December 20, 2024 • 22 mins
Tony Desiere and Lauren Mallard share their holiday wishes for Walt Disney World in a spirited discussion filled with imaginative ideas. At the heart of their conversation is the desire to see enhancements in the parks, from extending the Skyliner to connecting more resorts, to revitalizing Tomorrowland to reflect a more futuristic vision. They explore the need for unique dining experiences, such as a Toy Story character meal and a Haunted Mansion-themed restaurant, to enrich the guest experience. Additionally, they tackle the complexities of the Lightning Lane system, advocating for a simpler, more user-friendly approach. With a blend of nostalgia and creativity, the duo presents their visions for how Disney can elevate the magic for visitors in the coming years.
Takeaways:
- The hosts discuss their holiday wish list for Walt Disney World, focusing on desired changes.
- Lauren suggests extending the Skyliner to Animal Kingdom Lodge for better transportation access.
- Tony wishes for Tomorrowland to feel more futuristic by updating outdated attractions.
- The idea of a Toy Story character meal is proposed to enhance dining experiences.
- Both hosts express a desire for simpler and more accessible Lightning Lane options.
- A Haunted Mansion themed restaurant is envisioned to capitalize on the ride's popularity.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Disney
- Universal Studios
- ESPN
- Kodak
- Tesla
- Oriental Land Company
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign of the Wands andWishes podcast.
Glad you could be with us,Tony Desiri along with Lauren Mallard.
All the magic travel and weare hoping you are having a great
holiday season.
And this, this episode wedecided to go a little bit more in
the Christmas wish list as welook at the Walt Disney World Resort
(00:20):
and the parks and everythingaround that make your vacation so
complete.
If we could make make wishescome true, what wishes would we want
to happen within Walt Disney World?
And I think with the caveat ofthis as being if money was no object,
even if space was no object,because Lord knows we all know budgetary
reasons and staffs andboardrooms or whatnot.
(00:40):
But if we could just wave amagical wand, what are things we'd
like to see brought back,changed, etc for our holiday wish
list for the Walt Disney World Resort.
How are you, Lauren?
Happy holidays.
I am good.
Happy holidays to you.
Oh, it's getting such a timeof year.
This is so fun.
Yeah, this is.
So I thought we would dosomething fun like this because I
know you and I have talkedabout some changes that are coming
(01:01):
to the resorts.
We've talked about different things.
We have seen change andwhether it's those changes are good
or whether they're not not sogood or we'll wait and see.
So I thought this would bemore fun because these, some of the
things we talked about werevery practical, very business oriented.
Do X, do Y, do Z.
But sometimes if we could justmagically create some things within
(01:22):
the parks that we wish wecould, what would they look like?
Yeah, I love it.
All right, so let's, let's get started.
You want to get started with this?
You want to go first?
All right, let's.
Okay, so I will start with myfirst one and this one I guess can
be a little bit with thelogistics, but I think it also would
just be really awesome if wecould extend the Skyliner is what
I'm saying.
(01:42):
So this is going broad, likewhole resort wide.
So I'm thinking, you know, if,if I could extend it anywhere, where
would I want to extend it to?
And I'm thinking the onlydeluxe property that doesn't have
access to an additionaltransportation system is Animal Kingdom
Lodge.
Right.
And I feel like, you know, Iknow Animal Kingdom is a far off
(02:02):
down the road from everythingelse, but I think if I'm looking
at the map right, I think thatthey could extend the Skyliner over
there pretty easily and itwould be like an extension of a ride
for a lot of people.
I used to think how much wouldit cost to make a whole branch monorail
system within all the parks?
Because, you know, sometimesyou're waiting on those buses and
you're thinking, well, Iwonder if that was practical and
(02:24):
obviously super expensive and whatnot.
But you're right.
There could be additional ways.
The Skyliner was almost theanswer to.
That question, I think soyears ago.
When I said, is there anotherway we could do this other than buses
or just one monorail between two.
The two of the parks.
And the Skyliner is soefficient because it's constant.
It's not like you're waitingand watching for the next monorail
(02:45):
to come or watching for thenext bus.
Those things are constantly moving.
And so it's just such a goodaddition to the resort as a whole.
And I just think I would loveto see it extended a little bit.
All right.
My first one is.
This is a little bit more of a.
But I'm trying to wave themagic wand here.
I want Tomorrowland to be more tomorrow.
(03:06):
Oh, I love it.
All right, so here's why Ithink there are a lot of attractions
there that need to be eitherupgraded or just taken out.
Yeah.
And so I.
I said, look, Tron and SpaceMountain, they.
They give you that feeling of tomorrow.
Space Mountain has always done that.
But I don't think there needsto be a 1950s race car raceway in
Tomorrowland.
(03:27):
This is a carnival attractionthat has gone way past very retro.
It's very retro, and I don'tunderstand why it belongs.
It's doesn't belong.
Yeah.
But then I also look at, youknow, look, Buzz Lightyear probably
needs a technological upgradethat's been around since the early
90s, late 80s.
The stitch space is going nowhere.
(03:47):
Yeah.
We haven't had any plans for that.
Monsters laugh lore.
I get it.
But again, it just feels likea little bit more waste of space.
And I understand it's Walt'sthing, but Carousel of Progress was
not supposed to be permanently.
They're going through a 20year jump in time from the turn of
the century.
(04:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, the thing thatbothers me about Tomorrowland is
there's so many good spotsthere, but they're all almost like
theater style.
Right.
And so there's so little thatwe can really do with it, I think,
because I think that really wecould have space for some.
Some moving attractions inTomorrowland again.
(04:28):
And I think that with BuzzLightyear, you have the same.
The same similar size andspace that you probably would with,
say, like, monsters in glassfloor that maybe you could do a similar
slow moving dark ride inMonsters Laugh Floor area to make
it, you know, just a littlemore appealing.
I'm with you there.
Yeah.
(04:48):
And look, Astro Orbiter can stay.
That's always a fun little fun ride.
And the People Mover is one ofmy favorites.
Just get.
Sit down and relax attraction.
But I think it, it lost alittle of its Tomorrow ish appeal
again.
Look, look, I get it.
When I was younger, BuzzLightyear was if you had wings, which
was like an airplane ad fromEastern Airlines.
It was not, you know, it wasn't.
(05:10):
It was like, do you want toget away?
Fly us.
That was basically the attraction.
But it, it just feel.
It doesn't feel as Tomorrow.
Ish.
So that's one of my wishes is that.
Take Tomorrowland.
You did a great job with Tron.
Tron makes you feel so futuristic.
Add a little bit of that tothe carousel of progress is my biggest
complaint.
Right.
You can you, if you could, ifyou could have unlimited amount of
(05:31):
money, start in 1960 andbounce through the 80s, 90s, you
know, whatever you want to do.
But you don't have to go backto the turn.
No, we certainly don't.
You know, I think that ElonMusk has plenty of money laying around.
Couldn't he, like, bring Teslato Tomorrowland Speedway?
I think so too.
Why are we doing gas cars atTomorrowland Speed?
Why am I smelling.
(05:51):
Smelling gasoline?
Yes.
From cars that go three milesan hour.
Yeah, let's do that.
So that's my.
That's my first one.
Your second one.
I love it.
Okay, so the second one that Ihave gonna go into a little bit of
dining, but I think that wereally, really need a Toy Story character
meal somewhere.
Oh, yeah, that'd be great.
So I was thinking if we couldeither build a new restaurant or
(06:14):
just put them in Rodeo Roundupbecause we're not given enough opportunities.
Yes, we have several charactermeals, but there's so many that have
the Fab Five or Mickey andMinnie just in different outfits
that I think we're looking forother characters and that will bring
more in to keeping their moneyon Disney property.
(06:35):
With the dining, I agree withyou completely on that.
I think when you canspecialize the characters, it really,
even, even if you're laserfocused on this sort of genre, it
really does make a difference.
People do gravitate towards those.
Yeah, they want to have Mickeyand they want to Mickey in different
outfits.
But if you say, hey, the onlytime you can get this movie, whatever
(06:55):
it is, is through this dining Experience.
I agree with you.
I think there needs to be alot more like that.
The main reason Winnie thePooh, we went.
We went to the Crystal Palace.
Absolutely.
And, you know, especially with the.
With the announcement of Blueycoming, right?
I'm like, oh, my goodness.
They could have a wholerestaurant and just have Bluey and
the characters from Bluey andpeople would flock to it.
(07:16):
Absolutely.
Now I'm going to stay on theWinnie the Pooh theme for my second
one.
Love it.
This is very, very personal.
So here's the deal.
I love popcorn buckets, okay?
I get them all the time.
If I don't get them, myparents get them.
And you want the popcorn bucket.
I get the popcorn.
I got a bunch of them.
I just like them.
I think they're kind of cool.
I've got Hatbox Mickey.
I've got Ghost Mickey.
I've got Nutcracker Mickey.
(07:37):
But there never is a Winniethe Pooh popcorn bucket.
And my wife drives my wife crazy.
And here's why.
It drives my wife crazy.
Because in Tokyo Disneyland,which is run by the Oriental Land
Company, they have a ton ofthem, and they're great.
And she's like, I'm not goingto Japan to get a Winnie the Pooh
popcorn bucket.
And I'm not going to spendtwice the amount on ebay to get somebody
else's Winnie the Pooh popcorn.
(07:58):
I love it.
Just one time, one summer,just make them.
They'll sell out.
They.
People go nuts for it.
Just do it.
You just make.
It would make my life athousand times easier if you could
just give my wife one Winniethe Pooh pop.
Winnie the Pooh popcorn.
That's all I'm looking for.
I love it.
Not the big ticket item, just.
(08:18):
Just the little thing.
Exactly.
I walked around with thatMickey Nutcracker one, and I got
asked 10 times where I got it.
And I was directing people tothe popcorn stand right outside Tomorrowland.
I said, that's where you wantto go?
Yes.
Get it.
So you got to carry it aroundwith you all day, but I love it.
Not bad.
Number two.
All right, so this is mynumber three.
Actually.
We're moving along.
(08:39):
Along.
So this is going to be anotherone that's kind of more on a broad
scale.
So since we lost espn, there'sreally not anywhere good to go.
Watch a football game.
Yeah.
On Disney property.
I like where you're going with this.
So, you know, I think.
Because Disney.
I mean, come on, Disney ownsespn, so why can't we bring the two
(09:02):
together?
Have I Mean, I'm talking likea big complex of several different
sports bars that you can goand easily take Disney transportation
to and be able to watchSaturday college games, Sunday football,
Monday Night Football.
Because I know for a fact thatif my husband had the opportunity
to get away for a couple hoursand watch a game and have a meal,
(09:25):
then it would be amazing.
Yeah.
They used to have the ESPNZone and.
Yeah.
And it's gone.
They replaced it with the cakebake shop with.
With $40 slices of cake.
Right.
Yeah.
No, you definitely.
We need somewhere that we cango watch sports and have a casual
meal and just see TVs playingdifferent sports.
That's a good one.
That's a good one.
A lot of people would probablylove that day off to say, I'm going
(09:49):
to take a relaxing day, stillget a Disney buzz somewhere while
I'm.
While I'm watching my.
That's right, my games onSaturday or Sunday.
All right, all right.
This is a little bit more onthe serious side.
I know it's an issue we talkedabout before, but I still am a big,
strong proponent of this.
I want them to figure out theLightning Lane pass a little bit
easier.
And look, I know it's copyingyour competition, but just sell the
(10:12):
$130 Express Pass.
Let it certain amount.
Let it sell out.
People don't have a problemwith this at Universal.
Yeah.
And I, I get the problem.
And I.
And I know the differencebetween Universal and Disney.
I've narrowed it down to thisis that in the end, Disney has a
face of the, of the businessand he's long dead, but that's the
(10:36):
place people go to all thetime with their criticism.
Walt will roll over in hisgrave if he ever heard Disney was
doing this.
Yeah, but what would he sayabout what he.
What they're charging foreverything right now.
Exactly.
And Universal doesn't have that.
Universal is like, we're a company.
What do you want?
What do you want from us?
Yeah.
And so the critics always goback to this nostalgia of what it
used to be and how it used to be.
(10:57):
It's okay if you want to sell$130 badge and have people get to
front of the lines.
No one has a problem with thisat Universal.
Yeah.
No one thinks Universal is.
Is out of line for this orseparating the classes over this.
Nobody has a problem with it.
It doesn't affect your abilityto enjoy the park without it.
Disney's almost making it likethis is what you're going to need.
(11:19):
Yeah.
You're Going to need.
You're going to need somethingbecause, well, you don't want to
do this all day, do you?
Right.
And I.
And I just think it's a little confusing.
And the other thing, too, is I'm.
I'm the kind of guy that Istudy this.
I look at wait times when I'mnot even there, you know, just to
see what a.
Yeah, a Tuesday in August is like.
Right.
I'll just go, you know?
Now, my brother, he doesn't doany of that.
Yeah.
So my brother goes, hey, I'mtaking my kids to Disney.
(11:41):
I have no idea what's going on.
Wait a minute.
They want this and this and.
What do you mean?
I got to tear this, tear that.
I don't have time to payattention that.
I do.
And I do.
I wonder how complicated it isfor somebody.
It absolutely is.
I'm not paying attention to this.
And now I get there, and nowI'm supposed to educate myself on
a very complex system.
And that's why even thepremier pass that they.
(12:01):
That they have rolled outrecently is supposed to be a more
streamlined product, but itstill isn't, because it's like, okay,
what?
But you can buy this for thisabsurd amount of money, but you can
only ride each ride once, andyou can only stay in one park.
Right.
So why not copy the competition?
Unlimited means unlimited.
(12:22):
And unlimited means all theparks for this amount of money, and
people will pay it.
I've never been at any ride atUniversal where I went, oh, my God,
look at how many people arecoming through with those badges.
Yeah, never.
It's always been, yeah,there's a few, then, then we go,
then a few more, then we go.
And it's always flowed betterthat way.
It's okay to admit you can'tquite narrow this thing down.
(12:45):
Yeah, it's okay.
You've tried different things.
It's just getting more andmore complicated.
And I.
And I.
I want them to figure it out.
I agree.
Get a little better.
Simplify it.
All right.
This is your fourth.
This is my fourth one.
So I am going to go here.
I'm gonna go back to somethingthat I want back for free.
So I've got.
I've got two things that Iwant back for free, so.
(13:06):
And I actually wrote down sixthings, so I may not even get to
the other one because I thinkyou might mention it, but I want
them to give us the simplemagic bands for free.
Yeah.
Because it's so easy to beable to go on property.
And yes, they're like, oh, butyou can use your phone now.
We have Magic Mobile.
And, you know, not everybodywants to pull their phone out for
(13:28):
literally every attraction foreverybody in their family, because
that means swiping throughfive different tickets that are on
my Apple wallet when I couldjust scan my band.
But out of principle, I don'twant to pay $50 per person in my
family for something that youused to give me for free.
That's right.
And that costs Disneyliterally nothing.
(13:51):
You know, if they're justusing the basic ones, we don't need
the ones that are lighting up.
If you want to have that as anupgrade, that'd be great.
But if you want to just giveus the basic ones again, the ones
that they're trying to justcompletely phase out, then people
see that as such a value fortheir vacation.
They want to put them underthe tree for Christmas.
They want to be able to givethem to their K and say, hey, this.
(14:13):
This signals your.
Your Disney vacation.
But, you know, taking thataway, I feel like was a bigger value,
Miss, than what they said.
I agree.
I agree.
I remember we went in 2012 andwe got the box, had all the.
Had all our bands with ournames down.
It was such a.
Cool.
So fun now.
No, no.
But when.
When did you guys.
Do you guys still have original.
(14:34):
Original bands?
Oh, yeah.
So we have two different kinds.
We have the ones that were thelonger oblong.
I don't think those work anymore.
I think those have probably died.
Basic ones with the circularband in the middle, those still work
fine.
We.
We're still rocking them.
Yeah, we still do.
I.
I have the magic band, plus mywife does not.
Okay.
So I don't know if I have toupgrade her.
(14:55):
She kind of got jealous that Igot to wave it and hear different
things.
All right, number four on my list.
I want a haunted mansion restaurant.
I love it.
I've said this before.
Look, I get it.
It's on the Treasure.
There's a bar on the Treasure that's.
That's themed to the Haunted Mansion.
I think this would be phenomenal.
This would be fantastic.
And I think it capitalizes ona real resurgence of fandom that
(15:20):
this attraction has.
If you go on Facebook, you canfind a lot of fan sites of people
who do their own decorationsaround this ride.
Different, you know,knowledgeable people who have.
Know the history of the ride, etc.
I think it would be fantasticto be in a spooky dining room with
ghosts flying around.
Dimly lit, but lit enough forsafety, and just experience a dinner
(15:41):
in a Spooky.
Spooky place.
Love it.
I think it would be great.
You can wave.
Just wave the magic wand andput it somewhere close.
Yes, I think that would be great.
Oh, I think that'd be.
So you got one for Jungle Cruise.
Yes.
You've got, you know,Spaceship Earth is getting a lounge.
That's right.
So what.
What's wrong with the.
One of the more popularattractions in.
In all of the park.
And we need more dining inMagic Kingdom.
I do too.
(16:01):
I agree.
You know, so that would be perfect.
It would be a great addition.
I'm almost reluctant to seethe video treasure.
Yeah.
Because I really do want tosee it first.
I try.
I, I'm not a spoiler guy.
I'm okay with that.
But for some reason when I seepeople posting this is what the bar
is, I go, I'm gonna.
I want to see it from Wait and see.
I want to wait and see if Iget that.
Yeah.
Haunted Mansion Restaurant Ithink would be fantastic.
(16:23):
So cool.
All right, number five.
All right, I have one more.
So I am actually going to say that.
So it's been a while sincewe've had a new resort that was not
a DVC resort.
So what I actually think wouldbe really cool is like a Fantasyland
themed resort.
Oh, that's nice.
But I want it to be a deluxe.
Okay.
(16:44):
So I'm talking like beautiful,like princess, like different princess
themed areas of the resort sothat you can stay if you want to
stay in the Tiana area or ifyou want to stay in Aurora's area.
All the different areas of the resort.
And so then we also have aprincess meal that's there so that
you're not having to go to thecastle to have your meal, but you
(17:05):
are in just fully engulfed inprincesses and all things Fantasyland.
Maybe even have a carousel inthe lobby so that you're actually
feeling like you're in Fantasy land.
Oh, man.
You should design this.
I mean, right?
They should just hire me.
I'm for hire.
Disney.
All right.
This is my fifth one.
I.
And again, I, I preface thisat the beginning of this.
Money, space are no object.
(17:26):
Yeah.
Because this is definitely onewhere money and space are going to
be a problem.
But I would love to see just afew more attractions in World Showcase.
Because I think it's working great.
I.
I know people didn't like theFrozen transformation, but where
were you Maelstrom fans beforethey announced it?
I didn't.
I never saw you.
And then Remy's Ratatouille Adventure.
(17:47):
I Think totally works.
I mean, the one.
And again, I, I'm, I.
I'm not like, a huge fan ofthe movie, but I get its cultural
significance.
But I was a littledisappointed that the Mary Poppins
ride didn't go through.
Yeah.
Just because I think it couldhave been a nice addition to the.
To Great Britain.
Agree.
You know, you could do a Lucaride in Italy.
You got Milan.
(18:07):
Yeah.
I'm trying to think of just a couple.
Well, you could go down therabbit hole with Alice and, like,
get down the rabbit hole andthen, like, get and see all the different
down there.
Yeah.
Or something like that.
I think here's my appreciation.
World Showcase came as maturity.
And I'm not talking aboutdrinking around the world.
Yeah.
It wasn't the thing my brotherand I were like when we were kids
(18:29):
enjoying.
When we were there in 1982, itwas rather like, this is kind of
dull.
There's movies and there's aboat ride through Mexico that didn't
really have any flair.
But now it's.
One of my favorite parts of myDisney trip is to walk around World
Showcase and really enjoy it.
I just think a couple of moreattractions would really make it
(18:52):
pop.
Yeah.
And families would love thattoo, because it would be something
to keep their kids entertainedwhile they can enjoy the World Showcase.
Just being able to see it andtake it in.
Exactly.
Especially if you're like,we're going to go over to this ride,
but before we do that, momwants to shop over here.
Dad wants to take a look atthese things.
That's right.
We'll be right over there.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So.
And I think that would be abetter appreciation for the young,
(19:14):
younger people to enjoy World Showcase.
Do we have any honorablementions that we missed?
Ten that we have.
Yes.
So I know you brought a couple.
So I just have one honorablemention because we, we like to beat
this, this into the ground.
Please, please, Disney, justfor under the tree, can you just
wrap up a little bus and giveus back Magical Ex Express?
(19:35):
Yeah, it.
It's the whole.
The whole idea of justimmersing yourself within the world
is lost when you're takingyour own car.
When you've rented your owncar, you're taking an Uber.
And you know you can get outof it.
You know, you get out of there.
You know, look, they trap youthere because they want you to stay
there.
But I didn't mind beingtrapped there.
I was a willing participant inthe full immersion of being there
(19:58):
for seven days or whenever I was.
And a lot of it had to do withthat bus.
Just getting off that bus andknowing kids, we don't even have
to get our bags.
Yep, they will have their bags.
That was the cool part.
We're going.
Right.
They took that away a fewyears before they took the bus.
Right.
And so bringing that backwould be.
I would probably, you know, Iam a huge proponent of carry on only.
(20:18):
I'd probably go back tochecking my bag if I knew somebody
else was going to get them.
So, yeah, I wish they wouldbring that back.
And, you know, they couldstill make money if they just increase
their fleet of minivans andoffer that as a service.
I know for a fact there'd bebe plenty of families that are paying
for that privatetransportation and even charge double
what they're charging rightnow for the minivan and then offer
(20:40):
the free version for everybodyelse who still wants to take the
Magical Express.
All right, I got an honorable mention.
And I, I, I gotta thinksomebody in a boardroom somewhere
discussed this.
And that is when the figmentpopcorn bucket came out.
There were lines for hours.
Crazy, right?
Yeah.
Because there is an attractionto that character, people.
(21:00):
Whether it's nostalgic or he'scute, whatever.
Yeah.
He literally has the worstride in all of the parks.
He is attached to one of themost miserable rides that has been
gutted, destroyed.
What used to be what that ridewas with the original Dreamfinder
to what it is now is, is a shame.
(21:21):
And everyone knows it.
This is not a hidden secret.
Everyone knows it.
I agree.
They lost funding.
It was funded by Kodak.
Kodak pulled its sponsorship.
They had to make some cuts,and then they just cut.
You have a very popular figure.
You have a popular figure, andif you just gave him a better attraction,
it's.
It would be the perfect marriage.
I don't know if you could goback to the original Dream Finder
(21:41):
and the original ride, butsince I'm waving the magic wand with
my Christmas wish, that's whatI would want.
It was my, my favorite ridewhen, when we were there again when
I was a kid because it was sowhimsical and so fun and the music
was great, and now it's turnedinto a.
Dude.
I don't even know what to call it.
Yeah, it's tough.
It's a, it's a, It's a realtough one.
So give one of your morepopular IPS the attraction it deserves.
(22:03):
I like it.
There you go.
There we go.
All right.
So that's doing ours orChristmas wishes.
Walt Disney World Edition.
These are the things we hopeare under the tree this holiday season.
Once again, if you areplanning a trip in 2025 to Disney
or Universal Studios and youwant our help with that and help
you guide through all all ofthe things that you may need to know
about, we'd love to help you out.
Hit Lauren up at Lauren at Allthe Magic Travel.
(22:24):
Hit Me up Travel with Tony Dgmail.com thanks for listening.
Please subscribe to the podcast.
Leave us a five star review.
We will see you back in 2025with an allnew edition of the Wands
and Wishes podcast.
Foreign of the Wands andWishes podcast.
Glad you could be with us,Tony Desiri along with Lauren Mallard.
All the magic travel and weare hoping you are having a great
holiday season.
And this, this episode wedecided to go a little bit more in
the Christmas wish list as welook at the Walt Disney World Resort
(00:20):
and the parks and everythingaround that make your vacation so
complete.
If we could make make wishescome true, what wishes would we want
to happen within Walt Disney World?
And I think with the caveat ofthis as being if money was no object,
even if space was no object,because Lord knows we all know budgetary
reasons and staffs andboardrooms or whatnot.
(00:40):
But if we could just wave amagical wand, what are things we'd
like to see brought back,changed, etc for our holiday wish
list for the Walt Disney World Resort.
How are you, Lauren?
Happy holidays.
I am good.
Happy holidays to you.
Oh, it's getting such a timeof year.
This is so fun.
Yeah, this is.
So I thought we would dosomething fun like this because I
know you and I have talkedabout some changes that are coming
(01:01):
to the resorts.
We've talked about different things.
We have seen change andwhether it's those changes are good
or whether they're not not sogood or we'll wait and see.
So I thought this would bemore fun because these, some of the
things we talked about werevery practical, very business oriented.
Do X, do Y, do Z.
But sometimes if we could justmagically create some things within
(01:22):
the parks that we wish wecould, what would they look like?
Yeah, I love it.
All right, so let's, let's get started.
You want to get started with this?
You want to go first?
All right, let's.
Okay, so I will start with myfirst one and this one I guess can
be a little bit with thelogistics, but I think it also would
just be really awesome if wecould extend the Skyliner is what
I'm saying.
(01:42):
So this is going broad, likewhole resort wide.
So I'm thinking, you know, if,if I could extend it anywhere, where
would I want to extend it to?
And I'm thinking the onlydeluxe property that doesn't have
access to an additionaltransportation system is Animal Kingdom
Lodge.
Right.
And I feel like, you know, Iknow Animal Kingdom is a far off
(02:02):
down the road from everythingelse, but I think if I'm looking
at the map right, I think thatthey could extend the Skyliner over
there pretty easily and itwould be like an extension of a ride
for a lot of people.
I used to think how much wouldit cost to make a whole branch monorail
system within all the parks?
Because, you know, sometimesyou're waiting on those buses and
you're thinking, well, Iwonder if that was practical and
(02:24):
obviously super expensive and whatnot.
But you're right.
There could be additional ways.
The Skyliner was almost theanswer to.
That question, I think soyears ago.
When I said, is there anotherway we could do this other than buses
or just one monorail between two.
The two of the parks.
And the Skyliner is soefficient because it's constant.
It's not like you're waitingand watching for the next monorail
(02:45):
to come or watching for thenext bus.
Those things are constantly moving.
And so it's just such a goodaddition to the resort as a whole.
And I just think I would loveto see it extended a little bit.
All right.
My first one is.
This is a little bit more of a.
But I'm trying to wave themagic wand here.
I want Tomorrowland to be more tomorrow.
(03:06):
Oh, I love it.
All right, so here's why Ithink there are a lot of attractions
there that need to be eitherupgraded or just taken out.
Yeah.
And so I.
I said, look, Tron and SpaceMountain, they.
They give you that feeling of tomorrow.
Space Mountain has always done that.
But I don't think there needsto be a 1950s race car raceway in
Tomorrowland.
(03:27):
This is a carnival attractionthat has gone way past very retro.
It's very retro, and I don'tunderstand why it belongs.
It's doesn't belong.
Yeah.
But then I also look at, youknow, look, Buzz Lightyear probably
needs a technological upgradethat's been around since the early
90s, late 80s.
The stitch space is going nowhere.
(03:47):
Yeah.
We haven't had any plans for that.
Monsters laugh lore.
I get it.
But again, it just feels likea little bit more waste of space.
And I understand it's Walt'sthing, but Carousel of Progress was
not supposed to be permanently.
They're going through a 20year jump in time from the turn of
the century.
(04:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, the thing thatbothers me about Tomorrowland is
there's so many good spotsthere, but they're all almost like
theater style.
Right.
And so there's so little thatwe can really do with it, I think,
because I think that really wecould have space for some.
Some moving attractions inTomorrowland again.
(04:28):
And I think that with BuzzLightyear, you have the same.
The same similar size andspace that you probably would with,
say, like, monsters in glassfloor that maybe you could do a similar
slow moving dark ride inMonsters Laugh Floor area to make
it, you know, just a littlemore appealing.
I'm with you there.
Yeah.
(04:48):
And look, Astro Orbiter can stay.
That's always a fun little fun ride.
And the People Mover is one ofmy favorites.
Just get.
Sit down and relax attraction.
But I think it, it lost alittle of its Tomorrow ish appeal
again.
Look, look, I get it.
When I was younger, BuzzLightyear was if you had wings, which
was like an airplane ad fromEastern Airlines.
It was not, you know, it wasn't.
(05:10):
It was like, do you want toget away?
Fly us.
That was basically the attraction.
But it, it just feel.
It doesn't feel as Tomorrow.
Ish.
So that's one of my wishes is that.
Take Tomorrowland.
You did a great job with Tron.
Tron makes you feel so futuristic.
Add a little bit of that tothe carousel of progress is my biggest
complaint.
Right.
You can you, if you could, ifyou could have unlimited amount of
(05:31):
money, start in 1960 andbounce through the 80s, 90s, you
know, whatever you want to do.
But you don't have to go backto the turn.
No, we certainly don't.
You know, I think that ElonMusk has plenty of money laying around.
Couldn't he, like, bring Teslato Tomorrowland Speedway?
I think so too.
Why are we doing gas cars atTomorrowland Speed?
Why am I smelling.
(05:51):
Smelling gasoline?
Yes.
From cars that go three milesan hour.
Yeah, let's do that.
So that's my.
That's my first one.
Your second one.
I love it.
Okay, so the second one that Ihave gonna go into a little bit of
dining, but I think that wereally, really need a Toy Story character
meal somewhere.
Oh, yeah, that'd be great.
So I was thinking if we couldeither build a new restaurant or
(06:14):
just put them in Rodeo Roundupbecause we're not given enough opportunities.
Yes, we have several charactermeals, but there's so many that have
the Fab Five or Mickey andMinnie just in different outfits
that I think we're looking forother characters and that will bring
more in to keeping their moneyon Disney property.
(06:35):
With the dining, I agree withyou completely on that.
I think when you canspecialize the characters, it really,
even, even if you're laserfocused on this sort of genre, it
really does make a difference.
People do gravitate towards those.
Yeah, they want to have Mickeyand they want to Mickey in different
outfits.
But if you say, hey, the onlytime you can get this movie, whatever
(06:55):
it is, is through this dining Experience.
I agree with you.
I think there needs to be alot more like that.
The main reason Winnie thePooh, we went.
We went to the Crystal Palace.
Absolutely.
And, you know, especially with the.
With the announcement of Blueycoming, right?
I'm like, oh, my goodness.
They could have a wholerestaurant and just have Bluey and
the characters from Bluey andpeople would flock to it.
(07:16):
Absolutely.
Now I'm going to stay on theWinnie the Pooh theme for my second
one.
Love it.
This is very, very personal.
So here's the deal.
I love popcorn buckets, okay?
I get them all the time.
If I don't get them, myparents get them.
And you want the popcorn bucket.
I get the popcorn.
I got a bunch of them.
I just like them.
I think they're kind of cool.
I've got Hatbox Mickey.
I've got Ghost Mickey.
I've got Nutcracker Mickey.
(07:37):
But there never is a Winniethe Pooh popcorn bucket.
And my wife drives my wife crazy.
And here's why.
It drives my wife crazy.
Because in Tokyo Disneyland,which is run by the Oriental Land
Company, they have a ton ofthem, and they're great.
And she's like, I'm not goingto Japan to get a Winnie the Pooh
popcorn bucket.
And I'm not going to spendtwice the amount on ebay to get somebody
else's Winnie the Pooh popcorn.
(07:58):
I love it.
Just one time, one summer,just make them.
They'll sell out.
They.
People go nuts for it.
Just do it.
You just make.
It would make my life athousand times easier if you could
just give my wife one Winniethe Pooh pop.
Winnie the Pooh popcorn.
That's all I'm looking for.
I love it.
Not the big ticket item, just.
(08:18):
Just the little thing.
Exactly.
I walked around with thatMickey Nutcracker one, and I got
asked 10 times where I got it.
And I was directing people tothe popcorn stand right outside Tomorrowland.
I said, that's where you wantto go?
Yes.
Get it.
So you got to carry it aroundwith you all day, but I love it.
Not bad.
Number two.
All right, so this is mynumber three.
Actually.
We're moving along.
(08:39):
Along.
So this is going to be anotherone that's kind of more on a broad
scale.
So since we lost espn, there'sreally not anywhere good to go.
Watch a football game.
Yeah.
On Disney property.
I like where you're going with this.
So, you know, I think.
Because Disney.
I mean, come on, Disney ownsespn, so why can't we bring the two
(09:02):
together?
Have I Mean, I'm talking likea big complex of several different
sports bars that you can goand easily take Disney transportation
to and be able to watchSaturday college games, Sunday football,
Monday Night Football.
Because I know for a fact thatif my husband had the opportunity
to get away for a couple hoursand watch a game and have a meal,
(09:25):
then it would be amazing.
Yeah.
They used to have the ESPNZone and.
Yeah.
And it's gone.
They replaced it with the cakebake shop with.
With $40 slices of cake.
Right.
Yeah.
No, you definitely.
We need somewhere that we cango watch sports and have a casual
meal and just see TVs playingdifferent sports.
That's a good one.
That's a good one.
A lot of people would probablylove that day off to say, I'm going
(09:49):
to take a relaxing day, stillget a Disney buzz somewhere while
I'm.
While I'm watching my.
That's right, my games onSaturday or Sunday.
All right, all right.
This is a little bit more onthe serious side.
I know it's an issue we talkedabout before, but I still am a big,
strong proponent of this.
I want them to figure out theLightning Lane pass a little bit
easier.
And look, I know it's copyingyour competition, but just sell the
(10:12):
$130 Express Pass.
Let it certain amount.
Let it sell out.
People don't have a problemwith this at Universal.
Yeah.
And I, I get the problem.
And I.
And I know the differencebetween Universal and Disney.
I've narrowed it down to thisis that in the end, Disney has a
face of the, of the businessand he's long dead, but that's the
(10:36):
place people go to all thetime with their criticism.
Walt will roll over in hisgrave if he ever heard Disney was
doing this.
Yeah, but what would he sayabout what he.
What they're charging foreverything right now.
Exactly.
And Universal doesn't have that.
Universal is like, we're a company.
What do you want?
What do you want from us?
Yeah.
And so the critics always goback to this nostalgia of what it
used to be and how it used to be.
(10:57):
It's okay if you want to sell$130 badge and have people get to
front of the lines.
No one has a problem with thisat Universal.
Yeah.
No one thinks Universal is.
Is out of line for this orseparating the classes over this.
Nobody has a problem with it.
It doesn't affect your abilityto enjoy the park without it.
Disney's almost making it likethis is what you're going to need.
(11:19):
Yeah.
You're Going to need.
You're going to need somethingbecause, well, you don't want to
do this all day, do you?
Right.
And I.
And I just think it's a little confusing.
And the other thing, too, is I'm.
I'm the kind of guy that Istudy this.
I look at wait times when I'mnot even there, you know, just to
see what a.
Yeah, a Tuesday in August is like.
Right.
I'll just go, you know?
Now, my brother, he doesn't doany of that.
Yeah.
So my brother goes, hey, I'mtaking my kids to Disney.
(11:41):
I have no idea what's going on.
Wait a minute.
They want this and this and.
What do you mean?
I got to tear this, tear that.
I don't have time to payattention that.
I do.
And I do.
I wonder how complicated it isfor somebody.
It absolutely is.
I'm not paying attention to this.
And now I get there, and nowI'm supposed to educate myself on
a very complex system.
And that's why even thepremier pass that they.
(12:01):
That they have rolled outrecently is supposed to be a more
streamlined product, but itstill isn't, because it's like, okay,
what?
But you can buy this for thisabsurd amount of money, but you can
only ride each ride once, andyou can only stay in one park.
Right.
So why not copy the competition?
Unlimited means unlimited.
(12:22):
And unlimited means all theparks for this amount of money, and
people will pay it.
I've never been at any ride atUniversal where I went, oh, my God,
look at how many people arecoming through with those badges.
Yeah, never.
It's always been, yeah,there's a few, then, then we go,
then a few more, then we go.
And it's always flowed betterthat way.
It's okay to admit you can'tquite narrow this thing down.
(12:45):
Yeah, it's okay.
You've tried different things.
It's just getting more andmore complicated.
And I.
And I.
I want them to figure it out.
I agree.
Get a little better.
Simplify it.
All right.
This is your fourth.
This is my fourth one.
So I am going to go here.
I'm gonna go back to somethingthat I want back for free.
So I've got.
I've got two things that Iwant back for free, so.
(13:06):
And I actually wrote down sixthings, so I may not even get to
the other one because I thinkyou might mention it, but I want
them to give us the simplemagic bands for free.
Yeah.
Because it's so easy to beable to go on property.
And yes, they're like, oh, butyou can use your phone now.
We have Magic Mobile.
And, you know, not everybodywants to pull their phone out for
(13:28):
literally every attraction foreverybody in their family, because
that means swiping throughfive different tickets that are on
my Apple wallet when I couldjust scan my band.
But out of principle, I don'twant to pay $50 per person in my
family for something that youused to give me for free.
That's right.
And that costs Disneyliterally nothing.
(13:51):
You know, if they're justusing the basic ones, we don't need
the ones that are lighting up.
If you want to have that as anupgrade, that'd be great.
But if you want to just giveus the basic ones again, the ones
that they're trying to justcompletely phase out, then people
see that as such a value fortheir vacation.
They want to put them underthe tree for Christmas.
They want to be able to givethem to their K and say, hey, this.
(14:13):
This signals your.
Your Disney vacation.
But, you know, taking thataway, I feel like was a bigger value,
Miss, than what they said.
I agree.
I agree.
I remember we went in 2012 andwe got the box, had all the.
Had all our bands with ournames down.
It was such a.
Cool.
So fun now.
No, no.
But when.
When did you guys.
Do you guys still have original.
(14:34):
Original bands?
Oh, yeah.
So we have two different kinds.
We have the ones that were thelonger oblong.
I don't think those work anymore.
I think those have probably died.
Basic ones with the circularband in the middle, those still work
fine.
We.
We're still rocking them.
Yeah, we still do.
I.
I have the magic band, plus mywife does not.
Okay.
So I don't know if I have toupgrade her.
(14:55):
She kind of got jealous that Igot to wave it and hear different
things.
All right, number four on my list.
I want a haunted mansion restaurant.
I love it.
I've said this before.
Look, I get it.
It's on the Treasure.
There's a bar on the Treasure that's.
That's themed to the Haunted Mansion.
I think this would be phenomenal.
This would be fantastic.
And I think it capitalizes ona real resurgence of fandom that
(15:20):
this attraction has.
If you go on Facebook, you canfind a lot of fan sites of people
who do their own decorationsaround this ride.
Different, you know,knowledgeable people who have.
Know the history of the ride, etc.
I think it would be fantasticto be in a spooky dining room with
ghosts flying around.
Dimly lit, but lit enough forsafety, and just experience a dinner
(15:41):
in a Spooky.
Spooky place.
Love it.
I think it would be great.
You can wave.
Just wave the magic wand andput it somewhere close.
Yes, I think that would be great.
Oh, I think that'd be.
So you got one for Jungle Cruise.
Yes.
You've got, you know,Spaceship Earth is getting a lounge.
That's right.
So what.
What's wrong with the.
One of the more popularattractions in.
In all of the park.
And we need more dining inMagic Kingdom.
I do too.
(16:01):
I agree.
You know, so that would be perfect.
It would be a great addition.
I'm almost reluctant to seethe video treasure.
Yeah.
Because I really do want tosee it first.
I try.
I, I'm not a spoiler guy.
I'm okay with that.
But for some reason when I seepeople posting this is what the bar
is, I go, I'm gonna.
I want to see it from Wait and see.
I want to wait and see if Iget that.
Yeah.
Haunted Mansion Restaurant Ithink would be fantastic.
(16:23):
So cool.
All right, number five.
All right, I have one more.
So I am actually going to say that.
So it's been a while sincewe've had a new resort that was not
a DVC resort.
So what I actually think wouldbe really cool is like a Fantasyland
themed resort.
Oh, that's nice.
But I want it to be a deluxe.
Okay.
(16:44):
So I'm talking like beautiful,like princess, like different princess
themed areas of the resort sothat you can stay if you want to
stay in the Tiana area or ifyou want to stay in Aurora's area.
All the different areas of the resort.
And so then we also have aprincess meal that's there so that
you're not having to go to thecastle to have your meal, but you
(17:05):
are in just fully engulfed inprincesses and all things Fantasyland.
Maybe even have a carousel inthe lobby so that you're actually
feeling like you're in Fantasy land.
Oh, man.
You should design this.
I mean, right?
They should just hire me.
I'm for hire.
Disney.
All right.
This is my fifth one.
I.
And again, I, I preface thisat the beginning of this.
Money, space are no object.
(17:26):
Yeah.
Because this is definitely onewhere money and space are going to
be a problem.
But I would love to see just afew more attractions in World Showcase.
Because I think it's working great.
I.
I know people didn't like theFrozen transformation, but where
were you Maelstrom fans beforethey announced it?
I didn't.
I never saw you.
And then Remy's Ratatouille Adventure.
(17:47):
I Think totally works.
I mean, the one.
And again, I, I'm, I.
I'm not like, a huge fan ofthe movie, but I get its cultural
significance.
But I was a littledisappointed that the Mary Poppins
ride didn't go through.
Yeah.
Just because I think it couldhave been a nice addition to the.
To Great Britain.
Agree.
You know, you could do a Lucaride in Italy.
You got Milan.
(18:07):
Yeah.
I'm trying to think of just a couple.
Well, you could go down therabbit hole with Alice and, like,
get down the rabbit hole andthen, like, get and see all the different
down there.
Yeah.
Or something like that.
I think here's my appreciation.
World Showcase came as maturity.
And I'm not talking aboutdrinking around the world.
Yeah.
It wasn't the thing my brotherand I were like when we were kids
(18:29):
enjoying.
When we were there in 1982, itwas rather like, this is kind of
dull.
There's movies and there's aboat ride through Mexico that didn't
really have any flair.
But now it's.
One of my favorite parts of myDisney trip is to walk around World
Showcase and really enjoy it.
I just think a couple of moreattractions would really make it
(18:52):
pop.
Yeah.
And families would love thattoo, because it would be something
to keep their kids entertainedwhile they can enjoy the World Showcase.
Just being able to see it andtake it in.
Exactly.
Especially if you're like,we're going to go over to this ride,
but before we do that, momwants to shop over here.
Dad wants to take a look atthese things.
That's right.
We'll be right over there.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So.
And I think that would be abetter appreciation for the young,
(19:14):
younger people to enjoy World Showcase.
Do we have any honorablementions that we missed?
Ten that we have.
Yes.
So I know you brought a couple.
So I just have one honorablemention because we, we like to beat
this, this into the ground.
Please, please, Disney, justfor under the tree, can you just
wrap up a little bus and giveus back Magical Ex Express?
(19:35):
Yeah, it.
It's the whole.
The whole idea of justimmersing yourself within the world
is lost when you're takingyour own car.
When you've rented your owncar, you're taking an Uber.
And you know you can get outof it.
You know, you get out of there.
You know, look, they trap youthere because they want you to stay
there.
But I didn't mind beingtrapped there.
I was a willing participant inthe full immersion of being there
(19:58):
for seven days or whenever I was.
And a lot of it had to do withthat bus.
Just getting off that bus andknowing kids, we don't even have
to get our bags.
Yep, they will have their bags.
That was the cool part.
We're going.
Right.
They took that away a fewyears before they took the bus.
Right.
And so bringing that backwould be.
I would probably, you know, Iam a huge proponent of carry on only.
(20:18):
I'd probably go back tochecking my bag if I knew somebody
else was going to get them.
So, yeah, I wish they wouldbring that back.
And, you know, they couldstill make money if they just increase
their fleet of minivans andoffer that as a service.
I know for a fact there'd bebe plenty of families that are paying
for that privatetransportation and even charge double
what they're charging rightnow for the minivan and then offer
(20:40):
the free version for everybodyelse who still wants to take the
Magical Express.
All right, I got an honorable mention.
And I, I, I gotta thinksomebody in a boardroom somewhere
discussed this.
And that is when the figmentpopcorn bucket came out.
There were lines for hours.
Crazy, right?
Yeah.
Because there is an attractionto that character, people.
(21:00):
Whether it's nostalgic or he'scute, whatever.
Yeah.
He literally has the worstride in all of the parks.
He is attached to one of themost miserable rides that has been
gutted, destroyed.
What used to be what that ridewas with the original Dreamfinder
to what it is now is, is a shame.
(21:21):
And everyone knows it.
This is not a hidden secret.
Everyone knows it.
I agree.
They lost funding.
It was funded by Kodak.
Kodak pulled its sponsorship.
They had to make some cuts,and then they just cut.
You have a very popular figure.
You have a popular figure, andif you just gave him a better attraction,
it's.
It would be the perfect marriage.
I don't know if you could goback to the original Dream Finder
(21:41):
and the original ride, butsince I'm waving the magic wand with
my Christmas wish, that's whatI would want.
It was my, my favorite ridewhen, when we were there again when
I was a kid because it was sowhimsical and so fun and the music
was great, and now it's turnedinto a.
Dude.
I don't even know what to call it.
Yeah, it's tough.
It's a, it's a, It's a realtough one.
So give one of your morepopular IPS the attraction it deserves.
(22:03):
I like it.
There you go.
There we go.
All right.
So that's doing ours orChristmas wishes.
Walt Disney World Edition.
These are the things we hopeare under the tree this holiday season.
Once again, if you areplanning a trip in 2025 to Disney
or Universal Studios and youwant our help with that and help
you guide through all all ofthe things that you may need to know
about, we'd love to help you out.
Hit Lauren up at Lauren at Allthe Magic Travel.
(22:24):
Hit Me up Travel with Tony Dgmail.com thanks for listening.
Please subscribe to the podcast.
Leave us a five star review.
We will see you back in 2025with an allnew edition of the Wands
and Wishes podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!