EarzUp! In-Depth | Episode #95: Peltz At It Again, Universal Gets It, and More!

[00:00:00] (upbeat music)

[00:00:02] - What's going on everybody?

[00:00:05] Ears up in depth and a beautiful rainy February night,

[00:00:10] I guess is what it is, I don't know, it's an evening,

[00:00:15] whatever, who cares anymore, right?

[00:00:18] Labels are just dumb anyway, right?

[00:00:20] They're social constructs Jeremy.

[00:00:21] All I know is-- - Oh my geez, is it?

[00:00:24] - Yeah.

[00:00:25] - I hear you, it was meeting a lot of rain

[00:00:27] over the next few weeks.

[00:00:28] - Yeah, it's supposed to be very, very bad.

[00:00:30] It was, this dark cloud was sort of next to us,

[00:00:34] like the city next to us, like, you know,

[00:00:35] we live in a small town, you kind of see just right over the,

[00:00:38] you know, it's like, I don't know how many feet away,

[00:00:40] but it was out in the Delta and you could just see it.

[00:00:42] It was nasty, it was gnarly, there was a lot of different

[00:00:45] cloud shapes and different layers of the clouds

[00:00:48] and each layer had different colors,

[00:00:50] but they were all just the same like gray.

[00:00:53] And I was like, I really want that over my head right now

[00:00:57] 'cause I love that, I love that vibe,

[00:01:00] I love the rain, I love all of it.

[00:01:02] But it never landed and then it was really blue skies

[00:01:06] and then supposedly tonight and tomorrow

[00:01:08] is gonna be that atmospheric river, the Pineapple Express.

[00:01:12] - Yeah, you guys have been getting this,

[00:01:14] I feel like it last year too.

[00:01:16] - We've had it for a couple of years, yeah.

[00:01:18] Apparently, Southern California

[00:01:20] is supposed to get really soaked as well.

[00:01:22] - Mm.

[00:01:23] - And so I was like, man, if all the time did not go to the,

[00:01:27] I would love to be in the parks.

[00:01:28] I love being in the parks when it rains.

[00:01:30] It's so, it's just awesome.

[00:01:32] It's really great because it doesn't last very long

[00:01:34] and sort of keeps everybody else away.

[00:01:37] - Oh, that's the best part about it.

[00:01:38] - Yeah.

[00:01:39] - Anything to drive people away from my person

[00:01:42] is something that I relish.

[00:01:44] - I sometimes lay awake at night and just go like,

[00:01:48] in what reality do I have the kutzpah, I suppose,

[00:01:53] to want to go to a very, very busy theme park,

[00:01:58] but also hate the fact that other people

[00:02:01] want to do the same thing I do.

[00:02:03] Like, where do I get off thinking I deserve

[00:02:07] to have this place empty by myself?

[00:02:09] And even when it's empty, I can see someone

[00:02:11] like right around the corner going, I'd go wait,

[00:02:13] this is my area, stop, leave me alone.

[00:02:16] - Well, you know, when you look at pictures from the parks

[00:02:19] back in the '70s and the early '80s,

[00:02:24] they weren't shoulder to shoulder cheek to jowl.

[00:02:28] You know, there was room to sort of spread out.

[00:02:31] And if you think about it, you know,

[00:02:33] in 1971, this country had two magic kingdom style parks

[00:02:38] and a population, you know, two thirds of what it is today.

[00:02:41] And now we still have two magic kingdom style parks

[00:02:44] and 400 million people.

[00:02:46] So I don't know, I think we might need,

[00:02:48] I think it might be okay, Disney could probably

[00:02:50] do another magic kingdom style park somewhere

[00:02:52] and still be able to make money.

[00:02:55] - Oh, for sure.

[00:02:57] - Absolutely. - And they don't seem

[00:02:58] to do it.

[00:02:59] - No, not in the States, for sure.

[00:02:59] And the problem with Disney World is you get

[00:03:02] a lot of Europeans coming over there.

[00:03:04] So like, it feels like the numbers inflate where, you know,

[00:03:08] I think-- - European.

[00:03:09] - And a lot of Brazilian.

[00:03:10] - Really interesting. - Yeah.

[00:03:12] - Yeah, when Terry and I were there,

[00:03:13] we met an English bloke in the pool.

[00:03:16] And he was like, yeah, a lot of English people

[00:03:18] come over here, like it's our thing.

[00:03:19] We do it like four times a year or whatever

[00:03:22] 'cause this is five hours.

[00:03:23] It's longer for us to come over than it is

[00:03:25] for them to come over.

[00:03:27] - Check. - Which is wild to me.

[00:03:29] I don't know. - Wild.

[00:03:30] - Distance is weird, right?

[00:03:31] Measurements are weird.

[00:03:32] Anyway, Jerry, you wanna do some news, bud?

[00:03:34] - Sure.

[00:03:34] - All right, let's do some news.

[00:03:35] You want me to go first?

[00:03:36] Let me all go first.

[00:03:37] - Okay. - All right.

[00:03:38] - This is the one I'm excited for.

[00:03:40] Let me get this out of the way.

[00:03:41] It's Nelson Peltz is back in the news.

[00:03:43] Our big old buddy Nelson Peltz.

[00:03:47] This is from the Hollywood Reporter.

[00:03:48] The title is Disney Activist Investor, which I don't know.

[00:03:52] Is he an activist?

[00:03:53] Is he a Disney activist investor?

[00:03:55] I don't know, it seems weird.

[00:03:57] Reveals which board members he's targeting to oust.

[00:04:01] So, you know, we've sort of dropped off

[00:04:03] doing the Nelson Peltz news mainly 'cause it,

[00:04:07] there really wasn't a whole lot to talk about.

[00:04:09] You know, it's just little actions here or there.

[00:04:11] He was in the interview about his passion or whatever.

[00:04:13] And I'm boring, but he's dropping names.

[00:04:18] I was like, I gotta read this, man.

[00:04:21] To me, this is very good.

[00:04:23] Nelson Peltz's "Triand Partners" on Wednesday

[00:04:26] released its preliminary proxy statement

[00:04:28] in which it had said it would ask shareholders

[00:04:31] to withhold their votes for current Disney board members,

[00:04:34] Michael B. G. Frohman and Maria Alana Lagomasano.

[00:04:40] And instead, vote for Peltz and former Disney CFO,

[00:04:43] J. Rosulo, to join the board.

[00:04:45] "Triand argues against voting for Frohman," quote.

[00:04:49] This is the best, quote, because he has no experience

[00:04:53] as a public company director outside of Disney

[00:04:57] and has spent most of the past 25 years of his career

[00:05:00] in fields which appear largely unrelated

[00:05:03] to Disney's businesses, working as a federal trade representative,

[00:05:07] a national security advisor, and a financial executive."

[00:05:10] End quote.

[00:05:11] I love this pre, I don't know why.

[00:05:13] That was really funny.

[00:05:15] "Triand's argument against Lagomasano" is quote,

[00:05:18] because her background and wealth management

[00:05:20] also appears largely unrelated to Disney's businesses.

[00:05:24] And due to her position on the Disney compensation committee

[00:05:26] in which she, quote, "has overseen a number

[00:05:29] of misaligned compensation practices."

[00:05:33] Yeah, which I read another article that says she came from,

[00:05:38] I think it was Citibank or some other company

[00:05:44] where she's sort of notorious for overcompensating the board.

[00:05:49] Well, I wonder why she got hired, that's so weird.

[00:05:52] Yeah, here's the person approving my giant raise.

[00:05:56] Let's get them in.

[00:05:57] I want them to be free-flowing with the purse strings.

[00:06:00] Yeah, that's it, basically blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:06:02] So I was looking into these people,

[00:06:04] 'cause I was like, I've never heard of these people.

[00:06:05] I wanna know what's going on.

[00:06:08] Michael Frohman, Michael Braverman, Goodman Frohman,

[00:06:12] B.G. Frohman.

[00:06:14] He is from San Rafael, he's a Bay Area boy.

[00:06:16] So that's pretty cool, he's a lawyer.

[00:06:18] And like the other article said,

[00:06:20] he was, he did some stuff for the United States

[00:06:23] Department of Treasury, and he was appointed by Obama

[00:06:27] for Council on Foreign Relations or whatever.

[00:06:30] In April 2018, he was hired by Mastercard

[00:06:33] as Vice Chairman and President for Strategic Growth.

[00:06:36] And later that year, he became Director

[00:06:39] of the Walt Disney Company.

[00:06:40] And I looked, he is still currently Vice Chairman

[00:06:43] and President for Strategic Growth at Mastercard.

[00:06:47] I feel like these are very, very high-level jobs.

[00:06:51] How are you able to sit on both boards

[00:06:53] doing these like big giant projects?

[00:06:56] I don't know, it seems like there might be a little bit

[00:06:59] of a conflict of interest,

[00:07:01] but a little bit of a distraction.

[00:07:04] - I, well, I don't think that's uncommon.

[00:07:06] I mean, Steve Jobs was on the Disney board, isn't that right?

[00:07:10] - I think you're right.

[00:07:11] - You're the CEO of Apple.

[00:07:12] And he was on the Disney board.

[00:07:13] I think being on the board isn't like a full-time kind of gig.

[00:07:17] - Yeah, you're right, you're right.

[00:07:19] And he was like, he's currently on a bunch of other stuff.

[00:07:21] And I know wealthy people do that.

[00:07:23] They're on six boards or whatever,

[00:07:25] like Taren's uncle's on like a million boards or whatever.

[00:07:27] But I just, I want, and they get paid a lot for it,

[00:07:29] which is great.

[00:07:30] If you can get a board gig.

[00:07:31] You're set.

[00:07:32] - Yeah, take it.

[00:07:32] - Yeah, right.

[00:07:33] I don't know, it just, it feels like

[00:07:35] with the amount of fire that Disney's been under lately,

[00:07:39] and their lack of success at the box office

[00:07:42] and the stock's not doing really well.

[00:07:44] I don't know, you would sort of think you would want

[00:07:45] someone who's singular focus is helping the company,

[00:07:49] not helping this company,

[00:07:50] then you have to switch gears to go to MasterCard

[00:07:52] or then do this other one in German or whatever.

[00:07:54] I don't know, it seems kind of weird to me.

[00:07:56] - Well, there was a really fascinating article.

[00:07:58] I don't know if you read it.

[00:07:59] It was in the Wall Street Journal this week.

[00:08:01] And actually, I bookmarked it.

[00:08:03] I thought this might come up.

[00:08:05] And it talked about how the incredible similarities

[00:08:08] between Eiger right now and Eisner

[00:08:12] in around 2002, 2003 at the end of his tenure.

[00:08:16] - Oh, no, I haven't seen them.

[00:08:19] - They, you know, they had bought a bunch of product

[00:08:22] at that point from Fox.

[00:08:23] I can't remember what that was.

[00:08:25] But one of the things that they said,

[00:08:27] that when they went through these parallels,

[00:08:28] like first of all, they were describing basically

[00:08:31] the Disney Company in 2003, but they don't tell you that.

[00:08:33] They just start describing, like, the board was this.

[00:08:36] The CEO was this and starting,

[00:08:38] and you're like, oh yeah, that's now.

[00:08:39] And then they go, and then Michael Eisner,

[00:08:41] and you go, oh my God, that all happened then.

[00:08:43] And it's happening now, like it's shocking.

[00:08:46] In fact, the title of the article was the sequel,

[00:08:49] Eiger didn't want.

[00:08:51] And it almost is kind of like,

[00:08:53] oh, you were so into all these sequels.

[00:08:56] And now it's like biting you in the butt.

[00:08:58] But one of the, anyway, what made me think of this

[00:09:00] was one of the things you said was about the board,

[00:09:02] and one thing that this pointed out was that

[00:09:06] all of the board members are now basically just Eiger's buddies.

[00:09:11] - Yes.

[00:09:12] - So this is like, he's just gotten all these people on there.

[00:09:15] So that's what this article was saying is like,

[00:09:17] this isn't some independent board

[00:09:19] looking out for the best interests of the company.

[00:09:21] This is Eiger's friends now.

[00:09:23] And they weren't all his friends when they joined,

[00:09:26] but they are now his friends.

[00:09:28] And so their loyalties are to him, their loyalties.

[00:09:31] So there's a lot of, and I think that's one

[00:09:33] of the big concerns of Peltz,

[00:09:34] and that's why he's trying to get on there.

[00:09:36] - Which I agree, and I will look.

[00:09:37] If I sold some shares, I think I saw like five shares left.

[00:09:41] So if I could still vote, I'm a vote for Peltz.

[00:09:43] Dude, absolutely.

[00:09:44] Because I think that board, number one,

[00:09:46] I think it's, look, at the end of the day,

[00:09:49] I think it's extraordinarily funny that this is happening

[00:09:53] to one of the, if not the greatest, most well-known brand,

[00:09:57] maybe aside from Coca-Cola,

[00:09:59] to ever exist on this friggin' planet,

[00:10:01] especially right now today.

[00:10:03] Such a cultural juggernaut,

[00:10:04] such a driver of not only commerce,

[00:10:07] but nostalgia and brand awareness and entertainment

[00:10:12] and whatever, there's so much they're responsible for,

[00:10:15] to have them fighting on the board level

[00:10:19] Who's going to stay on and who gets to go and how to run things and it's all very public and it's very, very funny to me. It's excruciatingly funny. So, if I can play any tiny little part in exacerbating that, I'm going to do it because it's very funny to me. And I think Nelson Peltz has a couple good points. These people, these people don't have any experience. You know, they're one of them's coming from financial background and he's a lawyer. Like, who, how does that translate into whatever you do on the board? Unless you're the CFO or legal capital?

[00:10:48] A little bit of a dissenting voice, some loyal opposition is never a bad thing. What's bad is a rubber stamp unanimous. When in the world does unanimity get you the best results? No, you need dissonance. You need someone who's voicing another opinion. You need other opinions in the room so that you get the best results. And I think a little loyal opposition on the Disney board would be very welcome.

[00:11:16] I agree. I definitely agree. It's like when I said, you know what, Jeremy, what I'm going to start doing is using pictures of all of our thighs to promote these shows. So, give me pictures, give me some thigh pickers and you're like, no, I'm not going to do that.

[00:11:27] Yeah, no, I refuse. Yeah. And I said, well, okay, that's fine. Then I guess I won't do it. Oh, I appreciate that.

[00:11:33] Only calves only. Only calves. All right, well, that's my story. Very brief. Nelson Pelt has added again, brother. Well, Disney is always tightening the strings of their purse. The competition is building an epic universe.

[00:11:50] This week, Universal Orlando Resort unveiled details of the new theme park there constructing in Orlando called Epic Universe, which is slated to open next year in 2025. And what's weird is saying that next year is 2025.

[00:12:07] When you were in high school, did you ever like, oh, man, one day we're going to write 2010 or whatever and just didn't like blow your mind. Right. Yeah. Sing 2025 is very.

[00:12:20] Oh, it gives me a tingle. Yeah, it gives me a definite tingle. The park was originally announced in August of 2019. By the way, that's when Disney announced the Epcot overhaul.

[00:12:31] Which is still sputtering. Yeah. And nothing like what they announced. It's all completely falling flat. The park will use the hub and spoke format that Disney's Disneyland and Magic Kingdom style parks employ.

[00:12:44] Okay. Nice. Nice. The central hub of Epic Universe will be called Celestial Park. This is Universal's attempt to put the park back in theme park. It will feature open spaces, rolling gardens, chasing waterways and strolling pathways

[00:12:59] alongside architecture inspired by astronomical and mythological elements. Mm. Okay. It seems like this should be off a truck stop somewhere in the Midwest. Like what?

[00:13:09] Astronological elements. Weird. This is supposed to be where heaven, the heavens meet the earth. And I think this is awesome because you know what? It's original.

[00:13:19] That is. Yes. Yeah. You're right. I will. I will. I will. I will say that. It is original. Just the description. You know, unlike Disney's big announcement, which is Oh, we're re theming the pier to be Pixar Pier and we're going to.

[00:13:33] We have a bunch of original stuff. We're going to slap these characters all over it. And now a big bong is going to be in the emotional circle. Like who cares.

[00:13:41] It's all for God. It was a character. So now that God knows from that movie. I don't know. Okay. But that's the name that I have to deal with.

[00:13:52] So, and here the creatives at Universal are being unleashed. Don't worry about the IP. Here is your place to, and they're going with mythological and astronomical signals. They're looking to the heavens. They're looking to mythology.

[00:14:04] This is amazing. This reminds me astronomical and mythology. That reminds me of Tappetry of Nations. And they use those astrolabes to tell the story of the time. I can't. I'm so.

[00:14:14] I'm just glad someone's doing it. Did they show part? Sorry. Did they release artwork? Oh, there's not only that. There's like a 3D video flyover of the park. There's this 30 minutes of artwork.

[00:14:26] Wow. Disney and Ford. We have one sketch on a map.

[00:14:30] Not really, but okay. Well, while you're reading, I'm going to look at it because so far I'm not really into astrological signs. So I don't really. I'm like, eh, but I would love to look at the artwork and maybe not astrological astronomical.

[00:14:42] Oh, yeah. I'm thinking like Taurus and.

[00:14:46] I know. I think it's a zombie. I swear to God, you said astrology. That's what I did. I'm going to look back at the summary. This whole thing is different now. It's just a statue of Neil deGrasse Tyson.

[00:15:00] Yes. Celestial Park will feature three attractions. The starfall racers dual track roller coaster and the constellation where. So on this, you ride on a shooting star. That's the concept.

[00:15:13] Okay. Constellation carousel, which will be similar to the sea grass, sea glass carousel in New York City, as well as the astronomical splash pad.

[00:15:22] None of those attractions is IP related at all. It's all art and space. This is a garden. Nice. No IP.

[00:15:31] I love that. It's original. Yeah. It's probably got some original area music and I got to get in there. Maybe I need them. Spectral radio is going universal full time baby.

[00:15:40] Jurassic Park. You know what? You might you might be you might do well to like do a couple hours every now and then of universal or like other theme parks. You know, that'd be cool.

[00:15:51] Yeah. Well, it's better than others crap that Disney is churning. I don't want to listen to any of it. There are literally there have been multiple things that have come out from Disney. Like the Disney Cruise release some music.

[00:16:02] It's so on listenable. I won't put it on the station. Not listening to that. I'm not paying and I'm not paying for others to listen to it.

[00:16:08] You know, what's funny is the best the best Disney music that's being released that I've come across is on our last show. Eric and I were sitting there doing some news.

[00:16:18] And they did a like a chill hop, you know, like hip hop, but like lo-fi hip hop kind of, but not really lo-fi. It's more chill hop. Right.

[00:16:26] Of Disney songs that they're going to be playing in the new Pixar. When they re-themed the hotel or whatever. And so it's called Pixar Place. The album is called and it's really good.

[00:16:38] Oh, that's good. But it's very funny because it's like a lot of traditional or at least, you know, stuff from all the movies and whatever. It's not.

[00:16:45] I mean, it's original, but I guess what people want is just the old stuff and, you know, I don't know.

[00:16:51] By the way, that's going swimmingly because people are reporting that they're already charging the new prices for the hotel, but not all of the renovations are done.

[00:17:03] So people are getting old rooms at new prices. And what they've done is they put just a throw pillow. That's the shape of that star, like that ball logo. That's, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:17:15] They've put that pillow on the beds. So now you get to pay them in point. Wow. I would be not fun. I would not be happy with them. Yeah, that's the latest on Twitter.

[00:17:27] Anyway, from Celestial Park, guests will be able to transit through several ports, which will take them into the various theme lands of Epic Universe, including the Wizarding World of Harry Potter's Ministry of Magic, which will be different from the other two Harry Potter lands.

[00:17:43] I guess there's a fantastic beast, which I guess is a Harry Potter property, but it takes place more in Paris. So it's going in that direction.

[00:17:51] Yeah. And it's like 200 years before the Harry Potter universe, I think, is if I remember correctly.

[00:17:57] Oh, I read that it takes place in the 1920, but maybe, maybe I misread that. I don't know.

[00:18:02] I'm not a big, I'm not into Harry Potter. I don't know what that will. Super Nintendo World, which will be Orlando's version of the Mario theme land that has already been opened in Japan and California.

[00:18:12] Next is how to train your dragon, Isle of Burke, where guests will be able to soar with dragons in a colorful world filled with Viking adventures based on the how to train your dragon series.

[00:18:23] Then the spooky dark universe, where guests will encounter everything from the experiments of Dr. Victoria Frank. This is called, oh, it was called dark, dark universe.

[00:18:33] Yeah, we'll encounter everything from the experiments of Dr. Victoria Frankenstein to the shadowy landscape where monsters roam in a world of myth and mystery.

[00:18:44] Universal Epic Universe will also include the Universal Helios Grand Hotel, which will be incorporated into the park and feature its own entry into the park, designed to transport guests to a world where the heavens and the earth unite, complete with 500 rooms.

[00:19:02] One of a kind views. It will, it will also be two new universal hotels near the park as well, Universal Stella Nova Resort and Universal Terra Luna Resort.

[00:19:12] Let's listen to the chairman of Universal destinations and experiences Mark Woodbury on his comments.

[00:19:20] Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm like flipping through the the art. It looks pretty good. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna lie. Mark Woodbury. Here we go.

[00:19:28] Over my 35 years, I've often been asked what my favorite right is.

[00:19:33] My standard answer is the next one.

[00:19:37] We live by the ethos that the next thing we do is going to be better than the last thing we did. So even though we've, we've created some really incredible experiences, we're always looking to how do we make the next one even better.

[00:19:53] And it really starts back with the origins of our business back in 1964 with the world famous universal tram tour.

[00:20:02] And from there, we expanded and built the first standalone park at Universal Studios Florida, which really became about writing the movies and that was an invention of Steven Spielberg.

[00:20:13] Yeah, I mean, you know, classically, if you give people behind the scenes looks, they are going to line up for it, no matter what it is. Everyone wants to know how things work, and especially movies.

[00:20:25] And I'm sort of surprised Disney land doesn't have like a behind the scenes tour where they put you on a tram and you kind of go around the backlot and you can kind of see some of the warehouses and stuff like that, you know, 15.

[00:20:39] 20 minute tour. Charge 500 bucks for that. Well, there is the walk and walled footsteps to her.

[00:20:45] Yeah, but it's not the same. Yeah. I don't know. I'm any of my God, sorry.

[00:20:50] So it was interesting for me to hear him talk like that. And it sort of opened my eyes to

[00:20:56] something because what he said, first of all, I think he talks like a normal person.

[00:21:02] Well, yeah. Is that new for you? Well, it wasn't this overly weird performative stuff that we get

[00:21:09] out of Josh tomorrow in Eiger and all of that. They're nuts. I don't know who their audience is.

[00:21:16] But it's like, this guy just wasn't giving an interview and talking. He's like, yeah,

[00:21:19] this is our ethos. I don't know. I just felt like, oh, this is a normal person who's trying to

[00:21:24] tell me something without too much pixie dust on it. Yes. And that's something that we've

[00:21:32] railed on for a while on the show because it's weird. I mean, especially like me from a minor

[00:21:38] marketing background, I would never do that. And I don't like it when people talk to me like that,

[00:21:43] because it's very clear that you're selling me something, whether it's my own nostalgia or what.

[00:21:49] But this guy is just like, I really love this thing. And we work really hard to try and stick to

[00:21:55] the thing that I really appreciate, which is moving forward. And that's really cool. Love it.

[00:21:59] So also, there's something else on my mind I want to bring up. Universal has been so

[00:22:05] mum about this. They made the announcement in 2019. And then we have heard zero.

[00:22:10] Yeah, until now, a year before it's opening. And it's, and what they're promising,

[00:22:18] see, and also their original artwork was very vague. And they didn't say what was going to

[00:22:23] be in here. There was a lot of speculation, but a lot of this, they really didn't tell us what

[00:22:27] was going to be in here. I think last year, he did confirm that Super Nintendo World would be

[00:22:30] part of it. Because he said it was, he came out and said it's like the worst kept secret in the

[00:22:34] industry. So he was like, we're just going to confirm that contrast that with Epcot,

[00:22:39] Disney announced that built an Epcot experience that you went into. And they told you all these

[00:22:46] things that were coming. Zach Ridley is on Instagram every week with the key chips and the new tie.

[00:22:51] Like every step of the way it has been nonstop. Meanwhile, they did the unveiling. You go to

[00:22:56] Disney World right now. There are construction walls all over Epcot. It's not done. They pretended

[00:23:01] it's done. They added construction walls this week. Yeah, I thought it was done. If you had asked

[00:23:07] me, I would have said, yeah, it's already over. No, because community core hall, they're adding

[00:23:11] like one triangle a week. You've never seen anything like this. There's no one working

[00:23:16] on it. So anyway, just contrast this. They, they announced it and then they shut up about it

[00:23:22] for five years. Disney every day. And also Disney made does all this hoopla and all this noise

[00:23:31] around it. And then they have to shut up and pull it all. And now none of it has even happened

[00:23:37] because they pulled the funding for the play pavilion. They pulled the funding for the

[00:23:41] Mary Poppins ride. They never did the China movie. They pulled the double level event space.

[00:23:47] They changed what they were going to build and had to add this community core hall.

[00:23:51] It's all different. None of it's what there was. There were fountains. They took away all those

[00:23:56] fountains. There were fountains in the original concept art. Now we have planners. So Disney,

[00:24:00] they like, it's like all this big like celebration. And then what we got was nothing. It's over

[00:24:06] promise and under deliver. Whereas Universal's like, we're going to do something. And then a

[00:24:11] year before it opens, they're like, look how awesome this is going to be. And everyone's heads

[00:24:14] are exploding. We're doing this. That's how you do it, Disney. I think, I think here's what I will

[00:24:20] say. Stop messing with my microphone. Here's what I will say. I think what happened with the way

[00:24:25] Disney announces stuff is for years, for years, they were sort of plagued with people stealing

[00:24:31] thunder, you know, leaks and, you know, whatever, right? You know, rumors, but also like a genuine

[00:24:37] amount of leakage. You know, they had too much Olean and they were just leaking to the point

[00:24:44] where then they started having, you know, groups of people disseminating incorrect information on

[00:24:50] purpose to try to weed out people who were doing these leaks. And they actually caught,

[00:24:55] I don't know how many people, but people in Imagineering have been fired over it years ago.

[00:25:00] So I think what they started doing is releasing that information on their own and they started

[00:25:06] doing that more with their channels. Like, let's show behind the scenes because that's what people

[00:25:10] want. Inherently, most people, I think, like watching Zach really pick out paint chips or whatever.

[00:25:18] This is the color that we pick. So then they go there, they can see it and they go, oh yeah,

[00:25:22] I remember you have a connection before you even be before you've even been there, right?

[00:25:26] I'm not saying it's done well, but I think that's the point is to try to like eliminate the leaks.

[00:25:31] But what they didn't account for is how bad they are budgeting stuff and over promising.

[00:25:37] And so now they're realizing, oh no, we already showed all this stuff. We already talked about

[00:25:43] this. Now we can't do it now. So they sort of like created a prison for themselves,

[00:25:49] marketing-wise, right? And no amount of magic, wish, and enchantment is going to get them out of

[00:25:55] of that. Whereas universal, I don't think anybody cares as much. If you have a universal leak,

[00:25:59] you're not like, who cares? But if you have a Disney leak, that's a big thing.

[00:26:02] So I think universal like, man, all right, we'll just be behind the scenes. We don't really care.

[00:26:07] Yeah. So that's, I think, some of that. But you're absolutely right. They just work doing the work.

[00:26:12] This does make me think of the paradox that Disney finds itself in. And Mark Woodbury said

[00:26:19] in the beginning of that clip that the attraction, when he gets asked what his favorite attraction is,

[00:26:25] his answer is always the next one. And actually, for universal, I think that's the right answer.

[00:26:34] Because he said it, our model is you come here and ride the movies.

[00:26:41] And if you're building a business model in a theme park based on movies, movie experiences,

[00:26:48] well, movies don't have necessarily a lot of longevity. There aren't these,

[00:26:53] there are a ton of films that are multi-generational. I mean, maybe the Wizard of Oz,

[00:26:57] even like back to the future, they built rides around that. That was huge in the late '80s and

[00:27:02] the '90s and probably even the 2000s. But a lot of hits today, they're not super, they don't know

[00:27:09] what back to the future is necessarily. So when you build your whole business model and riding the

[00:27:14] movies, you have to constantly be adding, because new movies are always coming out.

[00:27:18] Things are becoming irrelevant. You've got to change it a lot.

[00:27:22] Disney did not do that. Disney did not have this come ride the movies. Disney's, when you

[00:27:31] walked in, it doesn't say anything about riding the movies. There's a plaque that says,

[00:27:34] yesterday, tomorrow in fantasy. And Disney built a theme park model based on building perennial

[00:27:42] favorites that are multi-generational, that people want to go back to. So they're coming back

[00:27:50] for it. Think of attractions like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Tiki Room, Small

[00:27:56] World, Space Mountain, no IP, no relation to movies. Now, some of them do. And these have been

[00:28:04] around for 50, 60 years and people keep coming back. Disney didn't have to play the game of,

[00:28:10] "We've got to have something new every year." Yes, you should have newness. But when I think about it,

[00:28:19] they've been copying Universal for decades. Universal came around and suddenly Disney starts putting

[00:28:25] IP. I was just going to suggest this. So Disney has now been trying to play the other,

[00:28:32] the newcomers game. But they can't. It's not their model. It's not their model. And the

[00:28:41] rabid hardcore fan base like us gets upset at that when things that we like, the things that are

[00:28:48] perfect change simply because there needs to be IP in it. That's what bothers me. People

[00:28:57] goes, "Oh, well, you know why? Maybe it's really cool. Yeah, maybe it is. It's Disney. It will be

[00:29:02] done really well. Whatever it is, right?" But it doesn't need to happen simply to make a buck.

[00:29:09] I don't know. If it makes sense, then make the change. If not, don't change it.

[00:29:15] If you were to ask someone, "Where do you go to ride the movies?"

[00:29:18] You could say Epcot. Yeah. You would never have answered Epcot in 1985.

[00:29:26] You would say Epcot. You would say Hollywood Studios. Animal Kingdom now. Magic Kingdom now.

[00:29:31] They're copying Universal. And so, the problem is now, Universal doesn't have a

[00:29:39] Fox debt to service. And upcoming Hulu. Because they're under obligation to buy Hulu now,

[00:29:48] so they've got to put money towards that. Universal just has money for these parks.

[00:29:53] So, they have the ability. So, the rules of the game are being set by Universal,

[00:29:57] new, new, new. And they've got the money to do it. Disney doesn't have the money to do it,

[00:30:01] and they have to try to play this game equally. Disney has hemorrhaged Imagineers for a decade now.

[00:30:09] And guess where they all went? All of Disney's legacy Imagineers are working on this.

[00:30:14] They're working at Universal. They're on the Universal Creative team. And Disney's bringing in

[00:30:20] people to Imagineering who worked on hotels at Hilton. And so, not only does Disney not have the

[00:30:26] vision, they don't have the money, and they don't have the talent to compete. Universal is owning

[00:30:33] them because they left their business model, and now they can't compete. I want you to listen to this

[00:30:38] clip of Bruce Vaughn, who was an Imagineer who left and came back. And he was my Disney

[00:30:44] villain of last year in the year in review. Bruce Vaughn is now Chief Creative Officer.

[00:30:50] I think of Imagineering. He's come back. This is him in 2013. I want you to listen. When someone

[00:30:54] asks him about the threat,

[00:30:57] of universal creative.

[00:31:26] And it's a no one can touch us.

[00:31:28] But listen to the hubris of this guy.

[00:31:31] This is back in 2013 and in twenty thi- so this is a decade ago.

[00:31:35] Twenty thirteen he starts off he goes, oh what that Harry Potter thing.

[00:31:38] Yeah.

[00:31:39] Yeah.

[00:31:40] The amazing thing that's like blown everybody's minds and now they're even adding a third

[00:31:44] one.

[00:31:45] Then he talks about, well, it's not just it's the experience.

[00:31:48] It's the cast members.

[00:31:49] Well, blah, blah.

[00:31:50] Well, I don't think that they have the same cast members that they've had.

[00:31:54] They have they've lost a lot of them, they haven't paid them.

[00:31:57] And also the last thing he says is, take no one can touch us, bring it on, bring it on.

[00:32:03] And someone tweeted, it's today's the day.

[00:32:07] It has been brought.

[00:32:08] It's already been brought.

[00:32:10] It's here.

[00:32:11] So, you know, I don't know and now he's back at Imagineering, but he is no talent I know

[00:32:15] talented people to work with as far as I can tell.

[00:32:19] And I will say from what I from what I know, limited amount of what I know, the Imagineers

[00:32:25] are up against budget constraints.

[00:32:28] So there is a lot of what do I say?

[00:32:33] How much do I say?

[00:32:35] There's a lot of things happening that get produced through the system and at some point

[00:32:42] the budget comes through and says, no, you can't do this thing now.

[00:32:46] So I don't blame the Imagineers so much and you I think you have different information

[00:32:51] than I do, at least for out here.

[00:32:53] I blame the management of the company for mis-managing the funds and buying Hulu and

[00:33:01] buying, and buying all these things and doing layout or doing revamps of rides that don't

[00:33:07] need to be done.

[00:33:08] And instead of doing something fresh and new, you know, we have garden to the galaxy or

[00:33:13] we have a Avengers campus or something like that, we're like, okay, great.

[00:33:16] But you know, these other things could be everything that they have done could have

[00:33:21] been 10 times better.

[00:33:23] But Disney just doesn't want to allot the money for it.

[00:33:27] And that's what I don't understand.

[00:33:29] That's the weird part about the Disney parks is like they want they will take the money

[00:33:33] from the parks so they can pay off debts and do all this other stuff and buy stuff, right?

[00:33:37] Because it, you know, whenever the financials come out, everyone always talks about that

[00:33:40] money is coming from the parks and going to the rest of the company.

[00:33:44] But they don't want to invest as much as their talent is producing to put in the parks,

[00:33:53] which and I would love to know why that is.

[00:33:55] I'm sure there's a reason.

[00:33:56] I'm not saying that they're all just idiots and I know better, but I just why I would

[00:34:00] love to know, man, that's why I want to talk to Chapak.

[00:34:03] Tell me what's going on, brother.

[00:34:06] Well, so, okay, so some of what what you said, I agree with the there, there is, and I think

[00:34:13] I talked about this on the last episode.

[00:34:16] A lot of Imagineers are leaving.

[00:34:18] Yeah.

[00:34:19] So they are coming up with stuff.

[00:34:20] They are, you know, they are putting stuff together.

[00:34:23] Yeah.

[00:34:24] But so little is getting greenlit and getting and getting the okay because it's not either.

[00:34:31] This is like where Jeff Volley, the president of Walt Disney World comes in.

[00:34:34] He's not allocating money towards investment in Walt Disney World.

[00:34:39] And he's not greenlighting stuff.

[00:34:41] So Imagineers are leaving for a couple of reasons.

[00:34:45] One, their creativity is hampered.

[00:34:48] If you're only told you can play with your artists, your creative person, you can only

[00:34:52] play in the Disney IP.

[00:34:56] Whereas over go to the university, oh astronomical signs and mythology and all like they're doing

[00:35:01] all this of riding on a shooting star.

[00:35:04] That's a much broader scope.

[00:35:06] You can also work with Universal's IP if you want to, but they're letting their creative

[00:35:11] people be a little bit freer Disney, what are they doing that isn't IP?

[00:35:15] So if you're a creative person, do you even want to go work for a place that's going to

[00:35:19] put you in such a narrow scope of creativity?

[00:35:22] So that's number one.

[00:35:23] Number two, people are leaving because after a while, you want to see something that you

[00:35:29] came up with get greenlit.

[00:35:32] So why wouldn't you just go over to Universal where they're throwing money at the parks?

[00:35:35] Like, oh, I could work here and keep working on stuff.

[00:35:37] And yeah, I'll click the paycheck, but none of it's going to get made or I can go over

[00:35:40] there, click the paycheck and watch my stuff get executed.

[00:35:44] So there is a talent drain in Imagineering.

[00:35:49] I'm sure there's probably still some good ones there that are smart, but overall, it's

[00:35:55] not what it was from what I understand.

[00:35:57] I would agree.

[00:35:59] And I think, but I think what you are alluding to is that budget is a cause of a lot of this.

[00:36:05] Yeah.

[00:36:06] It is.

[00:36:07] Yeah.

[00:36:08] I mean, it absolutely is.

[00:36:09] But you know, meanwhile, I got made $31 million last year.

[00:36:13] But when they wanted to put Museum of the Weird stuff, you know, they didn't have the

[00:36:17] budget for that.

[00:36:18] It was like less than $500,000 and you're like, okay, good.

[00:36:22] This is great.

[00:36:23] Good stuff, guys.

[00:36:24] Way to go.

[00:36:25] We had our priorities are awesome.

[00:36:26] But I do like that.

[00:36:27] I mean, I am interested.

[00:36:28] We're going to take a break after this because we've been yammering.

[00:36:32] I'm interested in how the revamp of the Q for Haunted Mansion is going to go.

[00:36:37] I'm kind of excited about it.

[00:36:39] I feel like you can't, that's such an iconic thing.

[00:36:41] You can't mess it up.

[00:36:43] There's no way.

[00:36:44] It's going to be great.

[00:36:45] They're going to have a little little store like you guys have the Memento Mori store outside

[00:36:49] of the thing.

[00:36:50] I liked that shop.

[00:36:52] I'm disappointed in myself.

[00:36:53] I didn't buy anything when I was out there.

[00:36:54] So I'm interested.

[00:36:55] I'm curious.

[00:36:56] I think it's going to be cool.

[00:36:57] I just think.

[00:36:59] Universal's building theme parks, Universal built Super Nintendo World in California.

[00:37:05] They're building epic.

[00:37:06] Disney's redoing a queue.

[00:37:09] Give me a break.

[00:37:10] Well, they're doing Disneyland forward.

[00:37:11] Don't forget that.

[00:37:12] They are.

[00:37:13] They are going to do a whole third gate.

[00:37:14] They're going to do a whole thing in 40 years though.

[00:37:18] You've been hearing about Disneyland forward since 1996.

[00:37:22] Well, I mean, I will say and this is it.

[00:37:25] Then this is we're done.

[00:37:26] We're taking a break.

[00:37:27] I will say that Florida has a lot more land to work with where Disneyland had to probably

[00:37:34] jump through numerous hoops to get permitting, to acquire businesses, to demolish, to get

[00:37:39] all the space, to do all, you know, it's a lot more to deal with than it is out in Florida.

[00:37:44] You just point and go, this is where I want it.

[00:37:47] Oh, and I totally get that.

[00:37:51] But in Florida, where we have all this space, every time something we get something new,

[00:37:57] they take something away.

[00:37:59] Yeah.

[00:38:00] Like we have the blessing of size, but they keep knocking stuff down and then we get less.

[00:38:05] Like there used to be more pavilions in future world than there are today.

[00:38:10] It doesn't make sense.

[00:38:12] Put a grease pavilion in there.

[00:38:15] That's what I want.

[00:38:16] That's it.

[00:38:17] Well, this is my, this is a perfect thing.

[00:38:19] Why are they not announced?

[00:38:21] Epcot should come out today and announce new country.

[00:38:25] They haven't had a new country in World Showcase since 1988.

[00:38:29] What are you doing?

[00:38:30] This is, you can't, they can't come up with a new gate.

[00:38:32] I get it.

[00:38:33] Put it in a new country, have open expansion pads.

[00:38:37] What I would like to do, and then we're breaking, is rotate the stupid things.

[00:38:47] Rotate them out.

[00:38:48] Make that, you can make that don't, don't squint at me like I'm insane.

[00:38:52] I see you make the, you can make the Italy pavilion into anything you want.

[00:38:57] You just rearrange some stuff, you know, put, make, make false fronts or whatever.

[00:39:02] And you can just, then, but you can have different countries all the time.

[00:39:05] You can keep that newness.

[00:39:08] I don't even think you have to do that.

[00:39:09] There's empty expansion pad.

[00:39:11] There's room for like 16 countries.

[00:39:15] Damn.

[00:39:16] The UN over there.

[00:39:17] All right, we're taking a break everybody.

[00:39:18] We're going to be right back here within the, we're going to talk about news now instead

[00:39:22] of just our weird opinions, which are actually very sad and awesome.

[00:39:25] It was our opinions are good Jeremy.

[00:39:28] I think this is a good, a good rant, unlike our usual ones.

[00:39:32] This was pretty good.

[00:39:33] I liked it.

[00:39:34] I enjoyed it.

[00:39:35] Hang on everyone, we'll be right back.

[00:39:38] Hey, what's going on everybody?

[00:39:50] Thanks for hanging around.

[00:39:51] You know what?

[00:39:52] Before we do this, something I've been neglecting to do forever.

[00:39:56] And if you know me or if you communicated with me in any way, shape or form outside

[00:39:59] of the show, you know that I am notoriously like terrible at communicating certain things.

[00:40:04] If I say, oh yeah, I'll mention that on the air, but I don't.

[00:40:07] That's why I need a friggin producer or whatever.

[00:40:11] But you know, we were doing that giveaway.

[00:40:15] Was it for Christmas, I believe it was, where we gave a bunch of stuff away for Patreon.

[00:40:21] And I had a bunch of just stuff here, whatever, and I reached out to a couple sponsors and

[00:40:26] I had someone reach out to me and said, hey, I heard that you're doing this giveaway.

[00:40:32] And if you guys want to include stuff from our Etsy shop, that'd be really great.

[00:40:36] We'll give stuff away too.

[00:40:37] Oh, nice.

[00:40:38] Yeah.

[00:40:39] And so I never, I keep forgetting to mention the shop name.

[00:40:41] So go to allenchantedears.etc.com.

[00:40:44] They have some really cool 3D printed Disney artwork.

[00:40:49] They have these really neat 3D printed ears, they're like their magnetic clip on the headband

[00:40:56] magnetically.

[00:40:57] So you can swap them out really, you know, really easy.

[00:40:59] Yeah, it's really cool.

[00:41:01] And they were very nice people to offer to give our Patreon people, whatever they wanted

[00:41:07] from the store, which is awesome.

[00:41:09] That's amazing.

[00:41:10] So check them out.

[00:41:11] So thank you to those guys over there for helping us out.

[00:41:15] Speaking of Epcot stuff.

[00:41:16] Jeremy you say that oh there's really nothing new in Epcot. Well counter to this. Here we go. You ready? Yeah, Disney's fairy tale weddings unveils new Epcot spaceship Earth wedding venue. I saw this. Oh, man. I don't know why it's funny. Like if we had the money to get married at Disney and we at Disney World. Excuse me. Geez. What am I doing at Disney World and we were, you know, we cared enough. I would 100% do whatever this is.

[00:41:46] I don't even know what it is yet. And I would do it because I love spaceship earth. It's really great. Disney's fairy tale weddings and honeymoon has announced Epcot spaceship Earth as its newest venue for ceremonies and receptions at Walt Disney World.

[00:41:59] Disney says that the venue quote provides a dramatic and magnificent backdrop for a private after hours wedding ceremony and reception after hours.

[00:42:09] Surrounded by lush trees and greenery and of course the iconic spaceship Earth is fully immersive outdoor wedding venue is transformed at night by the shimmering lights on the 18 story geosphere when they're working.

[00:42:21] The enhancement of I made that part up the habits of the enhancement of a unique lighting display on the Epcot icon choreographed to music and changing color patterns creates an epic wedding experience for the happy couple and their guests and

[00:42:38] I will say they're actually using the word epic. I think, you know, responsibly here, which a lot of people don't really do like, oh, man, going to Taco Bell was epic. No, but by getting but having your wedding reception in front of

[00:42:49] spaceship earth time to the color changing to the beat of the music.

[00:42:54] That's pretty after hours. Hell yeah, dude. I wonder if you get to ride it.

[00:42:59] I think the ride's working.

[00:43:01] It's barely working during the day.

[00:43:06] You got me. I liked the idea of spaceship earth. If I was getting married there, I would demand that they use classic Epcot evening lighting.

[00:43:14] I would say, could you turn off those stupid LEDs and just give me the normal glow? Like I don't want. I don't want all that.

[00:43:20] Zip zap and pizzazz like the beauty of spaceship earth was that it hovered their mysteriously. Now it's now it looks like the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

[00:43:32] I love it. I love it. That's what I would demand and I would get it. I'm sure you would, brother. Absolutely. Sure you would.

[00:43:38] But it would send a message. Maybe I will go down there

[00:43:42] and pretend that I'm shopping around for wedding venues.

[00:43:46] Oh, is it possible to do it here but not have all those hideous lights on just to send a message?

[00:43:52] I'm sure. You know what? What if it's the way I used to look at complaints is like,

[00:43:57] what if there's a saturation point where if we get 50 complaints, we'll do something,

[00:44:01] but it stops at 49 because everyone always goes, I'm not gonna complain. Are they gonna listen to me? So,

[00:44:06] I don't know. Anyway, go ahead, Jeremy. What'd you got?

[00:44:09] He gave her forehead a drub over his dress code snub.

[00:44:14] A drub? God.

[00:44:17] I actually have a backup for this title. Do you want to hear it? Yes, I do.

[00:44:21] He couldn't dine with his cohorts because he was still wearing his swim shorts.

[00:44:27] I don't know which is better. I think they're equal. I like, I kind of like drub. Yeah, I kind of too.

[00:44:34] A South Carolina man is set to make his first court appearance next month after he was accused

[00:44:41] of slapping a teenage hostess at a Walt Disney World Resort restaurant three times in the forehead

[00:44:47] while under the influence after she refused to seat him due to the restaurant's dress code.

[00:44:54] Slapped her in the head three to the forehead three times. Oh, like not like be like tapped on her head.

[00:45:01] I don't know what this like it was. I don't know. Was it a backhand? I can't forgive this out.

[00:45:06] You're ruthless. If you're backhanding people in the forehead, like

[00:45:10] three three times in a row. It makes no sense. Yeah, John Monroe 64 was arrested and charged with

[00:45:18] battery after an altercation involving him. This is from the New York Post, by the way,

[00:45:22] because I didn't have the strength to write out two articles. So I'm reading this one to you. It's not me.

[00:45:28] I wrote my first one. The interactions fading.

[00:45:32] After an altercation involving him and a 19 year old hostess at Citrocos inside Disney's

[00:45:39] grandfather in a resort back in November, Citrocos, by the way, fantastic restaurant.

[00:45:44] But yes, you should look nice there. And you know, the dress code's not that rigid. It's not

[00:45:50] like it's white tie. Okay. Just not look like a complete idiot.

[00:45:55] Monroe is no stranger to luxury hotels as he is the vice president of hospitality sales

[00:46:02] and marketing at the prestigious sea pines resort in Hilton head, where he lives.

[00:46:07] Okay. Interesting. According to the arrest affidavit obtained by Fox 35 Orlando,

[00:46:14] deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's office responded to the resort in reference to the battery,

[00:46:20] a preliminary investigating investigation revealed that just before 9 30 p.m,

[00:46:25] a restaurant hostess was checking in a family who had a reservation of three.

[00:46:29] But Monroe was not dressed in the in accordance with the restaurant's dress code. He was wearing

[00:46:36] swim shorts and a t shirt. Citrocos website states that guests are expected to dress

[00:46:42] accordingly in a tire that respects the restaurant sophisticated and upscale aesthetic,

[00:46:47] which I don't know what else it says, but it does. It does actually explicitly prohibit swimwear.

[00:46:54] But I do think you could like, could you just say smart casual? I don't know that I need

[00:46:59] to that I have to be in accordance with the restaurant sophisticated and upscale aesthetic.

[00:47:06] Yeah. Basically fit in with our vibe dog.

[00:47:08] That's not a dress code. No, it's a black tie, white tie. 100%

[00:47:14] They are vibe checking that whoever comes in, like, okay, fit check. Let's go. Where are you at?

[00:47:19] He was told the hostess that he would not be allowed to die in with his family.

[00:47:24] He seemed to understand and he said that he would just wanted to wait with his group until

[00:47:29] they were seated and the hostess said that's fine. But then when they went to see him, he followed.

[00:47:36] Of course.

[00:47:37] Couldn't see that one coming.

[00:47:40] All right. So he follows them in, but one of the people in his party said, don't let him sit with

[00:47:45] us. He's drunk. He's under dressed. It's my birthday and I'm embarrassed. So one of these gals is with

[00:47:53] him. What's it on this teenage hostess to manage Monroe? Can you imagine one of your friends going?

[00:48:05] Yes. No, my friends would be like, Jeremy, you're out of here. It's done. We're putting you in

[00:48:11] an Uber. You had enough. Right. But instead, this person's friends just want to abandon him.

[00:48:17] You'll be on his own wherever. Yeah. Like, I don't know this person. Get rid of it.

[00:48:22] So then the hostess tells him she's like, you, you can't sit here. You have to, you're not dressed.

[00:48:30] Right. He repeatedly slapped her forehead. And then he stated her name because he was like reading

[00:48:37] it off the name tag. The hostess did not sustain any injuries and she declined medical treatment,

[00:48:42] but she did wish to pursue charges. Deputies caught up with Monroe, who they said was apparently

[00:48:47] intoxicated based on his slurred speech, glossy red eyes and constant repeating that he was going

[00:48:52] to sue Disney. I don't know what grounds. I'm standing on the ground. That's why I'm standing

[00:49:01] on the ground right here. These are the grounds. This is it. He needs some 0.0. He really does,

[00:49:07] right? He was arrested and he was released on $1,000 bond in the next morning. Someone who was

[00:49:14] back out there. God, watch your foreheads. Everybody for your helmets.

[00:49:20] Forehead Tapper. That's a weird story, man. And I, yeah, and this is the thing that poor

[00:49:26] gal probably gets paid 13 bucks or whatever. You know what I mean? To get forehead slapped

[00:49:32] by a wealthy man. Yeah. That's in non-business casual swim trunks. When we were doing our last

[00:49:43] show, Eric did a whole rundown on, it was like a tribute to Dick Nunes, you know, who just passed

[00:49:47] away a couple of months ago. Sure. And he sort of pioneered the Bermuda short, like the, you know,

[00:49:54] the Chino shorts, right? And he told a story in his memoir, I guess, about going to a really fancy

[00:50:01] place that had a dress code of a suit jacket and a tie. And Dick, like he went so far as to like

[00:50:10] revamp the dress code to allow for Bermuda shorts with a tucked in suit, you know, with a tucked

[00:50:16] in shirt and a jacket. So he's going out to dinner like this. And they're like, sir, you

[00:50:21] can't, this is like, you're not with the dress code. You're not, no, you can't, you're in shorts.

[00:50:26] You can't do it. He goes, what is the website? Or what is the, what's the dress code? Suit,

[00:50:30] jacket, shirt with a collar and a tie. I'm wearing those seat me with my party.

[00:50:35] I love this dude. Yeah. All right. Don't say another much shorts. I'm going to wear my

[00:50:41] shorts pleats and everything. I love it. Well, those pretty go. Yeah. Jeremy,

[00:50:47] a man successfully used a nearly 50 year old park ticket to gain access to Walt Disney World

[00:50:56] Resorts Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando. Matthew Abel's who has more than 600,000 followers on TikTok.

[00:51:05] I don't know why that's relevant to the, to the article at all, but I read it. So now you know,

[00:51:11] discovered the 46 year old ticket in his family home in a video, which has been viewed more than

[00:51:17] nine million times. He said it was from 1978 and was originally worth $8. Quote, it's been collecting

[00:51:25] dust since before I was born. I just assumed it was an old family keepsake until I realized that

[00:51:30] it's never been used and there is no expiration date. Wow. Yeah, this kid's like,

[00:51:35] 24, dude. I'm looking at him right now. Yeah, he's maybe his hair's weird. To settle the question of whether he had gotten a golden ticket or was being delusional, Abel said he flew to Orlando to see if he could gain entry to the amusement park. Imagine having money to do that. No real job in order to just on a whim. I'm just gonna fly to Orlando just to see if I can get in a Disney world with this ticket. Just cuz I don't know why not. Well, you don't have to be unemployed to do this. He

[00:52:05] could just go on a Friday. Imagine having the money to do it. Anyway, he's $200 like, but he's talking. Yeah, that'd be nice. Yeah, I mean, that'd be nice. The video shows Abel's approaching guests relations with the vintage ticket after a worker stamped void all over the ticket and left the booth. Guy said he felt nervous. However, the Disney worker returned with a yellow pass, ranting him access to the park. Entry for an adult currently starts to run

[00:52:35] $109 for a day pass, adjusting for inflation. The 1978 ticket would have a current value of $38.

[00:52:45] So that shows you how that the price of a Disney parks ticket is not keeping pace with inflation, it is far exceeding.

[00:52:53] Far exceeded it. Yeah. And then of course, Disney World says it honors all unexpired tickets as a matter of policy, which is probably the reason why

[00:53:01] you have three days to use a ticket and they have all these timelines on it because stuff like this can happen. You don't want to, Disney, they only made $8 on this kid or whatever. I don't know.

[00:53:17] Well, that's cool. I'm glad that they honored it and they should. I mean, absolutely should. Yeah, I thought it was pretty neat. I mean, that's a good good on him for doing it.

[00:53:28] Yeah. And I must have been talking the talk of the back room there for the day. You know, check out this old ticket we got. Yeah, cool stuff. Alright, Jared, is that it?

[00:53:38] Well, I suppose I should tell you one thing. Oh, just one thing. Okay. All right. Hold on. Let me adjust. Okay. Let me, let me get comfortable in this seat. Should I have special music playing? What's going on here?

[00:53:53] Well, we talked about it before the show and I have to leave in depth. Oh, man. So we've had a good run though. Jeremy, we have had a good run. We started in 2019. We did.

[00:54:10] I think so. God, it feels like it feels like longer ago than that. So we did start feeling like that's it. We did start basically right before the pandemic slapped us on the face, huh?

[00:54:21] Yes. That's wow. That's wild. So whoops, I know you told me a little bit about, but do you want to tell the listeners or?

[00:54:30] Yeah, I mean, you know, it's just, it's a lot to keep up with. And you know, I think it's been something that's been on my mind for a little while.

[00:54:43] And I'm not, I'm not, you know, I have a job. And you know, today I think I was working all day. And then I was at six o'clock. I'm like, okay, well, now I have to start writing stories for in depth.

[00:54:59] And the thing is that was great and the pandemic kept me going in depth was like what I looked forward to during those times of lockdown.

[00:55:10] And because oftentimes, after the end of the show, we would sit for almost half an hour, sometimes 40 minutes, just yeah, jawjacking and having a couple drinks. It was nice. It was good. Yeah, it was good. But, you know, we do record quite late.

[00:55:25] I'm back traveling again. And the thing is, when you're passionate about Disney, that can fuel you and it doesn't matter that you have other things going on because you're like, I'm excited to talk about this. Yeah.

[00:55:39] Right. But, you know, I think it's probably become evident that I have lost a lot of my interest and passion for the parks.

[00:55:48] I go sometimes, but I, you know, I was saying to you before, right, I went to Epcot and I walked on and I would left after 30 minutes. I was like, I don't even want to be here.

[00:55:59] I just don't have it anymore. And in order to be able to do a job and then also do this, I needed the energy of that passion for the park.

[00:56:09] And all of that. And I don't have it anymore. And so I'm sort of coasting on fumes doing this. And I want to be, I want to want to do it. And I don't want it to be like, now I have to go record.

[00:56:19] And then also, you know, I don't want to completely part ways with you guys. And I, in the, in the year and review, I said that I wanted to, or no, in my letter to Santa.

[00:56:31] And I care. I committed to doing more spectro time segments. Yes. And so my thought is that if I can pull away from this, maybe that would give me a bit more time and energy to focus on because I do still have a passion for music.

[00:56:45] And I could put my energies to that and come on the main show a few times this year so that I'm not as a complete stranger, but I can't do both anymore.

[00:56:53] I understand. I love you and I will miss you. I miss you too, man. I love you as well. I think it won't be the same, whatever happens. Maybe I just won't.

[00:57:02] Maybe that they'll just go away. I mean, I don't need to. We don't really need to do it. It was, you know, it's not something we started doing. So, you know, it's not like an inherent part of the channel. Although maybe it is. Who knows? I don't know.

[00:57:13] I don't know what the future will hold for in depth, but you know, I do want to say that's what I want to say.

[00:57:23] Yeah. You know what? I totally understand. I get it.

[00:57:28] I can't say that I don't get it because I do. I don't know. I understand. And if I was in your position, I would do the same thing. I mean, you know, you don't want to have your -- what am I trying to say?

[00:57:45] The hard part about being a fan of something is if you sort of make it your identity on your free time. And that maybe is a little more, you know, dramatic than I mean.

[00:57:58] But when you really get involved in it and you're looking into it and you're researching it above and beyond your normal interest level, then it becomes sort of work.

[00:58:09] And it becomes a thing to do. And then it becomes a chore eventually, especially when you lose a little bit of respect or perspective or interest in that thing.

[00:58:20] But you still have a commitment. The math doesn't math at that point. So, yeah, at some point, you have to figure it out. And I'm sorry that you landed on the wrong decision.

[00:58:32] But maybe one day, you know, but if this leads to more spectrum time segments, then I think it's all fine.

[00:58:43] Great. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Who knows what the future holds, you know. I have to take a break from it.

[00:58:51] So. I understand, baby. And I don't want to come on and be negative. I don't want to come on and be angry.

[00:58:57] And I do. I suppose that means that there is some level of passion still. But the problem is like, it's almost resentment now as opposed to like, oh, I wish they would do this.

[00:59:08] It's like, now I'm like, they're not doing it. And, you know, I mean, I can probably won't ever.

[00:59:13] No, I just feel. And yeah, so even, and that's the thing is like, when I'm in Florida, even I don't go. I don't want to go over there. I'd rather do anything.

[00:59:27] So it's just changed. Yeah, man. Yeah. Maybe you'll become with it. Maybe you'll become a universal boy.

[00:59:35] It's I don't think so because I don't really love it there. Yeah. It was really my place. I think I'm going to just become a person who experiences more of the rest of the world.

[00:59:48] Psych, I'm waiting for the psych. I'm kidding. Yeah. Well, look, man, we'll miss you. And anytime you want to come back and read some news, you can absolutely. And then maybe we'll have to do what it like.

[01:00:02] You know, I feel like sometimes these news people, they leave, but then they do like a special, a new special or a special report. I'll be like, I'll be like, what was their name? I can't. Well, it's a terrible. I don't know.

[01:00:14] Yeah, it'd be good to get you back on, especially if there's something cool that happens at Epcot or something that you want to talk about. Come back. Yeah.

[01:00:21] To any show anytime doesn't matter what it is. I feel like Meredith Vieira does a special once in a while when she left the today show. I'm like Connie Chung.

[01:00:29] I'm going full Connie Chung. So we're going to do one more, right? Next, the next episode will be my finale. Okay. Next episode will be your finale. Okay. Let's do it.

[01:00:41] We'll close out the month. I think there'll be something to talk about at the end of February. Yeah, I think that's good, man. And now I got to figure out how I can put together a best of tribute for you.

[01:00:51] But I don't know. I need to go. I need a nap. If it doesn't involve, it doesn't get in the way of my naps. I, you know, I'll do it.

[01:01:00] Yeah, as your passion with naps are making best of reals.

[01:01:03] Little call me. Little call me, man. You know, I don't know. What do you want from me? Anyway, Jeremy, in all seriousness, man. Yeah, it's disappointing. You told me today and I was bummed out.

[01:01:14] Well, like I said, I understand it. Like some of that. It's interesting when you, when you totally understand the, the side of the person who's, you know, leaving because I'm used to it by now. Everyone leaves me.

[01:01:25] Yeah, I'm not like angry about it or, you know, I just get it. I get it. Yeah. Totally understand. And while you know, we'll miss you. So.

[01:01:34] Sure. There's that. Yeah. Oh, sure. All right, Jer. Love you, man. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Yeah. All right, guys. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it. And until next time.

[01:01:46] Punching. Punching. Punching. Punching.