January 17, 2025 • 28 mins
Looking ahead to 2025, this episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast dives deep into the exciting changes on the horizon for Walt Disney World and the broader theme park landscape in Orlando, particularly with the anticipated opening of Epic Universe. Hosts Tony Desiere and Lauren Mallard discuss how this new addition will reshape the vacation planning landscape, encouraging guests to reconsider their itineraries as they balance experiences between Disney and Universal. They explore the implications of ride closures at Disney, including Big Thunder Mountain and Test Track, and how these changes may affect park attendance and overall visitor experience. Additionally, the conversation highlights new attractions and events coming to both parks, including anticipated dining options and nighttime celebrations. With a competitive environment shaping up for 2026, the hosts emphasize the importance of planning ahead to make the most of these evolving theme parks.
Takeaways:
- The opening of Epic Universe in Orlando is set to reshape the theme park landscape significantly.
- There will be numerous ride closures at Disney World, signaling major changes in 2025.
- Travelers may need to reconsider their vacation plans as Universal adds more attractions.
- The new nighttime parade and villain show at Disney World will enhance the visitor experience.
- Universal's strategy aims to keep visitors on property longer, similar to Disney's approach.
- The free dining promotion continues to be a popular but complex aspect of vacation planning.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign of the Wands andWishes podcast.
Thank you for joining us.
Tony Desiri, along with LaurenMallard of all the magic travel and
we are glad to you join us inthe 2025 year.
And that's a topic of ourpodcast today.
Looking ahead to 2025 for WaltDisney World and of course the theme
(00:21):
park environment that it'sgoing to go on in Orlando with the
opening of Epic Universe.
There's a lot of rideclosures, there's a lot of new things
to enjoy at Disney World.
There's a lot of newpromotions, things like we're going
to go over all that.
And if you've been listeningto this podcast and like what you're
hearing, please subscribe.
Leave us.
A five star review certainlyhelps us with the algorithms.
I know we're getting a lot ofnew listeners to the podcast.
We really do appreciate that.
(00:41):
But please considersubscribing and leaving us a review.
How are you, Lauren?
Glad to hear back.
Good.
It's good to be back.
I feel like it's been a minute.
It has.
Because I think you and I, westopped for both Christmas and the
New Year.
Yes.
And then you were kind of illlast week.
Yes, I had a monster migraine.
I did not think that was agreat idea to sit here and record.
No problem.
And so anyway, we thought wewould get the 2025 year rocking and
(01:04):
rolling.
So let's start with the bigone in the room and that's Epic Universe
in terms of its opening.
It's gonna reshape the themepark world in Orlando.
It's the first new park in avery long time since Animal Kingdom,
I think.
Or was Islands, I thinkIslands of Adventure was before Animal
Kingdom.
Yeah, I don't remember.
But nevertheless, it's been 20plus years since we've had a new,
a new theme park in the area.
(01:26):
And so this is going to changethe landscape.
Now, I wanted to get yourthoughts as somebody who deals a
lot in Disney.
Have you, do you have a lot ofclients that say, I'm going to Disney
for five days but I want toboogie over to Universal?
So actually, yes, I have a lotof clients that will do that, that
will just go over for the day.
They won't go and stay theretypically, but they will just go
over for the day.
And so I'm really interestedto see what this is going to bring
(01:47):
for, let's say that same client.
Are they going to want to goover because right now Universal
is really kind of putting somelimitations on those tickets through
Epic Universe.
So I'm excited to see kind ofhow that evolves.
This is out of the book ofDisney, right?
I mean, because if you go backinto the history of the Orlando area,
you have Walt Disney buying upall of this land in Central Florida
(02:09):
and then he builds the MagicKingdom, but he buys everything around
it, acres and acres of landaround it, to sort of immerse people
into this, like, resort vacation.
But there was only one theme park.
So then everybody sort of allthese entrepreneurs started saying,
well, if he's there, I can bethere with this.
And then you start gettingGatorland Zoo, you start getting
SeaWorld, you start gettingall of these other things, Ripley's
(02:32):
Believe it or Not MusicMuseum, all of these things to sort
of allow families to go, okay,cool, there's golf and there's water
sports, but there's only onetheme park.
Let's go do something else.
Let's get out of this andlet's go do something else.
Yeah.
And then Disney said, oh, no,we're gonna make more parks and leave
you in the bubble.
Right.
And Universal was like, okay,we'll be the one off.
Like, we'll, we don't mindhaving one or two parks.
(02:53):
If you want to boogie overhere for Harry Potter, we'll be more
than happy to take you.
We'll have our own hotels.
Yeah.
But there was no reason tostay at Universal for five days.
Yeah, now there is.
And I think that that's what'sreally going to change things because
I have so many clients thatwill have so many ideas.
They're like, I'm going to goto Orlando, but I only want to go
one time this year and I wantto go for a week and I want to hit
(03:14):
Legoland and I want to hitSeaWorld and I want to hit Universal.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We can't really fit all thisin realistically.
So it's really going to pushpeople to say, okay, this time I
think I'm probably going toneed to just do Universal.
Or this time I'm just going toneed to do Disney.
Because there's not going tobe enough time in that five to six
(03:34):
day window that most peoplewant to travel.
I always everything I givepeople advice on Universal Studios
all the time.
And I said, look for justUniversal Studios and Islands of
Adventure.
Three days and you'll see it.
All right now this looks likea two day park too.
Yeah.
And so now you're looking atfive, maybe six if you want to throw
in Volcano Bay.
Yeah.
And now it becomes just goingdown there for that.
(03:55):
Exactly.
It's going to look verysimilar to what the majority of Disney
vacations look like now, juston the Universal scale.
That's right.
And this is something that hasbeen coming for a long time.
People have anticipated,obviously announced they were building
it.
It's taken years to build.
It's finally going to open in May.
But again, this is straightout of what Disney did to all of
those.
Because when I remember thefirst time I went, you know, with
(04:15):
my family, my father did atour, basically, like you signed
up for a package and then theysaid, here's where you're going to
stay.
And on Monday we're doingDisney World, and on Tuesday we're
doing SeaWorld, and onWednesday you get a free day, and
on Thursday we're going backto Disney World, and then on we're
going to Cypress Gardens orGatorlands, like whatever it was.
And the bus would take youthere and it would drop you back
off at the hotel.
(04:36):
And then the time we went, mydad ditched that in his family, because
that's what people do.
You.
They go, all right, I got it now.
I figured it out.
Yeah.
And just figured it out on his own.
But there was still these gapsin what we were doing.
And this is where MichaelEisner was brilliant because he kind
of said, even though Epcot wascreated in 82, he's like, I'm building
a new.
I mean, Universal, like park.
(04:56):
Sure.
In.
In Hollywood Studios.
Then I'll build a bushgardens, like park in the same complex.
I got all this land.
Let's build some theme parks.
Yeah.
And then the Magical Expresskept you there.
You didn't have to rent a car.
Bingo.
Right.
I'm anxious to see withUniversal, you know, what's going
to be their plan for uppingwith dining plan or something like
that.
(05:17):
Because if they're going tohave more people that are going to
be on property for longer,extended periods of time, then I
think it would be beneficialto them to offer a dining plan that
says, hey, if you're going tobe here, eat here, and keep them
on property as much as possible.
Because right now you've stillgot people kind of going in and out.
And Universal is very, veryaware of the fact that people will
(05:37):
book ghost rooms at thosepremier resorts for a night.
I do that with my clients allthe time.
Because it's technically, ifyou have a larger family, it's cheaper
to book a room at one of thosethree premier resorts, not even stay
there.
But get that unlimited Express pass.
That's exactly right.
So I'm anxious to see kind ofhow they shift with that and how
things go forward.
Yeah.
(05:58):
And it's, again, it really isgoing to change the way people pick
vacations, what they want todo and how they want to do it.
You still might have the oneoff that kind of escapes to Magic
Kingdom for a day was stayingon Universal property.
And you may have the Universalpeople still, you know, or the Disney
people booking over becausetheir kid loves Harry Potter so much.
We got to go do at least acouple of those things while we're
on our Disney vacation.
But I'm very curious about howthis is going.
(06:20):
Exciting year for Universal.
Very much so.
And.
Very much so.
And it.
I'm kind of glad, too, becauseI've really.
I've loved Universal and I.
And but to me, it was always.
It just lacked.
It's.
I don't want to say vacation appeal.
That's the wrong way to put it.
Yeah.
I'm saying it always felt likewhen we were there.
Yes.
It always felt like we werethere just for a couple of days and
(06:41):
that was it.
Sure.
You know, it was never.
We are immersed in the whole universe.
Like we were at Disney.
Yeah.
And it was just, you know,when my wife and I go down, a lot
of time was when we go tovisit Disney, we do it as a kind
of a combination of, we'regonna go see your dad, we're gonna
go see our son at Gain in Gainesville.
We're gonna see my parents in Ocala.
So we've stayed outside ofOrlando, close to Tampa or close
(07:04):
to Ocala to do the business ofwhy we're down there.
But we have said many times,look, let's just stay at Disney.
Let's see if we can stay atDisney even though it's longer.
I think people will do thatwith this, too.
Now they'll say, look, I mightas well stay at Universal.
If I'm going to be here fortwo or three days, I might as well
stay here.
So it becomes.
It just really does.
I'm really very curious injust the way it operates, how it's
(07:26):
going to be effective.
All right, let's get to.
Because one of the responsesto Disney was at D23 saying, All
right, we've got all this newstuff now.
Here it comes.
And I was there.
26, 27th of December.
Are you seeing it coming yet?
I saw it coming.
Is a huge crane right there byThunder Mountain and big Thunder
Mountain Railway just closednow it's gonna be closed for a complete
(07:48):
refurbishment.
But a lot of people said it'srefurbished because they're dealing
with.
They're gonna deal with somuch stuff over there.
Even if they did therefurbishment, they won't open it.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think, too,that they do that because they don't
want anybody seeing that'sexactly over there.
Get the walls up.
They know for a fact, youknow, if you're going up that hill
on Big Thunder Mountain,people are going to see, they're
going to take pictures.
They don't want any of that happening.
So it's unfortunate becauseBig Thunder Mountain is a favorite
(08:11):
in Mag Kingdom.
I think it's really good forthe older kids and some of the thrill
seekers to have that at Magic Kingdom.
But, yeah, it means there'ssome exciting things happening.
They are.
They're all pushing.
Exactly.
So as I was.
As I said in the podcast lastweek, I did ride Liberty Bell and
I.
I don't care if it stays.
I don't either.
I don't care one little bit.
(08:33):
Because I was thinking, as Iwas listening to you on the podcast,
I.
I don't think I've ever beenon it, and I don't care.
I only went on it because itwas empty.
Yeah.
And I went.
And the guy said, we'releaving in three minutes.
And I said, all right, let'sjump on this.
Let's.
Let me ride this for the.
Let me ride this for the firsttime in all my trips down to Walt
Disney World.
But they are closing down rides.
They are.
They are putting together somenew nighttime celebrations.
(08:54):
There's also test track that'sgoing to open up at Epcot.
Yeah.
This is complete refurbishment.
Yeah.
I've heard rumors.
Nobody really knows exactlywhat this is going to look like.
I haven't even heard any rumors.
And I typically.
I'm not one that's like.
I don't try to stay spoilerfree or anything before I go back
down for a refurbishment ornew ride, but I haven't heard anything.
(09:14):
And it's so crazy to me thatthere's nothing really that's like,
swirling about it a whole lot.
But I'm excited for it.
Me, too.
There's supposed to be.
The rumor is.
And again, take it for what it is.
Yeah.
That it's going to be a littlebit of a combination of what it was
back when it was World ofMotion, a little bit of that sort
of dark ride history oftransportation as well as what it
(09:36):
just was.
This creation of Car and.
And what a car actually is andwhat it does and what you can do
to it when you build your owncar and handling and all that other
stuff.
Awesome.
I don't know how they'll workit, but it's been down for a while,
so I know this has beencompletely changed.
Yeah.
This goes back to ThunderMountain in your point about why
it would be a long time unlessyou're tearing down the track and
(09:59):
rebuilding the whole thing,which is what they're saying they're
retracking and all that stuff.
But unless you're designing,it wouldn't take a year to refurbish
Thunderbound Railroad.
No, it's kind of like lastyear, Rock and Roller Coaster was
down for almost an entire year.
Yeah.
And I.
I just ask myself, like, why.
Why are we doing that whenyou're taking out one of these big
headliners in a park that somany people might not ever get the
(10:21):
chance to write if they don'tget a chance to write it now?
So, yeah, it's interesting.
All right.
Now also, Dino Land.
I saw them taking.
I saw the pictures taking down.
Yes.
This is one of those thingswhere I'm like, I didn't really care
when it was there and now it's gone.
I'm like.
I remember some good timeswith my kids at this little park,
at the.
Little games and the thingslike that.
(10:42):
You know, I don't think mykids ever were interested in Dino
Land, so I don't have thatnostalgia with it.
So I'm really more excited tosee what's gonna come.
Yeah, me too.
I'm glad.
I'm glad it's.
I'm glad they're kind of rechanging it.
Yes.
They got the Encanto housethat's coming and all of.
All of the things that they'vebeen planning in D23.
That construction underwaydinosaur is continue for a while
(11:03):
that eventually will become anIndiana Jones ride.
Very similar to what you see.
It's gonna be different, butthe track is the same from the Indiana
Jones ride at Disneyland.
And, you know, I wish theywould just go ahead and get started
on that.
Like, who really?
I mean, yes, I know there'speople that love dinosaur, but who
really does?
Because let's go ahead andclose that because that seems like
that would be a fairly quick fix.
(11:24):
Yeah, you're just changing the theme.
They're just changing the theming.
Which, you know, I could havesaid the same thing about Tiana's
Bayou Adventure.
And that took a long time.
That took a Long time.
But yeah, let's go ahead andget something new and fresh in Animal
Kingdom because right now I'mseeing less interest in Animal Kingdom
than ever before.
Right.
I.
I wonder about Animal Kingdombecause everybody who goes will say,
look, there's just not a lotof attractions there.
(11:46):
It's not a full day park.
It closes early, and it's gigantic.
But it's a, it's a park youcan get in pretty relatively quickly
if you go on, and you can easily.
Do it without lightning lanes.
My wife, when I.
We went down in September, we,we were done by 2:00.
Yep.
Like, it was like, do you wantto do anything else?
You want to re.
Ride anything?
I rewrote everything we wantedto ride.
(12:07):
If you shut down that majorarea, now you're talking about an
even shorter day at that park.
Yeah.
So my tip for Animal Kingdomis always that is our first park.
So if we are going to a parkon arrival day and we take an early
flight down, that's alwaysgoing to be my first part.
Because I know for a fact,regardless of if my flight's late
(12:27):
getting in, if it takes me alittle while to get checked into
the hotel, I can still geteverything done in Animal Kingdom.
And that's going to remainthat way for a while.
And I know Animal Kingdom hasits fans in my family.
It was never the park wewanted to hop to later in the afternoon
to re.
Like, even though it wouldclose at 6, we never left Epcot for
Animal Kingdom.
We never.
We always did that first.
(12:48):
Did.
Made sure we got it all doneand then we would go back to somewhere
else.
Right?
Absolutely.
It never became the secondpart of the day.
Yes.
So even though, again, it's apark that closes pretty early anyway,
but.
So they're going to be doing alot of stuff there in terms of getting
that entire land for Encantoand in the shops and the restaurants.
And then eventually theIndiana Jones ride comes along.
Over at Magic Kingdom, there'sgoing to be a new Pirates tavern.
(13:11):
Yes.
Now, this looks like fun, butis it going to be an actual tavern?
You know, I don't know.
I keep thinking in my mind, Ikeep thinking like ogres, but pirate
style.
Right.
And so I guess that's kind ofwhat we're in for.
But I'm like, where exactlyare they going to put it?
Yeah.
It's a very crowded area over there.
It is.
So I'm interested to seewhat's going to happen there, where
(13:31):
it's going to be, what themenu Is there going to be any food
on the menu?
And.
And just what's going to happen?
Yeah, is.
And how many is it going to feel?
Is it there.
Are there going to be castmembers in there to make it feel
like a pirate tavern ratherthan just when you go into some places
and you're like, oh, I.
I get it.
It.
I see the stuff on the wall,the atmosphere.
Will there be occasionally oneor two people just there sort of
(13:53):
hanging out?
Yeah, like a little bit of,like, character interaction in there.
Because, again, you can do athemed restaurant without cast members.
Like Star Wars.
You don't necessarily need theStar wars people dressed up as the
band.
Right.
To play.
Right.
You gotta feel for it.
But if you're gonna have apirates tavern and you have pirates
in it, how much piratey couldit be?
Right.
And you go into, like, theHaunted Mansion bar on the Treasure,
(14:16):
and we've heard that the castmembers in there are playing along,
and so I kind of think itmight be something similar to that.
Are you interested in theEpcot future world?
What is it called?
The Spaceship Earth Lounge.
What are they calling that?
I don't even know what it'sgoing to be called yet.
And no, I'm really notsupposed to.
Be a lounge by.
By Spaceship Earth.
Yes.
And I'm like, well, don't we already.
(14:37):
We have Space 220 Lounge andwe have Space 220 Restaurant.
And so that kind of seemedlike a little bit of a miss to me.
I'm not really super excitedabout that one.
All right.
There are going to be some new shows.
There's a new nighttime paradecoming in 2025.
So exciting.
This one's great.
I've seen some early, like,artist re of this.
This looks fantastic.
I cannot wait.
It's going to.
There's Peter Pan, Moana, Frozen.
(14:59):
There's going to be addingsome real life.
The nighttime parades.
When was the NighttimeSpectacular was one of the classic
parades of all time?
Yes.
And a hot take for me, my veryfavorite parade of all time is Spectro
Magic.
Oh, right.
Yeah.
Which not a lot of people willgravitate towards.
Spectrum Magic, because youhad the Main Street Electrical Parade
for a long time and then youhad Spectromagic for a little bit,
(15:20):
and then they brought back theMain Street Electrical Parade.
So I think that there's just asmall group of people that have nostalgia
for Spectro Magic.
But I can still see the.
The dancing clowns coming downthe street.
You should start a littleFacebook group of people who love
that.
I Love it.
And hung out with that andremember the good old days.
That would be fun.
There's also going to be a newvillain show over at Hollywood Studios.
(15:42):
They're.
They've embraced this.
They.
This is.
I.
I think this is organic.
I.
I may be naive.
Yeah, I think this was organicfrom the fans at Disney went, oh,
there really is an interestfor the Villains.
Like a really fan group.
Let's.
Let's cap it.
Let's.
Let's jump in on it.
Rather than sort of Disneycreating it and then it being embraced.
Yeah, I think people werelike, started creating.
I can see that.
And then Disney went, youknow, we're starting to notice that
(16:03):
people collect the Disney pinsand they collect villain wear and
they.
All right, we're gonna.
We're gonna.
We're gonna jump all over thisand capitalize it.
We talked about it in, Ithink, our first podcast, which was
the.
What was going on at D23 andthe villains Land and what.
That would take this.
I mean, you don't have to be alongtime Disney fan.
I know people have beenscreaming for something like that
for a long time.
(16:24):
Absolutely.
You know, just give me a.
Give me.
Also give me something morerelated to the Villains.
Give me a ride that's a littlebit darker.
Give me.
I love the darkness of the.
Of these.
Some of these characters.
And now there's going to be ashow over at Hollywood Studios.
And of course, there is theother thing that we've talked about
that.
That made it 2025 and beyond,which is the eventual switchover
of Monsters, Inc.
(16:44):
From Muppets Land and then theeventual Muppets taking over the
rock and roll roller coaster.
Yeah.
So I don't know when they.
When they're at the 2026.
I think it will finally be put together.
I think that all of that isgoing to come in 2026, but I.
All of that.
I think that's going to be areally, really good change for Hollywood
Studios.
There's going to be, again,when you're talking about this kind
(17:05):
of change, it's different thanwhat Universal is doing, because
Universal is building a wholenew park.
So the park is over here.
You would do.
You do your stuff here.
Right.
It's over there.
But I have to say that I thinkthere are.
There's going to be a lot offrustrating people who go, hey, like,
I remember when I first won in82, Space Mountain was closed.
(17:25):
Yeah.
Like, I'm a kid.
I don't know when I'm coming back.
Big deal.
You know, Absolutely.
And I'm going there.
And every single friend ofmine in elementary school was talking
about how cool Space Mountain was.
We finally go, my father andmy brother, we run up there and it's
closed.
And like you don't know.
And for a kid, I was eight,nine, two years or three, we didn't
(17:47):
know when I was coming back.
But that's an eternity, right?
Might as well forget it.
Yeah.
So I can, you know, when youclose down a major roller coaster,
like Big Thunder MountainRailway, when you start saying this
land over here is closed, thatmeans more people are going to be
over here because there'sreally nothing to do here.
There's going to be a lot ofgrowing pains in 2025 for people
going down to Disney.
(18:08):
But again, when you're in thetheme park business, what you try
to do is you say, well, overhere we got issues, but over here
we're, we're doing some other stuff.
This is nice and shiny, right?
Yes.
And then, you know, I thinktoo, that's where you also have to
say, you are immersingyourself in this entire resort.
It is not just a theme park.
(18:29):
Again, if you are frustratedwith the theme parks, there's so
much else to do for your day.
So, you know, spend some timein the theme park, but then go over
to Disney Springs or go backto your resort, have a swim, go to
a character meal, different things.
Just make it a full vacation.
It doesn't have to just beabout the rides in the.
I agree, I agree completely.
Again, that's.
(18:50):
You're right.
The give the completeimmersion is what Disney World always
has done very, very well.
It's like once you're here,you can stay here.
Everything around it, fromwhat you, from when you wake up to
when you eat to when whateveryou want to do, from golf to mini
golf to water recreation, anything.
Speaking of water recreation there.
So if you check in to a resort.
(19:12):
Yeah.
You get a free water park.
Pass the day you check in.
Yes.
Only good for the day youcheck in.
That's right.
I can see people going fromlike one or two resorts on their
stay to get a couple of.
That's the hack that peoplehave said.
So if you do a split stay,you're essentially getting two days
especially, you know, peoplemight say, well, I'm not going to
get there early enough on mycheck in day for a water park.
(19:36):
Well, let's say, you know,three days into the trip you're moving
from Pop Century to PortOrleans French Quarter.
Well, on that.
Porter, Porter Leans FrenchQuarter day that you're checking
in.
That can be a full day of awater park.
From the time you wake upuntil the time that water park closes,
it's free for everybody inyour party.
That's great because there is,there is always the feeling of it's
in that middle zone of like 11to 2.
(19:58):
My room's not ready.
Do I want to use one of thedays on this ticket?
I don't want to use the day.
When I get there for a half a day.
I, I need something to do.
I may not, you know, whateverit is, I don't want to shop yet.
I just want to do something.
And there you go, you get, youget to go water park and park hack.
And I always tell people,look, if you can do it, it stay at
multiple resorts, get a feelfor it.
(20:19):
I always say, listen, I knowit's tough to pack, unpack, I get
it.
But if you are trying, I mean,so many of these hotels have got
character.
They've got their own theming,they got their own sort of, sort
of entertainment.
There's so many differentthings at these resorts.
If you can bang out two in aweek stay, I, I highly recommend
doing it now.
There's a little bit more incentive.
That's right.
Absolutely.
(20:40):
All right.
I want to get to your, yourthoughts on a promotion that's popular,
that comes around all thetime, and that's free dining.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let me just ask this, becausenothing, we always know nothing's
really free.
You end up paying it in someway, shape or form.
You have to stay at a certain hotel.
You have to, you have to havea park hopper passes the pack up
passes to be certain amount oftimes in order to get this.
(21:00):
Do you find that this has gotvalue still?
If you are somebody that'sgoing, well, I was gonna stay at
All Star movies.
Yeah.
And I wasn't gonna get ParkHarper passes.
But now I might upgrade myhotel and the park hopper to get
this.
Yeah.
So it depends.
So I am in this every day andI'm looking.
So what we do as travel agentsand you know this, obviously, but
(21:21):
we can go in and when we'relooking for a client's vacation,
we see all of the availablepromos at the top.
Right.
And so what my job is, is Icheck every single one of those.
I see which one is going to bethe cheapest by putting all of the
same components in.
And What I found nine timesout of 10 is even when adding that
dining plan back, the freedining promo may not be the best,
(21:44):
best deal.
And so it goes back to whatyou're saying.
They're going to get theirmoney somehow.
Now, sometimes it does workout to be in their favor, especially
if you're staying at a deluxeresort and you're getting the full
dining plan for free on thatand you're staying at one of the
less expensive deluxe resortslike Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness
(22:04):
Lodge, and you're getting themost value out of that.
That can definitely be work inyour favor.
But there are two other promosthat are out for that same time period.
That's a room discount.
And then there's one that'scalled like Stay Play.
And I'm not even really surewhat the exact components are, but
I check it for you.
So I check it with your.
With your different components.
So that's where we're going tocome in for you, is we're going to
(22:27):
check everything, see if wewant to upgrade your tickets to Park
Hoppers and see what's goingto make the most sense for you.
Yeah, and.
And again, the dining plan hasgot its.
A lot of pluses.
A lot of people, a lot of.
It's not.
It's it.
People have always made theargument, this is an old argument,
this is not mine, of if I hadthe money in an envelope, right.
Would I have money left overin the envelope?
(22:48):
Right.
And that's the old adage, right?
Sometimes no, depending on the food.
But sometimes, yes, dependingon how much food you want to eat.
And I will say, the times thatI have gone on the dining plan, I've
been so happy because I don'thave to think.
And we've said it so manytimes because it's like, okay, yes,
I paid a lot for this, butI've already paid for it.
(23:10):
It's in the past.
So when I sit down to dinner,I'm not reading the menu from right
to.
As I do so many times, becauseI'm like, oh, well, I don't want
to order that steak becauseit's more expensive than that chicken.
But I've already paid for it.
So I am going to order themost expensive thing on the menu.
I'm going to splurge, I'mgoing to enjoy.
I might have a drink with dinner.
You know, different thingslike that.
That has already been paid forwhere I think so many people.
(23:33):
When you're paying for aDisney vacation, it all comes down
to what can I pay for ahead oftime and then be able to enjoy it
with my family?
And I say to people about thedining plan.
I'm like, look, look, I knowsome of you want to run off and get
a burger real quick or youwant to get a hot dog at Casey's
Corner or whatnot.
And I sort of get that.
There's the quick service, andyou can do that.
But if you are doing the, youknow, the.
(23:54):
The sit down, at least one.
You get a chance to do somerestaurants maybe you would not do.
You wouldn't have thought of, right.
That you would.
Maybe you would have said, I'mnot the kind of guy that wants to
book a restaurant.
I know that Disney restaurantsare a little bit more expensive than
my normal restaurant at home,and I'd rather just get a quick burger
at a place.
You can do that on the dining plan.
There's a dining plan for that.
(24:14):
That's right.
But my best memories of myfamily trips are the times we ate
at Coral Reef, for crying out loud.
And my little girl thought theaquarium was unbelievable.
Like, she could not stopwatching the fish while we were eating
dinner.
Or the Sci Fi restaurant wherejust the theming was cool.
And I got to tell my kidsabout drive in movies, something
(24:34):
they don't.
They didn't.
They don't do.
Absolutely, you know, thingslike that.
Those are the kind of coolmemories that I have.
And not only that, it's just,you know, when you're in a theme
park and it's 95, 100 degreesoutside, having an hour in air condition
to sit down with your family,recharge, it really, really makes
a huge difference than justsitting outside for quick service
(24:56):
for every meal of every day.
I.
I do have to say to you,because I know that you weren't here
last week, but I mentioned inthe podcast that I finally jumped
into mobile ordering.
I was gonna talk about that today.
We can wait till next week.
Crazy.
I.
It drove.
I was.
I'm.
I don't know why I didn'tembrace this.
Like, I don't know why I justdidn't care for.
I just was like, no, I'llstand in line.
(25:17):
I don't care.
My wife was like, no, sit down.
I've ordered the food, andwhen it's ready, they'll tell us
and we'll just go get it.
And I'm like, no, I'll standin line.
She goes, you're an idiot.
Stop.
Just stay right here.
Me and Christopher will go getthe food.
Food.
And now I'm like, a big convert.
You love it.
I think it was a lot of it.
Just like, I'm on My phone thewhole time doing this and checking
(25:38):
this and checking this.
That's true.
I just eat.
But this is, it's too easy.
It was way too fantastic.
Plus, here's the other thing.
I was, I was kind of the womanthat told me about.
It was like 60, I was gonna say.
Was she old?
Yeah, she was like an olderlady really.
It was at Casey's Corner andshe, she just said, you can use the
mobile order.
And I go now not really big.
(25:59):
Oh, it's so easy, honey.
And I go, oh, okay.
And then she was showing andmy wife's like, I, I got it, I got
it.
So, yeah, so I finally gotinto mobile ordering.
So that, that was great.
That was, that was fantastic.
So that's kind of a look, abrief look at least.
What at 2025, do you have anyother things you're looking forward
to in the upcoming year atthe, at either park?
Yeah, you know, I think we'vecovered most everything.
(26:19):
There is so much, so much coming.
Oh, the Zootopia show.
I forgot the Zootopia show.
That's coming to where it'sthe tough to be a bug show is inside
the tree.
So I'm excited.
Yeah, lots of trips to plan,lots of, lots of fun to be had.
I know that again, a lot ofpeople will be hearing about the
construction this and theshutdown this.
But again, you get one ridecloser, you get another one open
(26:41):
that they, they, they don'tshut everything down to rebuild everything.
They do it a little bit at a time.
They do make sure that thingsare open and available.
Something may be down on oneend, but something may be re emerging
on another.
You're going to get the testtrack up.
Even though Thunder MountainRailroad of Magic Kingdom is down,
that's kind of the way, waythat they run that business.
So it's never going to be aday where you're going to be like
60 of everything is shut downfor cleanup.
(27:03):
That's right.
So we do recommend that youstill go, even though it's going
to be a big transitional yearin 2025, because 2026 looks like
a real, real competitivebattle for the, for the theme park
market now.
That's right.
With three parks, four if youwant to count water parks at Universal
Studios and then four themeparks, plus the two water parks at
Walt Disney World.
So 2026, when everything sortof settles down and really fully
(27:26):
operational, should be amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
All right.
So again, please subscribe andgive us a five star review.
If you like the podcast, we'llbe back next week with more insight
information on both DisneyWorld and Universal Studios.
I'm Tony Desiri.
That's Lauren Mallard.
You can reach Lauren Lauren atall the magic travel.
You can reach me Travel withTony D gmail.com we'd love to hear
from you again.
Please share the podcast withthose that you are also interested
(27:49):
in traveling down to the themepark world of Orlando, Florida.
This is the Wands and Wishes podcast.
Have a great day.
Foreign of the Wands andWishes podcast.
Thank you for joining us.
Tony Desiri, along with LaurenMallard of all the magic travel and
we are glad to you join us inthe 2025 year.
And that's a topic of ourpodcast today.
Looking ahead to 2025 for WaltDisney World and of course the theme
(00:21):
park environment that it'sgoing to go on in Orlando with the
opening of Epic Universe.
There's a lot of rideclosures, there's a lot of new things
to enjoy at Disney World.
There's a lot of newpromotions, things like we're going
to go over all that.
And if you've been listeningto this podcast and like what you're
hearing, please subscribe.
Leave us.
A five star review certainlyhelps us with the algorithms.
I know we're getting a lot ofnew listeners to the podcast.
We really do appreciate that.
(00:41):
But please considersubscribing and leaving us a review.
How are you, Lauren?
Glad to hear back.
Good.
It's good to be back.
I feel like it's been a minute.
It has.
Because I think you and I, westopped for both Christmas and the
New Year.
Yes.
And then you were kind of illlast week.
Yes, I had a monster migraine.
I did not think that was agreat idea to sit here and record.
No problem.
And so anyway, we thought wewould get the 2025 year rocking and
(01:04):
rolling.
So let's start with the bigone in the room and that's Epic Universe
in terms of its opening.
It's gonna reshape the themepark world in Orlando.
It's the first new park in avery long time since Animal Kingdom,
I think.
Or was Islands, I thinkIslands of Adventure was before Animal
Kingdom.
Yeah, I don't remember.
But nevertheless, it's been 20plus years since we've had a new,
a new theme park in the area.
(01:26):
And so this is going to changethe landscape.
Now, I wanted to get yourthoughts as somebody who deals a
lot in Disney.
Have you, do you have a lot ofclients that say, I'm going to Disney
for five days but I want toboogie over to Universal?
So actually, yes, I have a lotof clients that will do that, that
will just go over for the day.
They won't go and stay theretypically, but they will just go
over for the day.
And so I'm really interestedto see what this is going to bring
(01:47):
for, let's say that same client.
Are they going to want to goover because right now Universal
is really kind of putting somelimitations on those tickets through
Epic Universe.
So I'm excited to see kind ofhow that evolves.
This is out of the book ofDisney, right?
I mean, because if you go backinto the history of the Orlando area,
you have Walt Disney buying upall of this land in Central Florida
(02:09):
and then he builds the MagicKingdom, but he buys everything around
it, acres and acres of landaround it, to sort of immerse people
into this, like, resort vacation.
But there was only one theme park.
So then everybody sort of allthese entrepreneurs started saying,
well, if he's there, I can bethere with this.
And then you start gettingGatorland Zoo, you start getting
SeaWorld, you start gettingall of these other things, Ripley's
(02:32):
Believe it or Not MusicMuseum, all of these things to sort
of allow families to go, okay,cool, there's golf and there's water
sports, but there's only onetheme park.
Let's go do something else.
Let's get out of this andlet's go do something else.
Yeah.
And then Disney said, oh, no,we're gonna make more parks and leave
you in the bubble.
Right.
And Universal was like, okay,we'll be the one off.
Like, we'll, we don't mindhaving one or two parks.
(02:53):
If you want to boogie overhere for Harry Potter, we'll be more
than happy to take you.
We'll have our own hotels.
Yeah.
But there was no reason tostay at Universal for five days.
Yeah, now there is.
And I think that that's what'sreally going to change things because
I have so many clients thatwill have so many ideas.
They're like, I'm going to goto Orlando, but I only want to go
one time this year and I wantto go for a week and I want to hit
(03:14):
Legoland and I want to hitSeaWorld and I want to hit Universal.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We can't really fit all thisin realistically.
So it's really going to pushpeople to say, okay, this time I
think I'm probably going toneed to just do Universal.
Or this time I'm just going toneed to do Disney.
Because there's not going tobe enough time in that five to six
(03:34):
day window that most peoplewant to travel.
I always everything I givepeople advice on Universal Studios
all the time.
And I said, look for justUniversal Studios and Islands of
Adventure.
Three days and you'll see it.
All right now this looks likea two day park too.
Yeah.
And so now you're looking atfive, maybe six if you want to throw
in Volcano Bay.
Yeah.
And now it becomes just goingdown there for that.
(03:55):
Exactly.
It's going to look verysimilar to what the majority of Disney
vacations look like now, juston the Universal scale.
That's right.
And this is something that hasbeen coming for a long time.
People have anticipated,obviously announced they were building
it.
It's taken years to build.
It's finally going to open in May.
But again, this is straightout of what Disney did to all of
those.
Because when I remember thefirst time I went, you know, with
(04:15):
my family, my father did atour, basically, like you signed
up for a package and then theysaid, here's where you're going to
stay.
And on Monday we're doingDisney World, and on Tuesday we're
doing SeaWorld, and onWednesday you get a free day, and
on Thursday we're going backto Disney World, and then on we're
going to Cypress Gardens orGatorlands, like whatever it was.
And the bus would take youthere and it would drop you back
off at the hotel.
(04:36):
And then the time we went, mydad ditched that in his family, because
that's what people do.
You.
They go, all right, I got it now.
I figured it out.
Yeah.
And just figured it out on his own.
But there was still these gapsin what we were doing.
And this is where MichaelEisner was brilliant because he kind
of said, even though Epcot wascreated in 82, he's like, I'm building
a new.
I mean, Universal, like park.
(04:56):
Sure.
In.
In Hollywood Studios.
Then I'll build a bushgardens, like park in the same complex.
I got all this land.
Let's build some theme parks.
Yeah.
And then the Magical Expresskept you there.
You didn't have to rent a car.
Bingo.
Right.
I'm anxious to see withUniversal, you know, what's going
to be their plan for uppingwith dining plan or something like
that.
(05:17):
Because if they're going tohave more people that are going to
be on property for longer,extended periods of time, then I
think it would be beneficialto them to offer a dining plan that
says, hey, if you're going tobe here, eat here, and keep them
on property as much as possible.
Because right now you've stillgot people kind of going in and out.
And Universal is very, veryaware of the fact that people will
(05:37):
book ghost rooms at thosepremier resorts for a night.
I do that with my clients allthe time.
Because it's technically, ifyou have a larger family, it's cheaper
to book a room at one of thosethree premier resorts, not even stay
there.
But get that unlimited Express pass.
That's exactly right.
So I'm anxious to see kind ofhow they shift with that and how
things go forward.
Yeah.
(05:58):
And it's, again, it really isgoing to change the way people pick
vacations, what they want todo and how they want to do it.
You still might have the oneoff that kind of escapes to Magic
Kingdom for a day was stayingon Universal property.
And you may have the Universalpeople still, you know, or the Disney
people booking over becausetheir kid loves Harry Potter so much.
We got to go do at least acouple of those things while we're
on our Disney vacation.
But I'm very curious about howthis is going.
(06:20):
Exciting year for Universal.
Very much so.
And.
Very much so.
And it.
I'm kind of glad, too, becauseI've really.
I've loved Universal and I.
And but to me, it was always.
It just lacked.
It's.
I don't want to say vacation appeal.
That's the wrong way to put it.
Yeah.
I'm saying it always felt likewhen we were there.
Yes.
It always felt like we werethere just for a couple of days and
(06:41):
that was it.
Sure.
You know, it was never.
We are immersed in the whole universe.
Like we were at Disney.
Yeah.
And it was just, you know,when my wife and I go down, a lot
of time was when we go tovisit Disney, we do it as a kind
of a combination of, we'regonna go see your dad, we're gonna
go see our son at Gain in Gainesville.
We're gonna see my parents in Ocala.
So we've stayed outside ofOrlando, close to Tampa or close
(07:04):
to Ocala to do the business ofwhy we're down there.
But we have said many times,look, let's just stay at Disney.
Let's see if we can stay atDisney even though it's longer.
I think people will do thatwith this, too.
Now they'll say, look, I mightas well stay at Universal.
If I'm going to be here fortwo or three days, I might as well
stay here.
So it becomes.
It just really does.
I'm really very curious injust the way it operates, how it's
(07:26):
going to be effective.
All right, let's get to.
Because one of the responsesto Disney was at D23 saying, All
right, we've got all this newstuff now.
Here it comes.
And I was there.
26, 27th of December.
Are you seeing it coming yet?
I saw it coming.
Is a huge crane right there byThunder Mountain and big Thunder
Mountain Railway just closednow it's gonna be closed for a complete
(07:48):
refurbishment.
But a lot of people said it'srefurbished because they're dealing
with.
They're gonna deal with somuch stuff over there.
Even if they did therefurbishment, they won't open it.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think, too,that they do that because they don't
want anybody seeing that'sexactly over there.
Get the walls up.
They know for a fact, youknow, if you're going up that hill
on Big Thunder Mountain,people are going to see, they're
going to take pictures.
They don't want any of that happening.
So it's unfortunate becauseBig Thunder Mountain is a favorite
(08:11):
in Mag Kingdom.
I think it's really good forthe older kids and some of the thrill
seekers to have that at Magic Kingdom.
But, yeah, it means there'ssome exciting things happening.
They are.
They're all pushing.
Exactly.
So as I was.
As I said in the podcast lastweek, I did ride Liberty Bell and
I.
I don't care if it stays.
I don't either.
I don't care one little bit.
(08:33):
Because I was thinking, as Iwas listening to you on the podcast,
I.
I don't think I've ever beenon it, and I don't care.
I only went on it because itwas empty.
Yeah.
And I went.
And the guy said, we'releaving in three minutes.
And I said, all right, let'sjump on this.
Let's.
Let me ride this for the.
Let me ride this for the firsttime in all my trips down to Walt
Disney World.
But they are closing down rides.
They are.
They are putting together somenew nighttime celebrations.
(08:54):
There's also test track that'sgoing to open up at Epcot.
Yeah.
This is complete refurbishment.
Yeah.
I've heard rumors.
Nobody really knows exactlywhat this is going to look like.
I haven't even heard any rumors.
And I typically.
I'm not one that's like.
I don't try to stay spoilerfree or anything before I go back
down for a refurbishment ornew ride, but I haven't heard anything.
(09:14):
And it's so crazy to me thatthere's nothing really that's like,
swirling about it a whole lot.
But I'm excited for it.
Me, too.
There's supposed to be.
The rumor is.
And again, take it for what it is.
Yeah.
That it's going to be a littlebit of a combination of what it was
back when it was World ofMotion, a little bit of that sort
of dark ride history oftransportation as well as what it
(09:36):
just was.
This creation of Car and.
And what a car actually is andwhat it does and what you can do
to it when you build your owncar and handling and all that other
stuff.
Awesome.
I don't know how they'll workit, but it's been down for a while,
so I know this has beencompletely changed.
Yeah.
This goes back to ThunderMountain in your point about why
it would be a long time unlessyou're tearing down the track and
(09:59):
rebuilding the whole thing,which is what they're saying they're
retracking and all that stuff.
But unless you're designing,it wouldn't take a year to refurbish
Thunderbound Railroad.
No, it's kind of like lastyear, Rock and Roller Coaster was
down for almost an entire year.
Yeah.
And I.
I just ask myself, like, why.
Why are we doing that whenyou're taking out one of these big
headliners in a park that somany people might not ever get the
(10:21):
chance to write if they don'tget a chance to write it now?
So, yeah, it's interesting.
All right.
Now also, Dino Land.
I saw them taking.
I saw the pictures taking down.
Yes.
This is one of those thingswhere I'm like, I didn't really care
when it was there and now it's gone.
I'm like.
I remember some good timeswith my kids at this little park,
at the.
Little games and the thingslike that.
(10:42):
You know, I don't think mykids ever were interested in Dino
Land, so I don't have thatnostalgia with it.
So I'm really more excited tosee what's gonna come.
Yeah, me too.
I'm glad.
I'm glad it's.
I'm glad they're kind of rechanging it.
Yes.
They got the Encanto housethat's coming and all of.
All of the things that they'vebeen planning in D23.
That construction underwaydinosaur is continue for a while
(11:03):
that eventually will become anIndiana Jones ride.
Very similar to what you see.
It's gonna be different, butthe track is the same from the Indiana
Jones ride at Disneyland.
And, you know, I wish theywould just go ahead and get started
on that.
Like, who really?
I mean, yes, I know there'speople that love dinosaur, but who
really does?
Because let's go ahead andclose that because that seems like
that would be a fairly quick fix.
(11:24):
Yeah, you're just changing the theme.
They're just changing the theming.
Which, you know, I could havesaid the same thing about Tiana's
Bayou Adventure.
And that took a long time.
That took a Long time.
But yeah, let's go ahead andget something new and fresh in Animal
Kingdom because right now I'mseeing less interest in Animal Kingdom
than ever before.
Right.
I.
I wonder about Animal Kingdombecause everybody who goes will say,
look, there's just not a lotof attractions there.
(11:46):
It's not a full day park.
It closes early, and it's gigantic.
But it's a, it's a park youcan get in pretty relatively quickly
if you go on, and you can easily.
Do it without lightning lanes.
My wife, when I.
We went down in September, we,we were done by 2:00.
Yep.
Like, it was like, do you wantto do anything else?
You want to re.
Ride anything?
I rewrote everything we wantedto ride.
(12:07):
If you shut down that majorarea, now you're talking about an
even shorter day at that park.
Yeah.
So my tip for Animal Kingdomis always that is our first park.
So if we are going to a parkon arrival day and we take an early
flight down, that's alwaysgoing to be my first part.
Because I know for a fact,regardless of if my flight's late
(12:27):
getting in, if it takes me alittle while to get checked into
the hotel, I can still geteverything done in Animal Kingdom.
And that's going to remainthat way for a while.
And I know Animal Kingdom hasits fans in my family.
It was never the park wewanted to hop to later in the afternoon
to re.
Like, even though it wouldclose at 6, we never left Epcot for
Animal Kingdom.
We never.
We always did that first.
(12:48):
Did.
Made sure we got it all doneand then we would go back to somewhere
else.
Right?
Absolutely.
It never became the secondpart of the day.
Yes.
So even though, again, it's apark that closes pretty early anyway,
but.
So they're going to be doing alot of stuff there in terms of getting
that entire land for Encantoand in the shops and the restaurants.
And then eventually theIndiana Jones ride comes along.
Over at Magic Kingdom, there'sgoing to be a new Pirates tavern.
(13:11):
Yes.
Now, this looks like fun, butis it going to be an actual tavern?
You know, I don't know.
I keep thinking in my mind, Ikeep thinking like ogres, but pirate
style.
Right.
And so I guess that's kind ofwhat we're in for.
But I'm like, where exactlyare they going to put it?
Yeah.
It's a very crowded area over there.
It is.
So I'm interested to seewhat's going to happen there, where
(13:31):
it's going to be, what themenu Is there going to be any food
on the menu?
And.
And just what's going to happen?
Yeah, is.
And how many is it going to feel?
Is it there.
Are there going to be castmembers in there to make it feel
like a pirate tavern ratherthan just when you go into some places
and you're like, oh, I.
I get it.
It.
I see the stuff on the wall,the atmosphere.
Will there be occasionally oneor two people just there sort of
(13:53):
hanging out?
Yeah, like a little bit of,like, character interaction in there.
Because, again, you can do athemed restaurant without cast members.
Like Star Wars.
You don't necessarily need theStar wars people dressed up as the
band.
Right.
To play.
Right.
You gotta feel for it.
But if you're gonna have apirates tavern and you have pirates
in it, how much piratey couldit be?
Right.
And you go into, like, theHaunted Mansion bar on the Treasure,
(14:16):
and we've heard that the castmembers in there are playing along,
and so I kind of think itmight be something similar to that.
Are you interested in theEpcot future world?
What is it called?
The Spaceship Earth Lounge.
What are they calling that?
I don't even know what it'sgoing to be called yet.
And no, I'm really notsupposed to.
Be a lounge by.
By Spaceship Earth.
Yes.
And I'm like, well, don't we already.
(14:37):
We have Space 220 Lounge andwe have Space 220 Restaurant.
And so that kind of seemedlike a little bit of a miss to me.
I'm not really super excitedabout that one.
All right.
There are going to be some new shows.
There's a new nighttime paradecoming in 2025.
So exciting.
This one's great.
I've seen some early, like,artist re of this.
This looks fantastic.
I cannot wait.
It's going to.
There's Peter Pan, Moana, Frozen.
(14:59):
There's going to be addingsome real life.
The nighttime parades.
When was the NighttimeSpectacular was one of the classic
parades of all time?
Yes.
And a hot take for me, my veryfavorite parade of all time is Spectro
Magic.
Oh, right.
Yeah.
Which not a lot of people willgravitate towards.
Spectrum Magic, because youhad the Main Street Electrical Parade
for a long time and then youhad Spectromagic for a little bit,
(15:20):
and then they brought back theMain Street Electrical Parade.
So I think that there's just asmall group of people that have nostalgia
for Spectro Magic.
But I can still see the.
The dancing clowns coming downthe street.
You should start a littleFacebook group of people who love
that.
I Love it.
And hung out with that andremember the good old days.
That would be fun.
There's also going to be a newvillain show over at Hollywood Studios.
(15:42):
They're.
They've embraced this.
They.
This is.
I.
I think this is organic.
I.
I may be naive.
Yeah, I think this was organicfrom the fans at Disney went, oh,
there really is an interestfor the Villains.
Like a really fan group.
Let's.
Let's cap it.
Let's.
Let's jump in on it.
Rather than sort of Disneycreating it and then it being embraced.
Yeah, I think people werelike, started creating.
I can see that.
And then Disney went, youknow, we're starting to notice that
(16:03):
people collect the Disney pinsand they collect villain wear and
they.
All right, we're gonna.
We're gonna.
We're gonna jump all over thisand capitalize it.
We talked about it in, Ithink, our first podcast, which was
the.
What was going on at D23 andthe villains Land and what.
That would take this.
I mean, you don't have to be alongtime Disney fan.
I know people have beenscreaming for something like that
for a long time.
(16:24):
Absolutely.
You know, just give me a.
Give me.
Also give me something morerelated to the Villains.
Give me a ride that's a littlebit darker.
Give me.
I love the darkness of the.
Of these.
Some of these characters.
And now there's going to be ashow over at Hollywood Studios.
And of course, there is theother thing that we've talked about
that.
That made it 2025 and beyond,which is the eventual switchover
of Monsters, Inc.
(16:44):
From Muppets Land and then theeventual Muppets taking over the
rock and roll roller coaster.
Yeah.
So I don't know when they.
When they're at the 2026.
I think it will finally be put together.
I think that all of that isgoing to come in 2026, but I.
All of that.
I think that's going to be areally, really good change for Hollywood
Studios.
There's going to be, again,when you're talking about this kind
(17:05):
of change, it's different thanwhat Universal is doing, because
Universal is building a wholenew park.
So the park is over here.
You would do.
You do your stuff here.
Right.
It's over there.
But I have to say that I thinkthere are.
There's going to be a lot offrustrating people who go, hey, like,
I remember when I first won in82, Space Mountain was closed.
(17:25):
Yeah.
Like, I'm a kid.
I don't know when I'm coming back.
Big deal.
You know, Absolutely.
And I'm going there.
And every single friend ofmine in elementary school was talking
about how cool Space Mountain was.
We finally go, my father andmy brother, we run up there and it's
closed.
And like you don't know.
And for a kid, I was eight,nine, two years or three, we didn't
(17:47):
know when I was coming back.
But that's an eternity, right?
Might as well forget it.
Yeah.
So I can, you know, when youclose down a major roller coaster,
like Big Thunder MountainRailway, when you start saying this
land over here is closed, thatmeans more people are going to be
over here because there'sreally nothing to do here.
There's going to be a lot ofgrowing pains in 2025 for people
going down to Disney.
(18:08):
But again, when you're in thetheme park business, what you try
to do is you say, well, overhere we got issues, but over here
we're, we're doing some other stuff.
This is nice and shiny, right?
Yes.
And then, you know, I thinktoo, that's where you also have to
say, you are immersingyourself in this entire resort.
It is not just a theme park.
(18:29):
Again, if you are frustratedwith the theme parks, there's so
much else to do for your day.
So, you know, spend some timein the theme park, but then go over
to Disney Springs or go backto your resort, have a swim, go to
a character meal, different things.
Just make it a full vacation.
It doesn't have to just beabout the rides in the.
I agree, I agree completely.
Again, that's.
(18:50):
You're right.
The give the completeimmersion is what Disney World always
has done very, very well.
It's like once you're here,you can stay here.
Everything around it, fromwhat you, from when you wake up to
when you eat to when whateveryou want to do, from golf to mini
golf to water recreation, anything.
Speaking of water recreation there.
So if you check in to a resort.
(19:12):
Yeah.
You get a free water park.
Pass the day you check in.
Yes.
Only good for the day youcheck in.
That's right.
I can see people going fromlike one or two resorts on their
stay to get a couple of.
That's the hack that peoplehave said.
So if you do a split stay,you're essentially getting two days
especially, you know, peoplemight say, well, I'm not going to
get there early enough on mycheck in day for a water park.
(19:36):
Well, let's say, you know,three days into the trip you're moving
from Pop Century to PortOrleans French Quarter.
Well, on that.
Porter, Porter Leans FrenchQuarter day that you're checking
in.
That can be a full day of awater park.
From the time you wake upuntil the time that water park closes,
it's free for everybody inyour party.
That's great because there is,there is always the feeling of it's
in that middle zone of like 11to 2.
(19:58):
My room's not ready.
Do I want to use one of thedays on this ticket?
I don't want to use the day.
When I get there for a half a day.
I, I need something to do.
I may not, you know, whateverit is, I don't want to shop yet.
I just want to do something.
And there you go, you get, youget to go water park and park hack.
And I always tell people,look, if you can do it, it stay at
multiple resorts, get a feelfor it.
(20:19):
I always say, listen, I knowit's tough to pack, unpack, I get
it.
But if you are trying, I mean,so many of these hotels have got
character.
They've got their own theming,they got their own sort of, sort
of entertainment.
There's so many differentthings at these resorts.
If you can bang out two in aweek stay, I, I highly recommend
doing it now.
There's a little bit more incentive.
That's right.
Absolutely.
(20:40):
All right.
I want to get to your, yourthoughts on a promotion that's popular,
that comes around all thetime, and that's free dining.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let me just ask this, becausenothing, we always know nothing's
really free.
You end up paying it in someway, shape or form.
You have to stay at a certain hotel.
You have to, you have to havea park hopper passes the pack up
passes to be certain amount oftimes in order to get this.
(21:00):
Do you find that this has gotvalue still?
If you are somebody that'sgoing, well, I was gonna stay at
All Star movies.
Yeah.
And I wasn't gonna get ParkHarper passes.
But now I might upgrade myhotel and the park hopper to get
this.
Yeah.
So it depends.
So I am in this every day andI'm looking.
So what we do as travel agentsand you know this, obviously, but
(21:21):
we can go in and when we'relooking for a client's vacation,
we see all of the availablepromos at the top.
Right.
And so what my job is, is Icheck every single one of those.
I see which one is going to bethe cheapest by putting all of the
same components in.
And What I found nine timesout of 10 is even when adding that
dining plan back, the freedining promo may not be the best,
(21:44):
best deal.
And so it goes back to whatyou're saying.
They're going to get theirmoney somehow.
Now, sometimes it does workout to be in their favor, especially
if you're staying at a deluxeresort and you're getting the full
dining plan for free on thatand you're staying at one of the
less expensive deluxe resortslike Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness
(22:04):
Lodge, and you're getting themost value out of that.
That can definitely be work inyour favor.
But there are two other promosthat are out for that same time period.
That's a room discount.
And then there's one that'scalled like Stay Play.
And I'm not even really surewhat the exact components are, but
I check it for you.
So I check it with your.
With your different components.
So that's where we're going tocome in for you, is we're going to
(22:27):
check everything, see if wewant to upgrade your tickets to Park
Hoppers and see what's goingto make the most sense for you.
Yeah, and.
And again, the dining plan hasgot its.
A lot of pluses.
A lot of people, a lot of.
It's not.
It's it.
People have always made theargument, this is an old argument,
this is not mine, of if I hadthe money in an envelope, right.
Would I have money left overin the envelope?
(22:48):
Right.
And that's the old adage, right?
Sometimes no, depending on the food.
But sometimes, yes, dependingon how much food you want to eat.
And I will say, the times thatI have gone on the dining plan, I've
been so happy because I don'thave to think.
And we've said it so manytimes because it's like, okay, yes,
I paid a lot for this, butI've already paid for it.
(23:10):
It's in the past.
So when I sit down to dinner,I'm not reading the menu from right
to.
As I do so many times, becauseI'm like, oh, well, I don't want
to order that steak becauseit's more expensive than that chicken.
But I've already paid for it.
So I am going to order themost expensive thing on the menu.
I'm going to splurge, I'mgoing to enjoy.
I might have a drink with dinner.
You know, different thingslike that.
That has already been paid forwhere I think so many people.
(23:33):
When you're paying for aDisney vacation, it all comes down
to what can I pay for ahead oftime and then be able to enjoy it
with my family?
And I say to people about thedining plan.
I'm like, look, look, I knowsome of you want to run off and get
a burger real quick or youwant to get a hot dog at Casey's
Corner or whatnot.
And I sort of get that.
There's the quick service, andyou can do that.
But if you are doing the, youknow, the.
(23:54):
The sit down, at least one.
You get a chance to do somerestaurants maybe you would not do.
You wouldn't have thought of, right.
That you would.
Maybe you would have said, I'mnot the kind of guy that wants to
book a restaurant.
I know that Disney restaurantsare a little bit more expensive than
my normal restaurant at home,and I'd rather just get a quick burger
at a place.
You can do that on the dining plan.
There's a dining plan for that.
(24:14):
That's right.
But my best memories of myfamily trips are the times we ate
at Coral Reef, for crying out loud.
And my little girl thought theaquarium was unbelievable.
Like, she could not stopwatching the fish while we were eating
dinner.
Or the Sci Fi restaurant wherejust the theming was cool.
And I got to tell my kidsabout drive in movies, something
(24:34):
they don't.
They didn't.
They don't do.
Absolutely, you know, thingslike that.
Those are the kind of coolmemories that I have.
And not only that, it's just,you know, when you're in a theme
park and it's 95, 100 degreesoutside, having an hour in air condition
to sit down with your family,recharge, it really, really makes
a huge difference than justsitting outside for quick service
(24:56):
for every meal of every day.
I.
I do have to say to you,because I know that you weren't here
last week, but I mentioned inthe podcast that I finally jumped
into mobile ordering.
I was gonna talk about that today.
We can wait till next week.
Crazy.
I.
It drove.
I was.
I'm.
I don't know why I didn'tembrace this.
Like, I don't know why I justdidn't care for.
I just was like, no, I'llstand in line.
(25:17):
I don't care.
My wife was like, no, sit down.
I've ordered the food, andwhen it's ready, they'll tell us
and we'll just go get it.
And I'm like, no, I'll standin line.
She goes, you're an idiot.
Stop.
Just stay right here.
Me and Christopher will go getthe food.
Food.
And now I'm like, a big convert.
You love it.
I think it was a lot of it.
Just like, I'm on My phone thewhole time doing this and checking
(25:38):
this and checking this.
That's true.
I just eat.
But this is, it's too easy.
It was way too fantastic.
Plus, here's the other thing.
I was, I was kind of the womanthat told me about.
It was like 60, I was gonna say.
Was she old?
Yeah, she was like an olderlady really.
It was at Casey's Corner andshe, she just said, you can use the
mobile order.
And I go now not really big.
(25:59):
Oh, it's so easy, honey.
And I go, oh, okay.
And then she was showing andmy wife's like, I, I got it, I got
it.
So, yeah, so I finally gotinto mobile ordering.
So that, that was great.
That was, that was fantastic.
So that's kind of a look, abrief look at least.
What at 2025, do you have anyother things you're looking forward
to in the upcoming year atthe, at either park?
Yeah, you know, I think we'vecovered most everything.
(26:19):
There is so much, so much coming.
Oh, the Zootopia show.
I forgot the Zootopia show.
That's coming to where it'sthe tough to be a bug show is inside
the tree.
So I'm excited.
Yeah, lots of trips to plan,lots of, lots of fun to be had.
I know that again, a lot ofpeople will be hearing about the
construction this and theshutdown this.
But again, you get one ridecloser, you get another one open
(26:41):
that they, they, they don'tshut everything down to rebuild everything.
They do it a little bit at a time.
They do make sure that thingsare open and available.
Something may be down on oneend, but something may be re emerging
on another.
You're going to get the testtrack up.
Even though Thunder MountainRailroad of Magic Kingdom is down,
that's kind of the way, waythat they run that business.
So it's never going to be aday where you're going to be like
60 of everything is shut downfor cleanup.
(27:03):
That's right.
So we do recommend that youstill go, even though it's going
to be a big transitional yearin 2025, because 2026 looks like
a real, real competitivebattle for the, for the theme park
market now.
That's right.
With three parks, four if youwant to count water parks at Universal
Studios and then four themeparks, plus the two water parks at
Walt Disney World.
So 2026, when everything sortof settles down and really fully
(27:26):
operational, should be amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
All right.
So again, please subscribe andgive us a five star review.
If you like the podcast, we'llbe back next week with more insight
information on both DisneyWorld and Universal Studios.
I'm Tony Desiri.
That's Lauren Mallard.
You can reach Lauren Lauren atall the magic travel.
You can reach me Travel withTony D gmail.com we'd love to hear
from you again.
Please share the podcast withthose that you are also interested
(27:49):
in traveling down to the themepark world of Orlando, Florida.
This is the Wands and Wishes podcast.
Have a great day.
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!