrunchies.
And you get a shovel.

(34:24):
What did I do?

Speaker 2 (34:26):
You ate the gummy worm and I didn't get a bite.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
I did.
I did eat that gummy worm.
It was so good, worst bestfriend ever.
It wasn't like over oh blessyou.
It wasn't overpowering sweet,because I have a big thing.
You okay over there, my word,she's dying.
It wasn't overpowering sweet,it was just that right amount of
like.
I need something sweet, alittle pick me up.

(34:49):
I ended up not eating all of itbecause we were on a time
crunch and there was a coupleother things that we wanted to
do, but I think we all tried it.
We ate about half of it and itwas good and I think that it's a
great treat.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
It's a pretty decent sized portion, though, too.
Yeah, I definitely think myfavorite thing that we ate
during this whole thing was theyhave a frozen ogre sour apple
ice pop.
So they also have a chunkydonkey chocolate ice pop.

(35:19):
Chunky donkey, chunky donkeythat is Chocolate ice pop.
Universal in their wording.
So it's two different popsiclesand you get the, and the best
part about them is they'remolded to either shrek's face
for this, our apple, or for thechocolate one it is shaped to
donkey donkey and I'm just likesorry, there was an email that

(35:43):
just hit up my thing, um, andI'm just like this is so cool
and they come in their ownlittle packaging, which is super
cute.
I loved the stick is verystrange.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
It is a weird stick.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
It's a very weird stick, but it makes it easier to
hold, which is pretty nice.
I also read that the stick isheld like that for kids with
disabilities that aren't able tohold something properly, that's
why the?
stick is shaped that way, souniversal attaboy, um, but I
thought this was so good.
I want to go back and try thechocolate one, but I loved the

(36:16):
apple one.
I thought that was sorefreshing.
It was very, very hot the daythat we went.
This was super refreshing.
I could have eaten like 1200 ofthose and been content with my
day.
Like it was melting very, very,very, very fast, but it was so
good that's okay, we ate itbefore it melted yeah, we did um
but I was very happy with that.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
So yeah, right, uh, right now, right next to the
shrek meet and greet, you haveshrek swamp for little ogres,
which is a play area designedfor children.
Um, and one of the coolestthings that I found out about
this area is there are littlebaby ogre feet imprinted into
the concrete walkways.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Which I absolutely loved about that and I think
it's a great thing, think asmaller version of Camp Jurassic
over in Islands of Adventure,and that's kind of like what
this play area is Minus all thecaves, yeah, minus the caves
yeah, minus the caves um, I didvery much enjoy going up and,
and I also enjoyed the fact thatthis was wheelchair accessible
as well.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
So, um, children with any sort of uh, ecv or or a
push wheelchair are able to goall the way through this entire
thing.
Um, they're also experienced.
They're able to experience oneof my favorite things about this
, which was the pinocchiodoorbell.
Um, so you walk up, you hit alittle tree stump and it rings
pinocchio and he gives you a funfact about, um, shrek and

(37:39):
fiona's marriage, which Ithought was super cute.
So he like we did it and it'san.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
It's an animatronic.
There's an actual pinocchio upin the little tree house and he
pops out and he's so cute.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
I just I I have I want to know if his nose starts
growing, if he starts tellinglies I was looking.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I didn't necessarily see it move, but I'm pretty sure
it looked like it had theability to um.
His eyes moved, he blinked, hismouth moves his arms and hands
move so he's a fully articulateanimatronic, which is
interesting because he's fullyoutdoors and in the elements.
So I'm interested to see how hecontinues to work.
But I thought that was reallycool.

(38:17):
I think you got some video, Iknow I have a video of this
random woman doing it.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
So we'll probably post those videos online so you
guys can see some of the stuffthat we experienced to Pinocchio
because Rob went with us yeah,rob went down one of the slides,
the coolest slide, the fartingslide, the farting slide.
So it's an outhouse.
It's very specific.
It is Shrek's outhouse in thevery first movie.
You see Shrek's outhouse.

(38:43):
I think it's just in the firstone.
Yeah, so it's the door with the, with the crescent moon shaped
onto it, and the coolest part isyou walk in to this to get
ready.
This is the entrance for theslide, the poop shoot, and I
think that is that what it'scalled.
I think that's what we justdeemed it.
But as you're going through itand you're sliding through, it

(39:04):
makes farting noises and I justlove that and it looks like
there was.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
There's a total, I think, of three slides.
Yes, there's two.
Uh, I call them rope ladders.
It's where you like.
You go in and then you crawl uponto the next platform.
Then you crawl up to the nextplatform and then they have an
overhanging rope area, um,that's just open underneath so
you can go out and climb on that.
That's similar to Camp Jurassic, so.
But, like as Ashley was saying,the great thing about this is

(39:31):
you can get up to that level ina wheelchair or ECV.
So children that do have theability to transfer out their
parents can take them up top,they can transfer them over to
the slide, the child can slidedown and the parent can then go
to the bottom with thewheelchair and transfer the
child back in.
So those children really dohave an opportunity to be able
to play a part in this which wasso cool.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
It also is nice for not just for children in ecv and
wheelchairs, but also forgrandparents, that maybe,
instead of climbing up all ofthose things, it's a lot easier
for them to use that kind of uhsystem there, because it's it's
not, it's it's one flat surface,which is super nice it's, it's
very inclusive, oh um.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
And the one thing that about dreamworks sentinel
is there's water elementseverywhere so in shreks.
You've got the splash pad.
Which is it?
It is, uh.
There's no like pooling area,there's no pool with water, it's
just a splash pad.
But they've got like imprintsof lilies and then those weird
things.
Like I call them the corn dogplant, cause it has like the
little corn dog shape on top.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
I'm done.
I don't know what those areactually called.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
I think it may be a part of lilies, I'm not sure,
but it has like sprinklers inthem, so water comes out there.
On the top of the playgroundthere is an area that have water
cannons over the splash area.
Yes, so you can play in thewater there and splash.
My personal favorite area ofShrek's land is King Harold's
Swamp Symphony.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
That was so cute.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
So you go over, there's a statue of King Harold
the frog in frog form.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Do you know who King Harold is?

Speaker 3 (41:03):
Isn't it Fiona's dad?

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah.
And then there's a bunch oflittle frogs that go out to the
left and right of him and theirmouths articulate, and there are
lily pads on the ground.
As you step on the lily pad,the frog mouth will open and it
will make a tune, so you canjump from the lily pad to lily
pad and play all of these soundsand music.
I thought it was so cute whichwas, which was super, super fun

(41:26):
and you hear king harold go andhe he speaks during it.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
He'll, I think he says what a lovely sound or what
a lovely, a lovely melody orsomething during during this as
well.
So I was like this is reallyadorable.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
I love it it was, it was, it was cool.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
I like it was just a fun little thing the land that I
or here's the area that I don'tunderstand because I'm not I've
never I've watched shrek.
I've seen shrek a thousand andone times, but I've never seen
the spinoff, the puss in bootsspinoff.
So, mama luna, feline, festa,fiesta, um, it seems to be a

(42:00):
take on um, like computer gamesin a sense.
So you, you walk in and you hitbuttons and you spin some of the
panels and there's like a spraybottle and there's things like
this, and then I don't knowfully if you are supposed to
like try to do all those thingsand then you win something.
I don't know if this is just no.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
to me it just seems like an interactive thing where
you get to play with cats, butthey're obviously digital cats.
They're um, they're animated onscreens.
Um, now, I will say there wasample signage throughout the
land that said that theseparticular attractions are in
technical rehearsals.
Um, so when we, when we went tothis, not all of the elements

(42:45):
were working the whole time.
Um, some of them were, some ofthem weren't, but there's, there
are four screens and in theback there's four different
things there's a spray bottle,there's this like wand stick and
there's two other things.
I don't remember what they are.
I think those steering wheelsthose work specifically for one
of the four screens and there'san image of whatever like the

(43:06):
spray bottle would be a spraybottle image on the the far
right screen and when you wouldspray it it would spray water on
the cats on the screen.
And then, as you go up to thescreens, there are two buttons
per screen that if you, if youclick that button, it would
animate something on that screen.
For one was you press thebutton and then, like a, a door

(43:27):
to a bathroom would open yeahand every time it was something
different.
It was a cat, like trying tojump from the counter to the
bathtub, but he misses and helands in the bathtub and it
splashes water, um and it's.
It just seems to be like alittle interactive thing to keep
the kids busy.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Um for what?
So shade covered, which wassuper nice yeah so it was a nice
area to to get out of the sunfor a little bit, which I really
liked.
It just was very confusing forme.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
It was, and I always say people seem to be having a
fun time.
Yeah, it was in technicalrehearsal, so not every button
worked every single time peoplepressed it, but this is the
first time that theseattractions were really getting
used on a regular basis formultiple hours straight.
So it's giving, uh, universalcreative and universal tech an
opportunity to work throughthose things and it seemed like

(44:11):
everyone was having a fun time.
And there's a cat.
I don't remember its name, Idon't know if it was mama luna I
think it was um.
She's gray and black but it wasso funny because she walked in
while all these other adults arein here playing and she starts
playing with the lever for thecat tree and the cat tree like

(44:32):
spins and shakes and it throwsall the cats off and she starts
like dancing and she's so happyand it was just.
It was absolutely adorable tosee the universal characters.
Join in on this fun with peoplelike you.
Didn't just have to get in lineand take a picture with them,
but there was that fullimmersion of people getting to
interact with these charactersoutside of a standard meet and
greet correct and I don't knowif that's going to be standard
for universal once it opens tothe public.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
I really hope so, um, but yeah, I really liked it I
thought it was pretty good, butyeah, no, I really don't,
because I've never seen the pissand boots spinoff, so I was
very confused.
But I saw that it was cool, andI really appreciated the break
from the sun, which was nice.
This is the area, though, thatI really really liked, and, as
much as everybody's going tokind of give me some crap for it

(45:14):
, I really enjoyed this.
So, in DreamWorks, there isanother sub area of this that is
Trolls Village, so this iswhere you can meet Poppy, and
the troll coaster is here, andthere's some treats and things
like that.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
so what did you call the troller coaster the last
time we were reading something?
What'd you call it the caterbus, the cater bus the cater bus
.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
The cater bus because it's a caterpillar hello hello
oh hi have a wonderful day atwork.
I love you, miss you um ladiesand gentlemen, that was jul.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
We didn't know she was home.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
So I really enjoyed this.
So the troll coaster is afull-on copycat of the old
attraction that used to be theirwoody woodpeckers roller
coaster, which I loved assomebody who loves the
barnstormer, this is the sameconcept.

(46:10):
I loved it, thought it wasgreat.
So then when they were like hey, we're closing it, but we're
gonna turn it into somethingcool, I was like like okay, what
are we turning it into?
This is terrifying, utterlyterrifying.
The Caterbus, the Caterbus lookit's first off.
The entire vehicle is acaterpillar with like the most
terrifying face I have ever seenin the entire planet.

(46:31):
And then you get on this thingand it is Woody the Woodpecker,
so it's like oof, oof, stop.
It is Woody the Woodpecker, soit's like oof, oof, stopping and
going and stopping and goingand it goes really fast and
you're just like, oh my gosh.
And you know what's crazy?
It's the Maxi.
It's only 21 miles per hour.
But I swear to God, I thoughtwe were going 80.
Yep.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
It was fun.
It was definitely a greatre-theme of that attraction.
So I mean's it's a kid'scoaster.
It's a small coaster.
It's got a 27 foot drop, whichis into what I would call an
extreme s curve, the same asthunderhead at dollywood, but
it's not a huge drop um or forthose that live locally, it's
the exact same thing as thebarnstormer yep, when at the top
of the lift hill there's like aspider web and there's some

(47:14):
spider uh statues throughout theattraction, which I'm sure has
something to do with the movie.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
It is so.
The caterpillar is trying toprotect the trolls from the
spiders, so it's getting ustrolls out of the way from the
spiders.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Interesting.
It's a cute little fun ride,but they're not scary spiders.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Oh gosh Please.
Parents.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Oh yeah, no, they're adorable.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
They're like super cute, nothing, nothing.
There's no animatronics here,it's all a fun.
Good ride pops out at you.
They're just statues you canfit.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
I'm gonna call it two standard size adults into one
seat height.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
But yes, you can do that yeah, you and rob rode
together.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
I rode by myself, um, so I've got that credit now, um
, but it was a fun little ride.
It's not a super long ride,it's just one one, one round and
then you're back off.
Seems super quick, seems likethe throughput for that will be
really, really good.
And one of the great thingsabout this queue and again it's
great with Universal is theirqueue line is completely ADA

(48:13):
accessible.
So if you have children inwheelchairs, you don't have to
go through a completely separateentrance, you are just like
everyone else at universalstudios and you get to be with
those other people in line andyou get that full, that full
experience of waiting in line.
Everyone loves waiting in line,but it's great because it's
it's a completely inclusivequeue line and I really like

(48:33):
that about universal I didappreciate the fact that the
queue line though was it had thefans.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
It was a little bit of shading that was in there,
which was super nice.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
A little bit of covered walkway, yeah, and it's
very colorful.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Very colorful, except don't look at the do yourself a
favor and don't look at thecaterpillar.
Okay, that's all I got to sayon that.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
Now for the little tykes that aren't quite tall
enough um to ride thisattraction.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
Excuse me, they did create a little area called
poppy's playground which is thepink troll, the iconic pink
troll that everybody loves whatdoes she do?
No, this isn't the one thatfarts glitter.
Yeah is, it is poppy the onethat farts glitter I thought so
okay, wait, you look that up.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
You look that up.
So this area it's not a largejungle gym, it is a yeah, is it?

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Is Poppy the one that ?

Speaker 3 (49:19):
farts glitter.
I thought so Okay, wait, youtalked about Poppy.
You looked that up.
So this area it's not a largejungle gym.
It is a big tree that overhangsa small area with like a padded
ground.
There's a little bug thing forthem to climb on.
And there are these vines thathang down and have these giant
bulbs that kind of look likeplums, but they're hollow in the

(49:43):
inside so the kids can climbinside them.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
There's a seating area all the way around it for
parents so they can also sit inthe shade while the children
play or they take a rest break.
What'd you find out?
So, guy diamond is the one thatfarts the glitter, farting
troll oh, I thought poppy didthat no glitter guy.
Diamond is poppy's brother, oh,and he do be farting.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
I need to watch this movie.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Poppy's real cute, though.
She's adorable.
Have you seen her?
I have a picture of her.
Hang on.
Yeah, she's pink.
Yes, but she's like pinkeverywhere and I love it.
She's so cute.
I think she's adorable.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
Ooh, tell us about Troll Street.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
I was so sad that this was not open, because I
really, really wanted to eatthis.
When we were there, it wasclosed.
However, trolls Treats isinside the cutest little kiosk
set up it's a boom box.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
It's a big old and it is big.
It's massive.
Yeah, it's a giant stereo, Ifyou know anything about Trolls.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Trolls is all about music.
It's very, very music oriented.
So the whole spot, the wholequick service walk up or, I'm
sorry, the whole treats walk up,is all.
It's in a boom box.
It's massive, so you order inone speaker and then you pick up
in another speaker, which thatwas so cute yeah, I thought that
was really cool and I don'tknow what the full menu for

(50:54):
trolls treats is for previewthey only were offering two
items yes, if it was open yeah,it was.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
It was closed that day.
They did have a sign out frontthat said the location, that
stall, was temporarily closedand we saw some guys doing some
work on the back side of it um,but they have two treats that
were available as of then, andthe first one I'll talk about
because it's uh the boy one uhis brozone berry ice cream, and
it came in the blue troll yes soit's a waffle.

(51:22):
It's like a waffle cone, but thewaffle cone was put inside a
sleeve.
That was the face of the bluetroll and he had ears that stuck
off out from the sides and hewas?

Speaker 2 (51:31):
it was a wrapped cone , um, and it was the brozone
berry, so I'm assuming it waslike a blueberry flavored ice
cream and it's soft serve um,and then you want to talk about
the girl flavor well, I knowsome of the girl flavor, but I
don't know all the details ofthe girl flavor well, you tell
the flavor and now I can fill inI like that, so this one is the
poppylicious pink lemonade Ilove that that's all I know for

(51:53):
it, so the word the wordlemonade is not in the title,
but it is a pink lemonade softserve ice cream.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
Yes, and this one is in a poppy shaped or a poppy
themed wrap, so it has it's pinkfor poppy, the ice cream is
pink and then it has the little,her little ears sticking off
from the sides.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
But it was really cool because you get to put it
in a wrapper?
Is it because the ice cream issupposed to be their hair?

Speaker 3 (52:15):
Yeah, I believe so yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
I believe.
So, yeah, oh, it's very cute.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
Stop Universal.
So smart, I love them so much.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
I think that Universal Creative is doing a
great job of bringing immersivefoods.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Yeah, and as somebody who food obviously is my
favorite part of going to themeparks this whole land for their
food options I was very, veryhappy with.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
Now, when you go to a theme park, it is inevitable
that merchandise sales are athing.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
And there's merchandise available in certain
areas, but their main one isgoing to be Cloud Guys, high
Five Hideaway.
Now, do you know what that's?

Speaker 2 (52:49):
from Hideaway or.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
Highway Highway.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Highway High.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
Five Highway.
Do you know?
Is this a specific movie?
Is this from Trolls?

Speaker 2 (52:56):
I think this is Trolls, but I don't know.
I think this is Trolls.
You talk about it and I'll findout for you.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
They had DreamWorks merchandise available in this
store.
They had everything from justyour standard universal rainbow
stuff.
They had Kung Fu Panda itemsavailable, they had Trolls stuff
available, they had Shrek stuffavailable, so they encapsulated
all of the the dreamworks.
Ah, that's the guy.
What movie is that from trolls?

(53:25):
Okay, so that is okay.
I've seen that cloud guy before, so I know, I know what that is
?

Speaker 2 (53:31):
he's so cute, he wears tube socks.
Look at him.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
He wears tube socks, yep so this is a trolls themed
store because it is in themiddle of trolls land, but they
have all of the merchandise.
Now moving on is going to beit's kind of like my favorite
area this is, but this is where,well, it's my favorite area
because of the easter egg, whichI'm gonna.
I can't wait to show the entireinternet our amazing photo of

(54:01):
this yes, so the next area thatthey have, it's the last themed
area.
There's one more area, but it'snot really a themed area, it's
a theater.
So this is the last themed areato DreamWorks Land and it's
Kung Fu Panda Training Camp Woo.
Now, this is an interactiveplayground and themed area to
Po's village yes, so there's,this is where he grew up.

(54:23):
Yes, this is like his home.
Yes, and when you enter theland, there's a really cool sign
that you go under that Ashleyand I took really amazing Kung
Fu photos in front of, andpeople looked at us like we were
weird because we're full grownadults and we're over here like
I'm sorry, how does that goagain?
I don't know, that's my Kung Fusounds.

(54:44):
Paul would be so disappointedin you Now there's tons of wet
and dry play areas in this area,so when you first walk in, my
favorite Easter egg about thisis the village itself is the
remaining structure from thecurious george playground yes so
, um, when you walk in, you cansee it's kind of a u-shaped area

(55:07):
and um, the wind, the wind isblowing outside and it just blew
the rug up and, uh, bruce gotterrified.
Um, but look at how fluffy thetail is.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
We are so scared, brucey, are you okay?

Speaker 3 (55:21):
it tried to attack her through the window, um, but
anywho.
So getting back to it, it goesum.
You go in.
On the right hand side is likea laundromat area that has some
clothes hanging up.
There's water play elements inthis area.
None of the water was turned onwhen we were there, um, but it
was.
It was neat.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
On the far left side is mr ping's noodle caboodle and
you know who mr ping is rightthat is poe's father yes, but
he's not a panda no, because poewas adopted ah, I see um now
this he didn't want him to be akung fu master, he wanted him to

(55:57):
make noodles at the noodlecaboodle at his noodle caboodle
now I will say I love it I was alittle sad.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
I was totally hoping we would get ping's noodle
caboodle like they have out incalifornia where you literally
talked about it noodles.
Hey, go listen to that onepodcast episode, guys yeah, um,
but for this one it's got thesepoles that are supposed to be
noodles, and if you grab thepole you can spin it.
Yes, and it makes like there'sa box up top with like a jewelry

(56:24):
box bell in it, and as you spinit it makes noises like it's
ding ding, ding, ding, ding,ding.
Um, that was definitely a banjo, noises from deliverance, but
um.
But mr ping is up there now.
He is not an articulateanimatronic, he is a statue.
So his mouth doesn't move, hedoesn't blink, but, but he has
sayings yes so he's giving youhis um what, what is it?

Speaker 2 (56:49):
inspirational speeches and things like that.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
Aspirations yes, aspirations, and there's also
two little merry-go-rounds um inthat area that can do Ashley
talk about the gong.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
This was my favorite part about this entire thing.
So when you walk in and whenyou walk out, you go past this
massive gong and you have topull.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Wait, you got to say its legal name the gong of
resounding.
Resonance Resonance.
No Resonance Resonance the gongof resounding resonance.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
I love this thing.
So you step on this floor andyou go next to the gong and you
pull the cord oh sorry, brucieand the whole gong goes off, but
the floor vibrates.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
You feel the resonance of the gong it was the
coolest thing ever that was soso, so neat and over on the left
hand side they have um I justlove these names the pond of
perpetual wetness, which I justfind so funny because it's just
the universal um, but it is.

(57:59):
They've got um a little.
It's supposed to be like thelittle water tower inside the
pond where they get their water,uh, and it's just a whole
nother splash area with littlesplash buckets and stuff, and
there's a big splash bucket likeone of the ones that water,
excuse me one of the ones atwater parks that like tip over
and pour out like a hundredgallons of water on you.
They've got one of those ones atwater parks that like tip over

(58:19):
and pour out like 100 gallons ofwater on you.
They've got one of those therelove it.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Can I talk about my favorite part?
Can I talk about it?
Can I talk about it please?
Yes I loved this, so they havewhat they call poe live.
This is an interactiveexperience where kids get to
meet poe while he is supposed tobe babysitting his cousin ling
ling, and together they learn alittle bit of kung fu and how to
make a decent stir fry.
This is um Universal's concept.

(58:44):
I don't want to compare, butI'm going to it's similar to
listen, it was.
You know, it's me.
I know this, um, it's verysimilar to if you've ever been
to Epcot and you've done TurtleTalk with Crush at finding
nemo's area.
This is very similar to that.
So it is a a screen that youtalk to poe.

(59:06):
He talks back um, you can havefull conversation with him, full
dialogue with him, and then hewill teach you guys how to do
these things during this entirething.
There is no, it's um.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
Sit yourself in a scenario here there is no, I
mean, it's just a big open spaceinside the old ball pit play
area correct um, there is no airconditioning.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
This is not closed.
This is very open you're at,yeah, however however, there are
multiple fans big fans there'sbig, big fans.
There's also um.
This is fully covered, though,so you are out of the sun.
However, you are stillexperience the humidity and the
heat in this room.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
Now I want to point out one thing about this that I
really thought was cool.
That makes it different thanTurtle Talk.
So with Turtle Talk you haveCrush who just kind of floats
around, and he does move some.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
But this one from so we didn't get to experience Poe
Live that day.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
No, this is closed.
So we didn't get to experience.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Poe live that day.
No, this is closed.
So it was on B mode, where theshades are closed, and you see
Poe just moving his shadowthrough.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
But I've seen a video of it and it almost to me looks
like the performer that isbeing Poe is in a back of house
area and I don't know if he'swearing a suit or he's wearing
gloves and like feet things, buthe fully moves around this room
.
He turns his back to theaudience, he's moving his arms
up, he's grabbing things off ofthe shelves.

(01:00:27):
He's dropping those things intothe stir fry that you guys are
making.
I watched him drop a soupdumpling in and he was like shh,
don't tell Ping, but he puts itin there.
And it's so cool because it'sso just.
You really feel like poe isthere in front of you because he
can move.
He's pointing at you, he'stalking about the person in the

(01:00:47):
universal shirt.
He's calling people out in theaudience and making you
participate with him and get upand do these moves with him and
I thought that was so cool well,and you know what else.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
I really appreciated the fact that if you ride fast
and furious at universal, atstudios, you go through a show
before you get on the actualride the pre-shows but the
pre-show, they keep the samename.
Those people do not have thatname.
There's not 1200 people thatare named chris.
I mean there is, but not.
They didn't hire these peoplejust because their name is Chris

(01:01:18):
.
In this scenario, with thisattraction, the person who is
doing all these and like thespeaking part of this, actually
says the actual employee'sactual name oh yeah so I thought
that was really neat that itmatched to that because, like
I've seen some videos and stuffof on on social media of when

(01:01:40):
they did it once they like havethe the attractions attendant
help out with with part of likegetting all the kids ready to go
for the show, and he was like,hey, brenda, can you help us do
this?
And then I saw the same video acouple days later and it was a
guy and he was like hey, jim,can you help us?
So I'm curious to see, like thenext time we go in there, if

(01:02:01):
Brenda and Jim or whomever thename was, I can't remember is
used again, or if this is goingto be a different, a different
circulation.
I know people are like really,that's what you're getting
excited about.

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
I think it's a realism and it's immersive.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
So, yeah, I think that's pretty neat.
It makes the kids feel like Poeis actually right there yep, um
, and so the last thing indreamworks land.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
Neither one of us have seen this live the the show
time.
The next show time was like anhour after we had to leave
because we had to go.
Both had to work.
That day is a new show thatuniversal is bringing.
It is dreamworks imaginationcelebration, which takes place
in, formally, the barney theaterin the back left corner.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Do you know?
I didn't know this, I justfound this out and I've been
waiting for us to talk aboutDreamWorks so I could tell you
this.
My mom has photos of me beingfour in front of this theater.
I had thought we had never beento Universal in my entire life
and my mom was going through oldphotos.

(01:03:00):
Here you are and she goesAshley, I think this is
Universal.
And I was like what do you mean?
You think this is Universal?
And she put them in the mail.
They're on their way to myhouse and they are photos of me,
my mom and my dad, and I'mwearing a Barney Live shirt and
it says on the bottom UniversalStudios, florida, nice.
I'm wearing a Barney live shirtand it says on the bottom
Universal.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Studios.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Florida, nice, and I thought it was so cool, so I've
been to the Barney Theater.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
Now, the outside of this theater is probably my
favorite element in this wholeland.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Oh, it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
It's a cloudscape of just clouds.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
But the clouds make up various DreamWorks characters
.
Yes, which is cool because youknow, you know you.
Always, as a child, you'd lookin the sky and you'd be like, oh
, that cloud looks like a bunny,and that cloud looks like this,
that cloud looks like donkey,and that cloud looks like poppy,
and it's it's done in a waythat like it's a beautiful,
beautiful sky, it's not justblue sky, white clouds, I mean,
it's like it's a beautifulsunset there's pinks and blue

(01:03:55):
hues and golden hues of the sun,and it just looks really,
really pretty well, and I thinkit goes with different time
frames throughout the day.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
So I know there's certain times in the morning
where it's that sunset verypretty, very beautiful, and then
towards the end of the night itthen decreases into a sunset,
so it's more like brown or likebrown blues and and dark colors
and it's.
This is so pretty yeah nowinside the theater.

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
This, I think, is a really amazing concept of how
they put this show together andI love it.
So when you go in, you'resitting and you're almost like
in a grotto, like a secret land,and these two adults come out
on stage and they're your hostfor the show and they're super
excited to find you there,because you have stumbled across
their favorite childhood playarea, where their imagination

(01:04:42):
would soar.
And suddenly the winds begin towhip and the clouds begin to
move and they're almost likewhat's happening and the next
thing you know you aretransported into a secret land
where all of the DreamWorkscharacters come to life before
your eyes.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Yes, so you're going to get some special guest
experiences from Poppy andBranch, which are from Trolls.
You also get a guest experiencefrom Shrek and Donkey.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
And the dragon.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
Oh, and Donkey's wife .

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
You get to see the moment they fall in love.
It's beautiful and it's funny,because they're telling Donkey
what to say.
They're like they're giving himthe lines that he says from the
movie and then he says it andthey fall in love.
It's super cute, that'sadorable.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
And then one of my favorite movie franchises, the
Madagascar franchise.
You're going to also see KingJulian from that and some other
characters as well.
We love you, king Julian.
I love them, they, I love them.
They're so cute, they're sofreaking adorable.
They're on the same level thatthe aliens are for me in Toy
Story.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
Oh, yeah, I just love them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Now you get to also see some more characters, and
this is fantastic because for me, this is a great opportunity to
get out of the heat.
There's plenty of room betweenseats for the kids to get up and
dance, and boogie and hang outand they get to watch a troll
fart.

Speaker 3 (01:06:01):
So what's?

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
and dance and boogie and hang out and they get to
watch a troll fart, so, and itdoesn't seem to be like a super
long show, um, so it's just likethe perfect 20 to 30, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
30 minutes, yeah, something like that um, so it's
a nice little show to get youinside out of the heat, uh let
the kids run off some steam.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
Maybe somebody can take a nap if they need to, and
it's got some great songs, songsand dance there's.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
I noticed at one point there's like several
dancers that come out andthey're dancing along with the
characters, so it's super, supercute I love this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
I think it's adorable and I cannot wait for us to do
it I know I don't want to goback.

Speaker 3 (01:06:30):
I want to see the show all right, but that is
that's it, guys.
That's our views and ouropinions on wait, wait, wait.
I've got wait, wait.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
I've got a question.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
Oh, what's your question?

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
I've got an Ashley question.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Okay, what.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
Do you think they could have done this better or
do you think this was done inexactly what Universal needed
for this area, for KidZone?

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
Oh, I think for me personally, as a 13-year-old
adult, I think it's cute.
I love it.
It's going to probably beformally like it was to me.
It's not an area I'm going togo in until HHN, when I'm going
to get in line for houses afterthe park's closed.
But I think that Universaltotally hit the nail on the head
for providing an area for kidsto be able to play, because it's

(01:07:14):
an area that a lot of themeparks around our country, I
think, miss out on yes um, youknow, like with dollywood,
you've got country fair andyou've got wildwood grove, these
great areas for kids and thenplay areas for the younger kids,
and I think that that is whatuniversal made here.
I would have loved to have seenanother ride, like two rides, in

(01:07:34):
that area just for the littleones, um, but I think that they,
like I said, I think theyrefeemed the woody woodpecker
ride to the troller coasterperfectly.
I think there's a lot ofexperience for the little ones
to do, a place for them to getwet and cool off, and, you know,
hats off to universal.
I think that this was a greatsneak peek as to what we could

(01:07:57):
potentially see moving forwardwith new technologies that
universal is going to do, and Ilook forward to it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
You know, I've always been one to to when people ask
me which park they should taketheir kids to, whether it's at
work or whether it's it's at agrocery store, and we I make
friends with strangers.
I get people that all the timethat are like, okay, what should
we do?
Should we go here?
Should we go there?
Should we go to Universal?
Should we go to Disney?
And I've always said Disney'sfor the kids, universal's for
the adults.
I've always said that, and nowI feel like this is a step in

(01:08:25):
the direction where Universal iskind of going.
Yes, we are alcohol stands andwe are a very scary season of
Halloween, horror Nights, and weare, yes, a little bit geared
towards the teens, tweens andthe young adults.
However, we're also kind ofstaking one step back or one
step further, and we're going tobecome for the kids as well.

(01:08:46):
So I think this is pretty neat.
It's not just oh, okay, we'reon the way for the big kids to
go ride Hagrid's.
Look, you can see King Julianover there.
That's the only kid thing thatyou got to do.
Or here, get on seuss, that'sthe only kid thing you get to do
.
This is an entire land.
I mean I can see parents beinglike, hey, you go take them to

(01:09:07):
mib, to men in black, I'm gonnasit here while she rides the
trolley coaster until she throwsup, like I could.
Just I can see.
I can see parents doing that,which I think is is big props
for the fact that universal hasnow created an entire dedicated
area not just to children too,it's also to accessibility
children, so all kids can feel Iget to be a part of this, I get

(01:09:31):
to experience all of thesethings, just like my siblings
get to, which I think is prettyneat, which I think is pretty
neat.

Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
So, guys, we want to know what is your opinion.
What do you think aboutDreamland?
What do you think aboutDreamWorks?
There's a lot of clouds.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
It could be.

Speaker 3 (01:09:50):
Dreamland.
Are you excited for it.
What's your opinions?
Don't forget to hit that linkjust below our photo here on the
episode description and let usknow for your chance for us to
read off your opinion on nextweek's episode.
Speaking of which, don't forgetto tune in next week when
ashley and I are going to jumpin and unplug the cost of living
in orlando.

Speaker 2 (01:10:10):
We look forward to divulging all of our financial
details with you guys, andletting you know, what it's like
for us to live in orlando andthe cost of living it's going
for us to live in Orlando andthe cost of living it's going to
be very expensive guys, it is,can't wait.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
Don't forget, follow us on our social medias.
Instagram and Facebook is wherewe're mostly active, but to get
a list of all of the placesthat you can find us and all of
our social medias, you can headon over to
OrlandoUnpluggedPodcastcom.
Until next week, my friends,stay safe, stay educated.