Booths, Booted, and More | The EarzUp! Disney News Show

[00:00:02] It's time for the show that brings the magic right to your speakers. EarzUp! Hey, what's up everybody? EarzUp Podcast, we are back. It's the news show this week. And, you know, we're just chilling, man. It's September. Happy September, Eric. Wow. And when you started to say new, my mind went to New Year. I'm like, what did I miss?

[00:00:32] Yeah, well, Brandy and I didn't want to let you know how long you were actually, you know, in a coma for or whatever at the hospital. It's actually the year 2049. And we thought we'd let you down early, you know, to give you a little more time, you know, but yeah. Well, that explains the gray hairs. But yeah, wow, the rest of my office staff really aged well. Well, you know, it's peptides, man. That's the thing. We're taking a lot of collagen powder and peptides and we're just doing it, man.

[00:01:00] Okay. Yeah, we figured it out. Go science. Yeah, man. I like how your office staff aged well, but you didn't mention me at all. And that bothers me. You're part of the staff, I think. I think I saw you there today. Yeah. Who knows anymore, man? Well, Eric, it's just you and I today. Taryn is off. That's what we're doing a little bit early.

[00:01:22] Actually, her grandma passed away this morning. I wasn't going to talk about it, but, you know, there was a funny story about it, which is always a good thing. Always a good lead up to, hey, someone died in our family. I don't know. It's tough, man. It's always tough to have a family member pass away, right? Well, for sure.

[00:01:46] And then for me, it's even harder because I'm like, I don't know. I'm crazy about my own health and I'm like, oh my God, now it's my turn or whatever. I'm trying not to worry about that because we have Alice to deal with. And I've never, we've never obviously, Alice has been lucky at this point where she hasn't had anybody in her family die. So she didn't really, I mean, she knows what death is. It's like she asked Taryn a couple, like a month or two ago, like what it means to die. And she got real sad about it.

[00:02:15] And anyway, so we had to like tell her and she took it pretty well. But so Taryn was dealing with that today and she's like, look, I didn't get a nap in, so I'm not going to do the show. I'm like, cool. That's fine, dude. You definitely don't have to. Understandable. She was telling me, so she went out. So her grandma was at, you know, she works for a senior living facility in the Bay Area and she, you know, went out there because that's where grandma passed away. And, you know, the family was meeting and they were like taking care of everything.

[00:02:40] And her aunt was telling her story about like, yeah, grandma wasn't doing super hot. She was, her mind was just kind of going like she was, I don't know, driving headlong into dementia, right? She kind of already had it, but apparently things have been progressing. She was a big A's fan, baseball team, you know, the A's. And I guess like last week or maybe it was the other day. I can't remember.

[00:03:09] The staff were like looking for her. They couldn't find her. And then she was sitting in the, she didn't like the dining room area all by herself. It wasn't a meal time. She was sitting there. She was waiting for two A's players to come and have lunch with her. They were supposed to meet her there. So she's like, I'm just waiting. They're like, let's get you back to your roof, grandma. Grandma, which is, you know, I guess that's normal dementia stuff. But I guess when her aunt came to her house yesterday or her little apartment yesterday, there was a half eaten hamburger in a flower vase. Oh, OK.

[00:03:39] Yeah. So, you know, which, you know, I guess in hindsight isn't very funny, but I find it very funny. And Taryn started laughing, too. I'm like, I can't help it. That's very. No, especially when you know people. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's just, I mean, it's kind of cute in some weird way where it's like non-destructive. Like, oh, yeah, I would love to know the connection that wasn't happening in her brain to put the hamburger in a flower vase. Yeah. And that's a very specific location. Right. It's not just like strewn everywhere or whatever.

[00:04:08] There was, that was one of those two items was not what the item is. Yes. And I wanted to know the reason behind it. But yeah, so unfortunately, that's what's going on over here. You know, not to be a big, giant bummer, but stories aren't going to get any better, folks. Is it going to be stories are going to be very awesome. But we do have some cool stuff. I do have I do have a bummer story, Eric. I'm sure you have good stories. I do have some uplifting stories as well.

[00:04:36] So we're going to get into those. Eric, do you want to start, baby? Well, I really only have the one. Okay. I was kind of hoping that there'd be some more people on this episode. Well, no, it's going to be me. So I have Taryn's stories. Why don't I start with something light, I think. Okay. Right? Yeah. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Mine's not dark or anything. You know me.

[00:05:05] I get into some detail here. But really, it's more of a discussion topic once I get through the main portion here. Well, I don't know if you know this, Eric, since you seem to be a more of a big athleisure wear guy, right? You know, you're definitely sweats and polyester shirt and wicking sweat wicking abilities. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I knew it. I mean, I just got to keep the sweat off my skin as I'm crunching those spreadsheets. That's right, man. Crunch the spreads, baby.

[00:05:35] Well, Disney, up until this point, didn't really have their own kind of athleisure wear. And in case you don't know what athleisure wear is, it's like yoga pants and, you know, stuff like that. Right? It's all the rage. It's been the rage forever, right? But for some reason, now Disney's getting involved in it. And they have three, um, they have three different, I don't know, lines, I guess, of their athleisure wear. This is very funny.

[00:06:04] Um, the park says, uh, they're sharing their first look at a new Walt Disney World athleisure wear collection that will soon arrive at the park that's claimed to be both quote, cute enough for photos and comfy enough for a packed Disney day. Okay. Uh, two things about that. Number one, I don't like, they say a Disney day because what does that Disney, what Disney park is the company saying like a park, a park day. Yeah. I still don't like it.

[00:06:30] Uh, two, I don't think, I think people are too comfortable at the parks. I don't think we need to be more comfortable at the parks. It's not a thing we need. You know, we need to be, we need to be more uncomfortable with what we're wearing because I have seen enough bottom cheek from people that I don't need to be seeing it from, um, across all age spectrums, which is bothersome. I don't, I don't want, I don't want it. I don't want it. So that bothers me.

[00:06:57] But if you're into athleisure wear, the collection is broken up into three aesthetics. It's called Bibbidi Blush. It's like a, you know, blush, right? Light rosé color. Midnight Magic, which is just black. Oh, it's black. Okay. Park Day Matcha. You had to pick a third one. Yeah. It's just like, like dark green, man. Okay. And honestly, the, the, the, the Park Day Matcha, you know, color scheme, I

[00:07:25] suppose, isn't terrible, but I've never seen Matcha tea this dark. It's more like a forest green. Okay. It's very weird. Um, so anyway, there you go, man. And it's just, it's just, uh, you know, spandex with like a little tiny, you know, Mickey ears on the pocket or whatever. It's nothing crazy. So that's, that's supposed to be cuter and more picture ready and more Disney day ready than my, um, my track suit. Yes.

[00:07:54] That is powder blue with white piping and, uh, fairly short shorts that match. Yes. Okay. Yeah. It's so short. You can't ride some of the rides because sitting in the ride car would, would, would, uh, cause an exposure. Yeah. And that, you know, that's like, Oh, I can't actually ride on this ride. That's what they need. They need, you know, in addition to the, you need to be this tall to ride the ride, your, your shorts need to be this long to ride the ride. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We don't want to pop out.

[00:08:23] They, they provide you with a pair of, uh, temporary bike shorts. Just like paper pants or whatever, like a painter's wear, you know, it's a little elastic. You're like, Hey, please put this on. You're shaming me. I'm sure you're up in a man. Keeney with a tank top. What are you doing to me? Making my job hard enough. Yeah. Well, yeah, you can't make that cute. Cause then people will want it. Like the old rumors of, well, if you wear an inappropriate shirt, they'll give you a Disney shirt. Yeah. Which was wild because it definitely happened.

[00:08:53] Right. And then people, and then these influencers were, were trying to work the system. And then finally they're like, yeah, they're not doing that. Actually, what are they doing now with that? I have no idea. I think she'd probably just turn you away, right? Yeah. I think you just get kicked out now. Or they gave you a scratchy burlap sack, but that would be, that would be good. You can pick from the lost and found pile. If you want to stay, you have to wear what's ever in here. That's it. I would like that. They're all extra tall. Yeah.

[00:09:23] Uh, Eric, in the, in the pantheon of live action remakes and live action things for Disney, did you know that they were remake, there were plans in place to do a live action Gargoyles reboot that old classic nineties cartoon. I have not heard about this, but that, that does sound mildly exciting. Well, don't get too excited because, uh, yeah, it is a dead. Apparently. Uh, yeah.

[00:09:51] Attempts to reboot Disney's nineties animated series Gargoyles seems to be as cursed as the eponymous. Eponymous. I don't know. Thank you. Heroes who were frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Series co-creator Greg Weissman told Comics Online that a planned live action series for Disney plus is dead. And he has no idea if there will be another attempt to revive the cult classic. Hmm. Okay. Yeah.

[00:10:20] I never watched that much of Gargoyles back in the day. It was, I think that came late enough where in the, the Disney afternoon timeline where I kind of missed it. Like some of the others, like bonkers. I was aware of some of those shows, but they were, they were just beyond, you know, I don't know what I, did I move on to Ninja turtles at that point? I'm not sure. I, you know, I'm thinking about my TV habits back then.

[00:10:48] I don't know that I, you know, it was like, Oh man, the block comes on at three o'clock. I got to sit down for the next three. Like I was never allowed to really do any of that. So I didn't really have that. I saw Gargoyles. I didn't think I really cared. I thought the animation was kind of weird. You know, it's definitely my favorite parts about morning cartoons would be walking. I would try to walk to school early enough to get to my friend's house. We would all meet at my friend's house beforehand and watch transformers

[00:11:18] before going to school. That was cool. But like the afternoon blocks, I don't think I did any of that. Yeah. I did some, some of it. Yeah. All right. Well, that's good. Yeah, I guess. Here's a list that I found. It's 21 new rides announced for Disney park expansions. Now we were going to talk about D23 on this show, but then we all kind of got together and we're like, you know what? There's it's been out. I mean, D23 is like three weeks ago.

[00:11:45] So every and all the information that anybody really wants is that you probably already know it. But then I saw this list of rides. I'm like, well, that's what I think more exciting than some of the movies coming out. Like it's, it's hard to get an excited for a movie being announced because that means it's not necessarily all the way written yet or cast. And if it is, it hasn't started shooting. And then if it has, it's going to be a couple of years. So it's just, it's hard, but ride expansions, you kind of, I don't know.

[00:12:15] I feel it's a little bit better. I think when you go to a park, when you go to like Disneyland and you know, something's coming in the next five years, even though it's going to be way out there, you're like, well, at least, you know, they're doing something and that's cool. Hopefully they've already done most of the design work and everything. If they're announcing it, you, you, you hope it's more than just a concept image at this point. Right. And, you know, to the point that I made about D23 being over. So everybody already knows what's going on.

[00:12:43] I hadn't heard of some of these things. Okay. So I was kind of excited about it. You know what I mean? So we're starting with magic kingdom. There's going to be cars, Ridge run rally. Get ready. Yeah. Which I think we already knew about where you can take a wild terrain, uh, take a wild terrain ride. Maybe along mountain trails, dodge geysers and splash through mud holes on your way to the top of piston peak.

[00:13:11] And after the, after reaching the top racers will plummet down for a camelback descent. I don't know what that means. And later navigate an exhilarating geyser field. No. Okay, man. The race ends by circling the old tank full geyser before a sprint to the finish line where lightning McQueen and mater are covered in the ring covering the race live on racing sports network. What's a camelback descent? Uh, probably lots of lots of bumps up and down. Oh yeah.

[00:13:41] Maybe a little Hills. That's what I would think. I mean, really the, the big takeaway for me on this one is there will be geysers and there will be alliteration in the title. And that's, you know what? It's a new Ridgeway racers. Classic. Whatever. Now I can't even remember the way you. Ridgeway railway racers. That's it. That's what it is, man. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I butchered that and kind of just never cared enough to go back. You know what I mean? Uh, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Okay.

[00:14:10] The second ride here will be Miss Fritter's daredevil spin along. It's a family friendly ride. That's like a demolition derby. Seems kind of fun. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be cool. And bringing in some, some cars three stuff. Yeah. Um, then there's going to be a Maleficent themed roller coaster in the, uh, villains land. I like that. I like Maleficent as a character. I don't necessarily like the, the movies that they did.

[00:14:39] I don't think we needed those, but, um, you know, Maleficent's pretty tight. Yeah. She's pretty. I mean, as far as Disney villains go, she fits that, that old archetype of why, why are you mean? Oh, you're just, you're just mean. Okay. Great. Right. Unless you, unless you saw the movie with, uh, with what's her name. Then you know exactly why she's mean, which I just don't. Yeah. I don't need it. I don't need it, but that's okay. Uh, you'll race through enchanted briar surrounding her frightening mountaintop fortress.

[00:15:09] There'll be some brand new ride elements featuring a feature that Disney has not attempted before they say. So that that's exciting stuff. The other dark right here is a dark right hosted by the evil Queens magic mirror. So you'll be in the catacombs beneath the palace and be magically transported into the mystical mirror realm. It's the mirror world. Whatever. Um, and that's not, that's not Snow White's mirror. No, it's the evil Queens.

[00:15:39] Yes, that's right. Um, over at Epcot, Disney has revealed that Spaceship Earth will be finally getting its overhaul. That was the, um, originally announced pre pandemic. And then they, they shelved it for a while, but now it's back on baby. Okay. So there you go. That's good. Uh, over in Hollywood studios, monsters, Inc themed land is coming called monstropolis. The land is set to open in phases beginning next year. Eric. Yeah.

[00:16:09] They're really pushing some of this through. And I guess that's one of the reasons why it, it made sense to put it over in that, that outdoor area that was kind of, kind of Muppets and kind of not. And, uh, you know, it's probably easier to flip over to a monstropolis sort of thing. And then at least there's more to do in Hollywood studios. What, you know, they're not going to have the door coaster ready, but they'll at least have some of the other stuff going.

[00:16:36] Well, it's funny because looking at the concept art and I've only been to Disney world once, but it looks like, yeah, it is where Muppets is. So like they had the, then they have the, um, the fountain in the middle there and monster in a Muppets land or whatever, right by the theater. Wasn't there a fountain? Yeah. There was a big fountain with miss piggy in the middle. Well, there in the concept art, you can see there's like a mountain, there's a fountain again, and there's a monster there. And then right across from the theater, there's the, there's now the theater, but it's called the glob theater.

[00:17:06] Mm-hmm. Where you can watch the welcome to monstropolis show. Yeah, cool. There's, there's another show there. That'll be, it'll be great. It looks just like the old Muppets 3d, you know, it's the same, it's the same theater. There's different stuff in it, obviously. And there's stuff that happens on the balcony and you know, there you go, which will be good. I think that the monsters world chaos is, is ripe for a show like that. Yeah, I, I completely agree. It'll be, it'll be fun. They'll do something cool.

[00:17:33] I hope they upgrade the, the projectors cause they were getting kind of fuzzy toward the end with, with Muppets. Yeah. Where you're like, 3d is getting a little ragged. I'm getting a little bit of a headache in here. Yeah. Um, in the animal kingdom, there's going to be the carousel de los Amalitos. We're going to get three rides and because this is the tropical America's land, uh, the,

[00:17:58] the, uh, carousel de los Amalitos features 22 unique animals inspired by Disney films. So there's like a capybara and whatever. I don't know, man. The new land will also include the first Encanto ride called Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto, which looks interesting. That'll be all right. There's of course the new Indiana Jones one, which we already knew about. Um, over in Disneyland, we're getting the Coco ride. We've got Avengers campus, uh, getting its expansion.

[00:18:26] That's actively going now, which includes Stark flight lab, which are in the vehicle, like the robot arm that we talked about one time. That was kind of fun. Avengers infinity defense is a ride, which takes you on an adventure through the multiverse as you help the Avengers stop King Thanos again for the first time, for the last time. And then, uh, Avatar land of course is getting their boat ride or whatever. Disneyland Paris, man.

[00:18:53] It might be, it's gotta be fun to go to Disneyland Paris, man. It just looks just like a weird alternate version of Disneyland. They have hyperspace mountain coming back to space mountain de la terra a la lune, which is the Jules Verne space pod steampunk, uh, theme. Yeah. It's, it's been hyperspace mountain for a long time, man. And yeah, bring it back to what it was designed to be. Yeah.

[00:19:22] Although even that was the second version of it, but, but yeah, it, you know, let it fit in there. It doesn't need to be star Wars anymore. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Uh, Disney adventure world recently opened in Disneyland Paris, but there's still one land that hasn't opened with it yet. Pride lands, which is themed to the lion King, which will include a large scale water flume ride, which is fun. So that'll be opening soon.

[00:19:48] And then an up ride called wilderness explorer sky swings, which I mean, everyone loves a sky swing. Yeah. I don't know. Of course. Well, it's nice that Disney's doing something that isn't a giant, huge, huge major attraction and e-ticket every time they put something out. Yeah. I love a sky swing, a sky swing. You know, it's, it's good. But the, the one I went on at one time in DCA and you guys know that it's the, the, the fair, the, the, the thing.

[00:20:18] It's the amusement park ride, the fairground ride where like, you're just in the swings and it kind of goes up and it spins around. I swear to God that ride was 30 seconds long. It was super short. Yeah. It was not even long enough for the song to finish. I'm like, well, this is bull crap. Well, I just, come on, man. I got in the thing. I'm, you know, you go around like four times and then you start lowering down. Like, what is this? Yeah. You want, you want one of those to go for a little while, but it's already so low capacity as it is. Yeah. We're just standing there in the sun.

[00:20:49] There's usually never anybody in line for it. I think there's better things to do with your time, but I don't know, man. Yeah. Over at Tokyo Disneyland Resort, we're getting Sugar Rush Sweet Rescue themed to Wreck-It Ralph that's going in place of Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. I wonder if Sugar Rush, is Wreck-It Ralph bigger in Tokyo Disneyland? Do you know that? I don't really know.

[00:21:15] I don't think there's been, I don't think there's been any Wreck-It Ralph other than characters in the park anywhere. Yeah. It just seems like an odd thing to replace because, you know, Toy Story 5 just came out for God's sake. Right. But they do have a decent amount of Toy Story in Tokyo, don't they? Or am I thinking of Hong Kong? Well, that I don't know. Tokyo Disneyland. I just have to go to these. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

[00:21:42] Tokyo Disneyland is also completely revamping its version of Space Mountain. The new version of the ride will be called Space Mountain Earthrise and will maintain its original concept as an indoor coaster, but will have enhanced performance and immersive special effects that will provide guests with even more thrills. I don't think I like that idea. More thrills? More thrills. But like, what do you mean enhanced performance and immersive? But what does that mean? Give me just stars projected on the inside, dude. Like that's all.

[00:22:12] You don't need to do a whole lot with Space Mountain. That's the beauty of Space Mountain. It just is. It exists in its own little thing. It doesn't need to be different, but. Well, they ripped it to the ground and they put in something completely new. We'll see what all of that actually means. Yeah, right. I don't know. That's about it. That's about all the new rides that are coming to all the theme parks. There's some in Shanghai, but I don't really care. In Hong Kong, I didn't really care. That's it, man. Okay. Eric, give me a break, dude.

[00:22:40] Why don't you go through some of your lovely nonsense, please? Okay. All of my nonsense. Well, Jason, did you know that there's a new experience slash food slash place for sips and bites coming to Walt Disney World soon? No, I didn't. And I'm disappointed that I didn't know this before. Yeah. I shivered, baby. Yeah.

[00:23:02] Well, on October 1st, we will get to see Hurley Burley at Walt Disney World's Boardwalk Resort. This is a family establishment that will have entertainment like trivia and, quote, games. I love a game. I love a quote game. Whatever that means, all set within a turn-of-the-century theater. It's kind of like the turn-of-the-century theme for the entire resort. Ooh.

[00:23:31] More on that in just a bit here. After 9 p.m., they kick the kids out, literally, and then it's only 21 and up. Hey, all right. So bring your bird. Yeah. That's when they bust out the live music, live drinks, and live food. That's right. And live wires for you to touch. Yes. All sorts of living things. Now, the Boardwalk Resort, for those who don't know Walt Disney World very well,

[00:24:00] it's known around Walt Disney World as one of those resorts just off of the Epcot property. You can head out between the United Kingdom and France in the World Showcase and just walk over. And there are multiple resorts out there that are all within walking distance, all have food and entertainment that you can enjoy. The Boardwalk Resort is kind of the bigger draw in the evening because it's very well lit,

[00:24:28] and it's fun, and everything's kind of outdoors along a surprise boardwalk, like Atlantic City or the Jersey area. And it's been that way for quite some time. The overall theme of the Boardwalk Resort is, like I said, it's Atlantic City but turn of the century. Despite that, there were a few locations that were put in in the 90s when the resort opened that kind of stuck out more and more over time.

[00:24:58] So Disney leans into this whole, let's build a theme here, but there were some locations that were not owned by Disney, just kind of like fillers that they were putting in, outside contractors, that sort of idea. But they stuck around for quite some time, and they never really updated their decor. Okay. So, not at all in the Atlantic City vibe. These places just kept on aging in the 90s,

[00:25:29] well into the last couple of years. That's awesome. So there's Big River Grill, which I talked about a long time ago on here. Yeah, I remember that. Those are like the first things you talked about. Probably. And that was a brew pub with pretty decent beer and affordable meals, but the decorations inside were super 90s. I love that. I mean, you should just, they can keep everything the same if they just rename that area time capsule land. There you go. Then it'd be great.

[00:25:58] Then it's like, oh, come for vintage, you know, vintage things, dudes. Have you seen this new cartoon, The Simpsons? It's radical. When you walk through the door, they play a sound effect, and like, you just walked through the time door. Hooray! Wayne's World is on, folks. Yeah. Excellent. Then there's the Atlantic Dance Hall, which is a dance club that always seemed to me like it was essentially a homecoming dance for 40-somethings.

[00:26:28] I love that. Never went inside, but that's kind of the impression I got from it. Okay. All right. Looking in. And then there's Jelly Rolls. Jelly Rolls is the one I'm going to talk about for a little bit here. That was a dueling piano bar. Yes. Jeremy loved Jelly Rolls. Yes. A lot. Jelly Rolls had a lot of fans. It was a pretty busy, happening joint. It opened with the resort in 1996.

[00:26:57] It was open very late at night. Live music going that whole time. Pretty, pretty loud. It was pretty raucous. And they were there until, I think it was like 2 a.m. Oof. They stayed open. Damn. I never stuck around quite that long. But it was one of those few places where you could pretty reliably go and there would still be a decent amount of people there hanging out and having fun. The food and drink offerings there were different.

[00:27:27] This, like I mentioned, this is owned and operated by an outside company. So snacks were basically just popcorn. You can get free popcorn. Freshly popped. I love a bar with free popcorn. There's a place called the Albatross in Berkeley that has free popcorn that we used to go to. And it was like, it's just the weirdest, coolest. I don't know, man. You feel kind of weird eating popcorn and drinking beer because those flavors don't necessarily mix. But. Hey. Yeah, dude. There you go.

[00:27:58] But, yeah. So they would have cheap beer and cheap cocktails. Love it. What's not to love about them? Right. Well, yeah. And it was dark. It was loud. Did I mention it's loud? Oh, and there was a cover charge. Ooh. How much? The last time I went, it was 22, I think. Okay. First of all, 22. That means you can change. Come on, dog. What are you doing? Yeah. They were accepting credit cards at that point. Of course. $20 for cover charge.

[00:28:26] I guess that popcorn really cuts into the bottom line. Oh, yeah. And raise the price for it. It was so weird. It was just, it never fit the rest of the resort. But it was always busy, but only for a few hours a day. It opened late. It stayed open late. And I'm sure as far as Disney was concerned, they probably had a decent amount of complaints. I don't know how well noise insulated that area was.

[00:28:57] Directly above Jelly Rolls was actually a party space where you could rent out a room and host a dinner there or something. Okay. So, perhaps that, I mean, it wasn't like a patient room, a hotel room right above it. But I don't know what else was around there. I've stayed at the resort before, but not anywhere near where that location is. Yeah. I would imagine the cops are there a lot. Yeah.

[00:29:27] Or were, I guess. Yeah. The last time I was there, it was, when it was really going, you could hear the music playing. You could hear the singing. You heard an awful lot of people drunkenly singing around you. Nice. As well. I mean, that's kind of the way these places go. Yeah. What's your thought on, have you been to any sort of dueling piano bar? Yes. I mean, I've seen dueling piano thing.

[00:29:52] They had them at Ralph Brennan's a couple times, you know, in their little jazz kitchen bar there. That's right. So, that's always fun. That was disappointing to not have to see that again. But yeah, I'm familiar with the concept. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Any particular thoughts about them? Do you enjoy them? Do you hate them? You know what? I always like a live piano, like a jazz kind of piano. That's always fun. I don't mind them. I think it's cool. Yeah.

[00:30:22] I think I have no opinion. I think that they're entertaining. And if I had an option of going to a dueling piano bar or not, I would probably go. Okay. Yeah. That's fair. My family would often try to get over there once per trip. Yeah. Like it's the, you know, adult kids and maybe my parents get out there and, you know, we'll see who stays home with all of the little ones.

[00:30:47] You know, and the last time I went was last year and I was there with Jimmy and a few other people. Yeah. And we, we met up with Jimmy because he, he had to split off at one point during the day. And we, we met up with him there and he met us on the boardwalk and he said, yeah, guys, we're going to have to sit around and wait for a little bit because I didn't know this was a thing that happened. But a conference that was in town at the Swan, they were, they were based out of the Swan and Dolphin. Yeah.

[00:31:17] Which are also nearby hotels and they have a huge conference center there, but they had rented out jelly rolls for a few hours for a private party. Oh, geez. Yeah. He, he said, yeah, the, the, the guys at the cover charge area said we could come back in half an hour or whatever time frame it was. And when we got back during that time, I said, okay, well, we'll just a few more minutes and we'll let you in. No one came out after that time.

[00:31:46] So we pay our cover charges, the four of us, and we get in there and it was packed. And it's the end of a long day. It was just brutal. And Jimmy, I think he only drank half of a beer and he's like, I got to get out of here. Too many people. You've ruined it, man. Yeah. Jimmy from the Supreme Resort for the listeners. Yes. Yeah. I don't know, but yeah. Then I stuck around with the, the other two people we were with.

[00:32:15] Hello, Bethany. Hello, Marie. And we got out of there after we finished our, our beers and hung out for a little while. It's, it's crazy. I mean, it's, it's all the, all of the, the music you would expect at a wedding or something like that. Just popular stuff. Everybody can sing along with. Sure. Like they'll play a song. Everybody wants to hear at a piano bar, like the piano man. Sure. Of course. Or sweet Caroline. Okay. Gets everybody going. Yeah. And yeah.

[00:32:44] Well, it, all of that closed on April in April of 2025. I assume, you know, we're trying to get something that's a little more family friendly, extend the hours earlier in the day to sell more stuff. And also try to keep the nightlife. And also try to keep the nightlife going with live music and give very tired people a place to drink late at night, but probably buy more expensive drinks. Yes.

[00:33:12] So, uh, back to Hurley Burley. Okay. Well, they, after they closed in, in, um, the previous April, I was going to say last April, but it's been a year and a half. Uh, they kind of gutted it apparently.

[00:33:30] Uh, and they never really released a whole lot of information about what it would become, but a lot of people had, had thoughts and they, and lots of conjectures and WDW and news today. And, uh, and inside the magic, everybody was fairly certain. They knew exactly what was going to happen. Oh, of course. Yeah. Our insiders tell us that it's going to be, uh, you know, uh, uh, I don't know what, uh, oxygen bar. We know it. It'll be true.

[00:34:00] I swear. Well, just watch. And then 24 hours later, it's, you know, it's a footlocker. Everybody, we know it's true. Well, we still haven't seen any real like concept art for the inside, even though it's going to open up in another month, but, uh, they did. Disney did release the, uh, the menu. Okay. I mean, you know, why not, man? Why, why bury the lead on that? Yeah.

[00:34:24] It seems like they're trying to create a space that fits in with the, the nostalgic, you know, turn of the century theme of the rest of the boardwalk. And I don't know that the, the food, the, the kind of small, small bites. Ooh, I love a small bite. Yeah. I don't know that it necessarily fits turn of the century, but they've got meatballs. They've got an impasto salad. Uh, they've got pretzels.

[00:34:53] I love, I love like, I don't know, man. I love the things that sometimes you focus on where it's like, well, I don't really know that small bites fit the turn of the century, but yeah. Well, the foods, not the small bites in particular. I know. Yeah. Oven roasted shrimp. You're going to get oven roasted shrimp on the boardwalk. Come on. No. Oven. I don't know. Why oven? Like I just sometimes like why oven roast? Why not just say roasted shrimp or shrimp? I don't know.

[00:35:23] Specifically in an oven. What else is it going to be yet? Barbecue roasted? No. Too many words. They've got what they call theater concessions. Uh, what would you expect to see in theater concessions? Uh, uh, whoppers or as, uh, as, uh, Alice called them, whoopers. Oh, you get a box of whoopers, which now, now that's all we say. We say, we call them whoopers and she goes, stop it. I go, it's fun. Let us have fun.

[00:35:51] You know, whooper, uh, theater concession, hot dogs, probably nachos. All great guesses. Thanks, man. All wrong. There's a trio of things. Okay. Uh, meatballs. What theater? What theater? Like what kind of things? I mean, come on, dude. Yeah. Uh, sugar cookie. I stopped it, dude. And buttered popcorn, Jason. Sugar cookie. All right, man.

[00:36:19] Clearly they, they just went, you know, what, what, what sort of things can we upsell that are slightly fancier than just a pretzel? It's almost like, like they were handing out like menu items at the big meeting last year. And those are the three things that were left and, uh, hunky dory or whatever it's called got last draw. It's like, all right, I guess. I mean, it's almost like an iron chef challenge.

[00:36:46] We're like, you need to make a menu item with these three ingredients. Oh, I don't know what to do. I've got tomato sauce. Where can we fit that in? On the popcorn? Well, the, clearly the, the main, uh, focus here is things for people to drink. They've got a fair amount of drink of, of specialty drinks that are come with or without booze.

[00:37:12] Do you, Jason, do you, do you know, whenever you see something like orange juice in a Disney drink, do you know what brand they prefer to use? Cause I find this particularly weird. What brand? I would imagine. I might, the first thought comes to mind is Donald Duck brand. Remember that brand, but I doubt it. Um, probably sun kissed, I would guess, or something like that. Some local to Florida, you know, brand is my guess.

[00:37:40] Well, this isn't necessarily local to Florida, but for orange juice and lemonade all around the resort, it's, it's minute made. Minute made. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. That makes sense. I was just found it odd that it must be something in their brand agreement where they have to put, uh, overture and orange nostalgic frozen treat made with minute made orange juice topped with sweet cream. Okay. So it's like, um, an orange Julius. Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. Potentially. Uh, there's some cold brew stuff.

[00:38:10] With, with, uh, caramel corn in it. That's interesting. Damn, dude. We're just, it's just liquid sugar. I mean, that's all we're doing. Lemonade with cherries. All right. Uh, then some of the, some of the, the, the, the booze drinks, uh, caramel corn, old fashioned. That's going to be sweet as all get out. Caramel corn. Oh, okay. Well, I mean, here's the thing. I don't like caramel corn. I hate it. Okay.

[00:38:37] I think it's gross, but, uh, apparently a lot of people like it. Like Alice is selling, uh, popcorn for scouts now for, for cub scouts. So we're at like, you know, out in front of Lowe's selling power and the amount of people that choose caramel corn, but hands down four to one outsells everything else. So maybe this is, maybe that's the thing that people want. I just, I couldn't imagine. Okay. I don't want to eat it. I definitely don't want to drink it.

[00:39:07] Well, I do enjoy some caramel corn, but it can get, it can get pretty sweet. I like the Chicago mix that has cheese corn and caramel corn mixed together. The Chicago mix. All right. Yes. Check that out. They don't, you don't always see that, but that's, that's something that they do at Garrett's popcorn and a few other places. Oh, sure. Yeah, man. You get it. You get it. I get it. Anyway. Uh, but yeah, they've got a lot of other sweet, fancy drinks.

[00:39:33] There's a tequila, lime juice, or sheet, rose water, spiced nutmeg rim. I don't know. Maybe, maybe I would try it. I would try it. Yeah. That might, that might go over. Yeah. Well, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, a martini with, with gin, dry vermouth and orange bitters. Okay. Okay. Orange bitters and a martini. Weird. I don't know, man. That is a little weird, but. Yeah. What do I know? Everything's Atlantic coast inspired whiskey sour.

[00:40:03] What does that even mean, dude? It's a. Get a cigarette butt in it. Rye whiskey, apple jack brandy, lemon juice. I would drink it. Okay. I don't know, man. I would try it. Uh, let's see. Is there a rum drink? Here we go. It's the entertain quality entertainment. Mint. So some of the drinks have like pun names and some of them are just caramel corn or old fashioned. See, I think you're going all puns or no puns. You can't do, you can't mix it up. This is not Chicago style popcorn.

[00:40:32] I do particularly enjoy a menu that tries with the theme and then kind of gives up after. Like, I don't know. It'd be better if it like it started as puns and then gradually stopped. And then by the end, the last quarter is just exactly what it is. Cause then it's a clear, like, okay, we started from the top and we finished way down here. It's vodka and a glass. All right. Yeah. Do you want ice with that or not? Uh, yeah.

[00:40:57] The entertainment is rum, demerara, sugar, lime juice, mint, Angostura bitters topped with Prosecco. Rum. So it's rum and Prosecco basically with, okay. Interesting. Interesting. I don't know. I mean, I would try it again. Here's the thing is I would try these things, but I don't know if it would be, I don't know if it sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that would be interesting to have a taste. I suppose there's enough that you get some people together and you just kind of pass the glass. Pass the glass, man.

[00:41:27] Yeah, absolutely. As long as you don't have anybody that's too, uh, too shy about mouth germs. Yeah. Well, you can do the straw thing and like dribble it into your mouth, but okay. That's weird. Uh, okay. Well, it sounds like jelly rolls are getting a nice little place, man. Yeah. Yeah. It is themed like a, I guess a theater, but I don't know that they're going to have, you know, movies up there unless that, unless the, it's just a screen doing the trivia. I would hope that there's like a live performer up there trying to interact with kids.

[00:41:57] Let's go to the theater and get the meatballs and sugar cookie, please. That lets you go. Yeah. There's, there's definitely nostalgia with about jelly rolls, but at least here's something that people can do it, that it, it's not necessarily super, super Disney coded, I guess. Yeah. So I be, you know, I'm, I'm happy with it. It's something. All right, man. Sounds good. There we go. Okay, let's take a break and we'll come back and I'll do my story and then I'll do Terrence.

[00:42:28] Okay. That'll be good. Okay. So hang on everyone, it's Ears Up, the news program. We'll be right back.

[00:43:08] And now back to the show. That ignites your dream wish of imaginations and magical color wonderment of forever. Ears Up. All right. Thanks for sticking around everybody. Oh, that's a quick fade, Jason. What are you doing, brother? Okay. So my story, this is my written story. You're not going to like it. No one's going to like it. Okay. Um, you, you warned us. It was a bummer. So it is a bummer. No one's going to like it.

[00:43:36] Everyone's going to hate it, but you know, that's okay. That's just, that's the way it goes. Trying to slowly tank everything I do. Disney movies and TV shows have a rich history of addressing certain moral issues within society. We usually have a main character who isn't too popular up against the man versus man branch of the hero's journey, only to come out a better person with a kinder heart. Then there are those characters who are inherently kind and try to lift up their counterparts in that rising tide that lifts all boats kind of way.

[00:44:07] But in a move right out of villains land, the Walt Disney Company announced to its cast members last week, some big changes to the way their healthcare will be structured. In the U S as of 2024, more than 230 million people owe more than $250 in medical debt. In 2020, it was reported that roughly 10% of all credit card debt in the U S is in regards to medical debt.

[00:44:33] In 2022, 16% of households reported having to borrow money to pay off medical bills from either a lack of health insurance or being underinsured on their employer, on their employer care plan. The U S spends over $13,000 a year per person for healthcare far above the other so-called developed nations that offer their citizens universal healthcare.

[00:44:59] That's not to say folks who live in other countries don't have to pay out of pocket, but when they do, it's far less and their governments have systems in place. So the medical debt won't be as much of a burden. All of this is free information and really should make you think about how much work we have to do yet in America. But that being said last week, it was announced that the Disney company will no longer be offering healthcare coverage for spouses of cast members.

[00:45:24] If their spouses can receive coverage from their spouse's current employer. And that point needs clarifying. The qualifier is not if the insurance is better than what Disney offers. It's if it's offered at all, regardless of the cost or the coverage. Children will remain unaffected though, which has nothing to do with Disney being benevolent and everything to do with the affordable care act, mandating companies offer healthcare coverage to children of employees.

[00:45:54] This news was sent by Eric or sent over to Eric Chasen. Disney's I'm sorry. Hold on. The news was, uh, why did I write that? That was a stupid thing to say. Um, the news, this was announced by Eric Chasen, Disney's executive vice president of total rewards and employee services as part of a broader restructuring of its benefits package called total rewards. No irony at all.

[00:46:19] In it, Chasen points out to the rising costs of healthcare as the reason for the change. Of course, removing people from health benefits that are by definition better for them than what they can get elsewhere is not the best way to save money as a company. As Joshua Levin, CEO of Capital Benefits said to Yahoo Finance, quote, There are so many options for employers right now to make coverage available to employees that this is really the extreme nothing else can work solution.

[00:46:48] A better solution is to reduce or if you have to eliminate the employer contribution for spouses. The move to force people onto worse health coverage gets even weirder when you learn that only about 10% of companies with more than 200 employees exclude spouses from the company health plan.

[00:47:16] At a time in this country of severe economic uncertainty, rising cost of living and a terrible job market, this move will surely put undue financial stress on the families affected by tomorrow's new cost cutting scheme. Disney isn't the only company doing this, of course, but it's the only one that we care about. For example, Deloitte recently announced a similar plan. Parental leave for those employees will be cut from 16 weeks to 8. Just halving your parental leave, dude.

[00:47:46] The firm's $50,000 adoption and surrogacy benefit will be discontinued. And pension accruals will stop after 2026. While not the same, it does reflect a shift in how companies are taking care of their employees. Or not, rather. And I did read an article where, at least a part of an article where, people are concerned that Disney's doing this, you know, for the obvious reasons.

[00:48:12] But also, other companies are going to be taking note that a big company like Disney can do this. So then they're going to want to try to do it. And there's a fear that it's going to just be a cascading effect of kicking people off their, you know, spouse health insurance. There is talk in the insurance world that companies in the U.S. will see a 9.5% increase in healthcare costs, which is the fourth consecutive near double-digit increase.

[00:48:40] And I didn't put the year, but yeah. But still, the fourth consecutive double-digit increase, dude. That's quite a bit. You know, because, well, everything else got cheaper, though, right? Sure. Of course. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. As someone mentioned in the Disney cast member subreddit, quote, always a cut, never a benefit. And that's the cast member. That's a cast member. Looking into it, I think Cigna is the insurance carrier of Disney.

[00:49:10] They're, you know, a global brand, but I think they cover everybody. But I couldn't figure out, so I just guessed. Okay. They're pretty big. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know that they have ties to the Disney company and they do offer some insurance, but I'm assuming it's just all umbrella because they're that big. In 2025, Cigna Health posted a $6 billion with a B dollar profit, putting it second in line

[00:49:37] to UnitedHealthcare, who posted a $14 billion net income. In 2025, this is a quote from the CEO. He says, in 2025, we expanded access and support, lowered costs, and improved transparency for our customers and patients. So, if I'm right, and even if I'm not, it is an example of how much money healthcare is making,

[00:50:07] how health insurance is making. $6 billion profit. That's not gross. That's net. That's profit. Straight profit. And then, in the paragraph above, I mentioned that there's a 9.5% increase coming across healthcare, which is not the first increase. That's almost double digits. That's how, this is what I understand. How are health insurance companies allowed to be doing this? Just raising, for no reason.

[00:50:34] Just raising prices, pricing people out of healthcare. It makes no sense to me. So, if having this news come so soon after D23, where the company spent millions showcasing upcoming projects, additions to the parks, and other items that cost money, underlines how ridiculous this move to kick everybody off health insurance is, then the bold font

[00:50:59] with underline should be the addition of $1 billion that was added to the company's stock buyback program, bringing the total for the last 12 months up to $3 billion. And that's the key here, folks. There is always money available for the greater good. It's just rarely used for that and is more often than not just rinsed back into the company, any company, under the guise of investment.

[00:51:25] Disney would rather spend a billion extra dollars buying their stock back to elevate the stock price than give spouses of cast members health insurance. Well. But what about the other parks? Oh. Surely this is a problem for all cast members, right? Across the Disney company, right? Well, not if you work in Disneyland Paris or Tokyo Disney or Shanghai Disney or Hong Kong

[00:51:54] Disney. Each of those parks are located in a country that has universal health coverage. France spends about $5,000 per capita on its citizens care in 2024. The U.S., $14,000. We have the money for health care. In fact, a recent study from Yale estimated that universal health care could save 20% on

[00:52:16] health care costs or $1 trillion with a T, $1 trillion each year and save the lives of over 100,000 people. Quote, health care costs have been rising faster than inflation and a staggering share of that spending is consumed by administrative middlemen, soaring drug prices and emergency care for conditions that should have been treated earlier for less, said senior author Alison

[00:52:41] Galvani from the professor of epidemiology and the director of the Yale Center for Infectious disease modeling and analysis. She goes on, Medicare for all strips out those sources of waste while providing everyone with health care, saving over a trillion dollars every year. I'm running into this problem now. Like, I have dental work that needs doing, but my insurance is denying it, even though it's preventative. I have, I, I clinch. I'm a clincher.

[00:53:11] Okay. So I have two stress fractures on my molars, on two of my molars on either side. And she showed me the picture. She said, this is bad. We need to crown it. I'm like, okay. Dental insurance denied it. Saying it's not, it's not, it's not needed. They want to wait until it shatters and gets infected. Yeah. And then I get a root canal and then they'll probably deny that. And then, you know, you have to wait and wait and wait. Yeah.

[00:53:37] Uh, the, I needed like a, a big, a deep cleaning cause we hadn't been to the dentist in forever. Denied it. I needed a night guard to prevent my, denied it. They've denied every single claim. They denied cavity fillings. Isn't, aren't cavities and, and. I mean, what do they, what, what do you, so is a deep cleaning different than just a regular cleaning? I don't know what the. Yeah. It's like, yeah.

[00:54:03] It's like if you're, if you're, if you, if you haven't been in a dentist in a while, it's like, you know, all your bullshit. But like, it's, it's wild to me. Like you, it's, it's inarguable that filling a cavity isn't preventative. I mean, that's what it's preventing it from. But no, they, they, they've denied it. They've done Taryn and I both have had this where we're, cause we're going to the same dog. Our insurance is denying every single thing that we're, that we're doing.

[00:54:31] And so we're out of pocket 2,500 bucks that we don't have. And it's like, well, now we're, now we're in medical debt because our insurance company doesn't want to pay out. And it's infuriating. It's infuriating. Anyway, the more I learn, the more radical my thoughts are. We each deserve to live healthy lives. And if giving us all the healthcare saves money, I can't think of two better reasons to make the switch. And that's all.

[00:54:58] That's basically the story where it's like, it's just tomorrow going, oh, you know what? We're going to, you don't need it. It's fine. And the, the, the, the financial burden that's going to go on these, on these people, there are a lot of people in the, in the cast member subreddit. Like my wife is on our insurance and she has horrible insurance with her job. Now what? Now what? This sucks, dude. Like people are just, people are just, yeah. Anyway. Yeah.

[00:55:24] And that's, I mean, some of this sounds familiar and some of it sounds absolutely berserk. Like cutting out, cutting out a spouse if they have their own source of insurance is interesting. I have not heard too much, too many companies doing that. And like you said, that is a pretty rare thing. Yeah.

[00:55:45] The idea of framing your entire benefits and pay package as total rewards does sound a little bit like my company where they, a few years ago, they changed things to total compensation. And that's where they bring in, you know, here's how much of your premiums we pay. And, you know, based on, based on what you've elected for and your dependents and all this, this is all the stuff that you get that's beyond what your paycheck is.

[00:56:12] And part of that is it came from, I had some friends in, in HR and finance who were talking about all of the surveys that they do with all of the basically, well, all of the employees, but the newer generations of employees value, value benefits differently than we might have. Okay. We still have a kind of a boomer mentality in, in our generation. How dare you? But yeah, go ahead.

[00:56:44] I know, but it, but I mean, think of, think of how we were raised. So Gen X and, and, you know, older millennials, we, we were taught, you know, you have to go to, you have to graduate from high school. You have to go to college. You have to do all of these things. When you get into a good job, a good job will start setting you up for retirement. Even if you're 20 years old, you have to take a chunk out and give it to social security. And you have to take a chunk out and put it in your 401k.

[00:57:10] And then you might want to get a Roth as a separate, as a separate IRA. So you've got extra, you know, this is how much you should have when you retire, which seems like a long way away. And the newer generations are like, why do I care about that? I'm not going to be at a company for five years to even invest in any of this. So give me my money now.

[00:57:31] So benefits has changed, has had to kind of get along with this because a lot of, a lot of benefits packages are no longer as enticing to, to everybody. It's not a foregone conclusion that, well, yeah, you're going to want to, you know, a 3% retirement fund benefit or a pension.

[00:57:56] That's no longer a selling point to some, some people, even, even stock options or reduced price stock, which is something that I hear that Disney is going to start offering to its employees. Yeah. You know, stock purchase plan, which is, I mean, I suppose that's a benefit if, you know, if you want to do that sort of thing. Yeah. But I don't know, I guess, yeah, maybe, maybe you're right. Maybe it is that thing.

[00:58:23] But like, I feel like everybody wants the money up front until they have the problems that health coverage could solve for them. Yeah. And health, you know, our, our healthcare benefits have changed a lot. The options that we have, have changed at our company, but there's still there. Yes, there are more options, but there, it's just kind of more of a, how much do you want to pay for yourself?

[00:58:50] If you want like the Cadillac of, of healthcare, you'll have to pay more. Here's what we offer you for, for free. Here's what we offer you for a little more than free, you know, and here's how much we pay for each of these options. And that's, that's still happening. We're not drastically cutting healthcare out of your, out of your family. Can you imagine? Like if, yeah, yeah, it's anyway, we can go on and on, but that's why I thought people hate it.

[00:59:17] Cause it's, it's very, you know, socialism or whatever, but like we, you know, we all, we already are overpaying. The government is already overpaying for people's healthcare, which is like, you know, emergency visits, emergency room visits that, you know, people can't afford to pay the bills for, or that, that should have been handled by a GP, but they don't have one. And so they go into the emergency room cause they're sick or, you know, federal grants for thing, whatever, right? Like all this kind of nonsense.

[00:59:45] We're already paying double what most other civilized first world quote unquote countries are paying. Why can't we do the same thing? Because we love insurance companies. We love corporations in a stupid country and it bugs me and it bugs me. And I think it hurts even more because we are a podcast about this company and, and they just keep dumping on their cast members. And it, it, it bugs me. And I, and I don't know how to square that circle. I don't know how to, uh, to figure that out.

[01:00:14] Like how do you, how do you not just feel for these people? How do you not just feel for them? Anyway, let's move on. I'm, I'm going to radicalize everybody. That'd be great. We're going to be DSA enrolled by the next week. It'd be great. This is from Taryn. I'll read it in Taryn's voice. Hi. Oh my God. Welcome. Thank you very much. Um, there are some things at Disneyland that you probably don't think about much until they're gone. The ticket booths along the Esplanade are one of those things.

[01:00:43] I don't know about you, but there's something exciting about having to stand in line at the ticket booths for Disneyland. Whether you were buying a ticket, upgrading a ticket, buying an annual pass, or just asking a question. There was a feeling of anticipation in the wait before you could even head into the park. Technology, however, has greatly reduced the need for a human being to hand you a ticket. So Disneyland has done away with some of the main entrance ticket booths.

[01:01:05] Disneyland has begun demolishing the ticket booths along the Harbor Boulevard side of the Esplanade as part of a much larger project that will eventually transform the resort's eastern entrance. Four of the booths have recently been removed following the demolition of two others. Only two of the original Esplanade booths remain. It's not hard, excuse me, it's hard not to feel a little nostalgic about that. Ticket booths have been part of the Disneyland experience since the very beginning.

[01:01:30] When Disneyland opened in 1955, guests purchased admission to the park and then paid separately for most attractions. Disney soon introduced the famous A through C ticket books, followed by D and eventually E tickets. An A ticket might get you onto a relatively simple attraction, while an E ticket was reserved for the biggest and most thrilling experiences. For families visiting decades ago, getting those tickets was part of the adventure. You didn't pull out your phone and scan a barcode.

[01:01:57] You stood at a ticket window, received your book, and then started planning which attractions deserved those precious D and E tickets. And if you ran out, well, you went back to the ticket booth. And that system lasted for years, but in 1982, Disney finally switched to the pay one price admission system, eliminating the need for attraction tickets. But the ticket booths remained, continuing to serve guests even as their role slowly changed. Eventually, technology changed the experience again.

[01:02:25] Today, most guests purchase their tickets online or through the Disneyland app before they even arrive. The booths became less necessary, but they never really stopped being part of the scenery. And that's what makes their removal feel different. Disneyland has changed countless times since 1955, but there are certain pieces of the park that quietly become part of our memories simply because they've always been there. For some guests, the ticket booths might bring back memories.

[01:02:49] I remember being in college, this is clearly Taryn and not me, and purchasing an annual pass, which truly helped with my home sickness. I also remember buying an annual pass with Jason for the first time, which felt like a relationship milestone. And back in the day, if you were lucky enough to know someone, you had to go to the ticket booth to obtain your Club 33 pass. And that's the funny thing about Disneyland. The nostalgia isn't always about the castle or a beloved attraction. Sometimes it's just a ticket window.

[01:03:19] It's not just a rise... Did I say that? Yeah, it's not just a rise in technology that led to the disposal of the ticket booths. However, Disney is preparing to completely revamp the way guests arrive at Disneyland from Harbor Boulevard. The work is connected to a new parking and transportation facility being built across the street, along with a planned pedestrian bridge that will eventually carry guests over Harbor Boulevard and into the Disneyland esplanade.

[01:03:45] Disney broke ground on the new project in August 2026, which included the demolition of the ticket booths. The new parking facility is expected to include approximately 6,000 parking spaces, electric vehicle charging stations, transportation areas, and other infrastructure. The pedestrian bridge will allow guests arriving from the new parking facility to bypass Harbor Boulevard and enter the resort through a redesigned arrival area. Crazy, right? That's... Yeah, and this is what they were working on years ago.

[01:04:15] That was what they proposed way back when they tore down the movie theater and all that stuff. Gosh, remember? Yeah. What I mainly remember about that is all those sites we were talking about earlier going, I know exactly what's going to be here, and it's going to open on this... All right, guys. None of that happens. None of that happens. Okay, I got one more from Taryn. Ah, it's a long one, man. God, this chick, dude. This chick just writes. Okay.

[01:04:44] There was a time when figuring out the best time to visit Disneyland was pretty simple. Avoid summer, holidays, and weekends, and go during the week. But over the last few years, Disneyland has changed dramatically, and so have its crowds. In the early days, Disneyland was primarily a vacation destination, and the parks even closed Mondays and Tuesdays during parts of the year. As Disneyland became more and more popular and more accessible to local people, the park hours and days were extended and allowed for larger crowds.

[01:05:13] But even then, the park was almost guaranteed to have a lighter crowd in the middle of the week. Then attractions became more geared towards the adolescence, especially when Disney's California Adventure opened, and the resort became thought of as more than just a place for little kids. Gradually, traditionally slow days became harder to find. This was great for the company, and the parks were consistently busy, but locals spend their money differently than a family on vacation.

[01:05:38] Where a local might stop in after work and buy a corn dog, then leave, a true tourist will likely pay for food, merch, and lodging. So while the parks may be busy, they may not have been profiting as much as they could. But in 2016, Disney came up with a solution. They began selling a ticketed tiered system. They started at three tiers, value, regular, and peak, to help with the crowd. By 2020, they'd beefed the system up to a five-tier system.

[01:06:07] Then in 2020, Disneyland closed, and they changed a whole bunch of stuff. Traditionally, the slowest time to go to Disneyland has been January and February, and on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. While January and February still stand as some of the slower months, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on any given month have actually become the busiest days in the parks. This is especially apparent during the resort's busiest summer months. In recent months, guests have posted across social media how busy the park is on a Wednesday in February,

[01:06:33] while comparatively showcasing how empty the parks are on a Saturday in the middle of July. Oh, wow. And she goes, what gives? Cost. What does give? Right. Or give. Oh, I messed it up. That's all right. Due to the ticketed tier system, excuse me, due to the tiered ticketing system, a Saturday in July is going to cost the absolute most for entry.

[01:06:57] So if you can go on a Tuesday or a Wednesday in July, you get the same park with the same amenities and attractions for a smaller ticket price. And this is the only thing that people see when they're purchasing a ticket. So we have more people purchasing and planning their vacations around the price of a ticket rather than considering the crowd level, which is a definite shift in the way things were done before.

[01:07:20] So how has this affected the general population of Disneyland guests and how are they now determining the best and or worst times to plan their visit? I wanted to know, she says. So I asked the Internet, how much more per ticket would you pay to visit Disneyland on a less crowded day? She posted this on Reddit. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah. So these are Reddit brain people.

[01:07:45] So how much per how much more per ticket would you pay to visit Disneyland on a less crowded day? And here are the results. 12 percent of people would only go on the cheapest day. Twenty five percent would spend 50 bucks or more per ticket for a less crowded day. Twenty one percent would spend one hundred dollars or more per ticket for a less crowded day. OK. Twenty one percent have inflexible schedules and can't decide based on price.

[01:08:14] What's what's interesting to me, she says, is that 47 percent of people would pay extra money to go when it's less crowded, meaning that crowds are a major factor in many people's decision making. This also means that Disney was correct in making crowd control priority. It does, however, also shine a light on socioeconomic disparities. If you are privileged enough to pay more, you'll have less crowds and likely a better overall experience.

[01:08:41] But 41 percent of people who go to Disneyland don't even have that as an option and will need to go whenever they're able to, regardless of price. Yeah. Yeah. I like the the addition of I hadn't that that was kind of surprising to me to to include that in the survey as well. The the portion about, oh, I kind of can't I can't pick and choose. Yeah. I can't pick and choose. It doesn't matter to me because I have to go on the cheapest day or whatever it was. Yeah.

[01:09:06] It's it's like when my family wanted to go to Walt Disney World and something happened and I couldn't join them. But they they chose a week in in July because that's what fit everything with all of the with seven different kids and school and summer schedules and all of the summer sports they've got. But this it's like this is the week that we're all going on vacation together.

[01:09:37] And my wife, like, this is a pretty bad time to go to Walt Disney World. All right. Yeah, because some people just can't choose. But man, to especially to see people that are willing to go on an additional hundred dollars over. See, that's what I thought. And Taryn was like, yes, I would do that. I'm like, you're kidding me, dude. But to know that it's a date that it would be like less crowded. Yeah.

[01:10:06] It's just going to be less crowded. And then you still might. Maybe you don't have to get. Genie plus when you're there. Yeah. Even that, though, like, I don't know, man, like a hundred bucks more. A day. Yeah. Per person for less. Like what? But what is less? You know what I mean? Like I was asking these questions. I don't know, dude. It's just a poll on Reddit. Like, don't worry about it. Like, yeah, OK, I guess. But that's what I want. Like, like 25 percent less. You know what I mean?

[01:10:35] 50 percent less. I don't know. Would you? I mean, at that point, just buy four tickets and then just two people go. So you just you take up the space or something like that. I don't know, man. Like buying out the row at the theater. Yeah, dude. Just do that. It's crazy to me how many people will just pay more for that experience. And the parks know this already. And they're just watching this leads into my last story. I just want to I just want to read this real fast. It was on and then we'll go.

[01:11:03] It was on our in our discord in the gaming section, in case you don't follow that. You want to. Have you played like Planet Coaster and, you know, some of those like theme park builder games before, Eric? Not since Roller Coaster Tycoon. Ooh, I've never done Roller Coaster Tycoon. Yeah, that sounds like fun. Well, this is an announcement. Frontier Development, the studio behind Jurassic World Evolution, which is you can make a zoo

[01:11:31] with dinosaurs, which I played like it was a free for a bit on PlayStation. It's fun. It was cool. I got bored of it real fast, but it was pretty neat. And you like design your park from the ground up and you can pick which dinosaurs go and you can breed them and capture them and, you know, your flow and you get your burgers here. You're you know, your drinks over here and you kind of like have to make sure there's restrooms for people and it's a whole thing. There's also one called Planet Zoo, which I was playing to and they're just exactly the same thing, which is very fun as well.

[01:12:01] And Planet Coaster, which I've never played, has inked a deal with Disney to develop an upcoming game. While details of the project remain thin on the ground for now, a press release sent to IGN states that the game will, quote, build upon the company's extensive experience and proven capabilities as a leader in the creative management simulation genre. In other words, expect a Disney sim game. It's not a huge leap to expect something akin to a Disneyland park creator, especially as the

[01:12:29] studio is well versed in extending its expertise to licensed properties. Indeed, Frontier made 2011's Kinetic or Connect Disneyland Adventures, which was eventually remastered and made playable without connect. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. So we were talking in the in the discord about like what that would mean. And then I'm like, oh, that'd be sick. You can just like redesign. Mr. P's like, I would just make Disneyland exactly the way it was and see if it was highly rated or not.

[01:12:58] I'd make it in a straight line, put all the parks in the straight line, put all the rides, you know, but then I got to thinking like my conspiracy brain is going like, wait a minute. What if this is a way for Disneyland to kind of model future events? Yeah. Like if we raise the park ticket prices a certain amount, what does that do to like the crowd, you know, overall score? Or if we raise the prices on drinks and you can like manipulate the model that way, because

[01:13:27] I know they have internal data. Disney has, of course, they know what they're doing, but I wonder if they, if they have a simulation and then I wonder if they can use the data that the, that, you know, players you give, we, they, they look at that from, you know, whoever makes the game. I forget now already frontier or whatever. And then they can go, oh yeah, that's a good idea for whatever. I don't know. We know, or, or, or if, if we raise the, you know what I mean? Like if I sit and I build a park and I go, I can set the ticket price at $500 a ticket.

[01:13:56] And then they look at that and go, oh dude, you can, you can do that. And, and people seem to be happy about it in the simulation. Then maybe we can, I don't know. You know what I mean? I wonder, basically I wonder if, if it's not just like a catch all or, or a way to gamify crowdsourcing what people are willing to pay and what kind of crap they're willing to put up with to go to the Disney parks. So they're, you're suggesting that perhaps they're going to use this as sort of an iterative

[01:14:24] process to test out some different ideas and price. I guess it depends on how robust their model is. Right. I don't know. Yeah. And that's what, that's one thing I was mentioning where it's like, I, I would bet that, that the data for data sake for actually like, like making changes is very different than data for making up an enjoyable game.

[01:14:50] But I would also be willing to bet that Disneyland or Disney would have like an internal model that maybe doesn't have some of the restrictions on it that they can actually just give their data to and see if you can, I don't know if, I don't know if they need it. I don't know if they need anything like that, but it would be really interesting. And that's my conspiracy brain where it's like someone, someone was like, Oh, you know what? It'd be really cool if we had planet coaster, but for Disneyland parks. And then someone was like, Oh, we could use that data to figure out how much more money to book these people for.

[01:15:19] There you go. Somebody calls somebody make this happen. It sounds fun, dude. I'm I'll, I'll play when it comes out. Why not? I don't know when it probably won't come out for five years, but we know whatever. Well, Hey, it's a different company that's making it. Although like you, like you said, who knows with game developers, especially small ones. I know. Right. I mean, obviously the engine still, you know, everything under underneath under the hood is the same. You're just reskinning a bunch of crap, but yeah, we'll see. I don't know.

[01:15:49] Should be exciting. All right. Thanks a lot for tuning in everybody. I do appreciate it. If you want more content like this, go to the website, earsup-podcast.com. We have so many other shows you can participate in. And also more importantly, you can join Patreon at five bucks a month and support every single show on this network. It all goes to keeping the lights on, paying our bills, paying our, uh, our URL subscriptions or whatever they're called these days. I don't even know website names, domain names, hosting, whatever it is. And you get a lot of extra free content on there as well.

[01:16:17] It's not free because you're paying for it, but you get a lot of extra content there as well. Tons of shows, too many to mention, all that kind of stuff. Also, don't forget to hit our Etsy page and check out our shirts and hats and stuff like that. Thank you very much for tuning in again, everybody. I really appreciate it. And until next time, we'll see you in the parks or something. Something. I mess that up all the time.

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