Disney announced that they will introduce a Walt Disney audio animatronic, which will rotate with the existing Abraham Lincoln animatronic in the Opera House. The Walt animatronic will be part of a new exhibit, though specific details about its operation remain limited.
The controversy stems from concerns that Walt Disney would not have wanted to be represented as an animatronic in the park. His granddaughter, Joanna Miller, has been vocal against it, and some former Imagineers have echoed similar sentiments, citing Diane Disney Miller's alleged opposition to such representations of her father.
The Walt Disney Family Museum, representing the Miller family, has given tacit approval for the Walt Disney audio animatronic. They acknowledged Diane Disney Miller's potential opposition but confirmed the family's overall support for the project.
D23 used a reservation system where attendees could select multiple activities across different days. However, many attendees were disappointed as they often received only one or two reservations despite selecting numerous options. The system aimed to manage high demand but left some fans feeling shortchanged.
The Honda Center hosted major presentations, and attendees were transported via buses from the convention center. While some found the process smooth, others experienced delays, with travel times taking up to 45 minutes due to heavy traffic. The setup provided more space but required significant time investment for attendees.
Tips included booking activities like the luau and Auntie's Beach House 180 and 90 days in advance, respectively. Dining reservations should be made 30 days out at midnight Hawaii time. Additionally, renting DVC points through services like DVCRental.com can significantly reduce costs compared to direct bookings.
Aulani is family-friendly due to its extensive amenities for children, including safe water areas, Auntie's Beach House activities, and child-specific dining options like bento boxes at the luau. The resort also offers a high level of service and safety, with lifeguards present throughout the property.
Autograph lines at D23 were challenging, with long wait times and limited availability due to high demand. Some celebrities, like Anika Noni Rose, arrived late, causing delays and frustrations for fans. The reservation system and standby lines were often overwhelmed, leading to mixed experiences for attendees.
You're listening to Mousetalgia for the week of August 18th, 2024. Hang on to them hats and glasses, cause this here is the wildest podcast in the wilderness. This is Mousetalgia. Carpe Kingdom, seize the magic. ♪
Welcome to Nostalgia Gear, a podcast about Disneyland, Disney history, and living a Disney life. I think that's the expo. Well, the expo.
The Disney fan event, ultimate fan event. That's living a Disney life, right? We go into something that's the biggest ultimate fan event. If you survive, you're living it. Some people don't come home from that. They're not. Then they're not living any kind of life anymore. So we're going to talk about all kinds of great stuff today. But first, I would like to welcome Kristen back to the show. Kristen. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to hear about your expo experience.
As I did not go and have no regrets. But I'm really excited because I did like to see the photos you posted. You always post so many great photos. So I'm interested to ask you a few little tidbits here and there about your expo experience. Well, that's great because I'm glad to happy to talk about it. And I'm also excited to hear about your recent trip to Alani because, you know, our listeners know I've talked about this many times that Alani.
We've done a few Alani trip reports. I now become an owner of Alani DVC. Oh, my gosh. I'm so jealous. I'm so jealous. But are you? Because there are pros and cons. We have just sold some DVC, so I can talk a little bit about some of the pros and cons of DVC ownership.
But mostly I want to hear your most recent thoughts. It's definitely a pro when you have someone to sell you their points. Thank you, Jeff, for my next trip. We'll talk all about that in a little bit here. But before we start, let me thank our sponsor, MEI Mouse Fan Travel. Do you know, I could not find Becky Menken at that expo anywhere. Every time I went to Mouse Fan Travel's booth, she was off doing something important.
That woman is important. She lives about 20 minutes from me and I can never find her here either. So she's a woman of mystery. She is always around. So I did not get to see my own sponsor at the Expo. I did try, but I saw their big, amazing, fancy booth. So I can assure you that MEI Mouse Fan Travel is still out there doing amazing service for Disney fans. So if you want to take a Disney trip,
anywhere in the world, Disney Cruise, Adventure by Disney, anything Disney related, go to mousefantravel.com. Get yourself a no obligation quote and see what they can do for you.
And can I give you a little word about them? Because we are on the cusp of booking a cruise for next year. And let me tell you, our agent, Jennifer, who's amazing, is so patient because we are the worst clients in the whole world. Like a million questions. And then she doesn't hear back from us for like three weeks. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, can you give us the prices again? Oh, wait, we want to go this different month. And she is still kind. She's still responsive. Like I'm annoyed with myself at this point. And Jennifer is still friendly and helpful. So if you are like me and like,
super flip flop and then wait, rush, wait, rush. MEI will, they'll still love you. Yeah. So don't be afraid. Absolutely. Uh,
They will still love you. And I'm sure they're accustomed to flippy floppy clients, Kristen. So you're probably not the first. But I'm super I'm super annoying. I'm so sorry, Jennifer. All right. She's amazing. So but they were at the expo along with all kinds of other like special guests. And we're going to talk about this a little bit. I do. I will say I plan to have at least one more expo show after this. I want to get a variety of viewpoints. I have a friend who's a cosplayer who was at the expo. I want to get her on the show to talk about it. You know, I want to get a few. Which one was she? Oh, she was Wendy.
Okay, I didn't see that, but I saw some humdinger costumes. Holy cats. Oh, yeah. So I'm hoping to get a few different perspectives on the show over the next couple weeks. Okay.
but we're starting here and now. So Kristen, let's start with the perspective of someone who stayed home. Well, well, I expect your expertise to be on Alani, but also certainly you've heard some of the news that came out of the expo. You couldn't hardly be a Disney fan without having heard some of the news that came out. Let's start. Let's start with the charcuterie. All right, Kristen. Um,
The question, kind of the conversation on a lot of Disney fans' hearts and minds right now, especially online and especially Disneylanders. You know, there's some hot stuff going on right now. So can you bring everyone up to speed? What are we going to talk about?
Well, one thing I was, I think I texted you right away about when I saw the announcement was the changes coming to Disneyland with great moments with Mr. Lincoln. So they shared at the expo that they are going to have a Walt Disney audio animatronic, showed a picture of that
Audio animatronic said it's kind of rotating in some way with Lincoln, not a ton of details, but basically that Walt is coming back to the opera house and robot form. And boy, how do the people have opinions on that? Boy, howdy, did they, um, uh,
And let's call it in audio animatronic form. Yes, they're robots. You're right, Kristen. But let's... It is what it is. Let's call it what it... Well, and what it is is an audio animatronic. So hopefully... Okay. I presume... I'm guessing Garner Holt will have to do with this. That'd be nice. So maybe it's going to be a... Well, if he does, it will be a high quality, amazing animatronic. However, let me say something about robot humans. They are...
At best, at best, highest quality audio animatronic, 15% realistic, 85% plastic moving machine. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, they are not in any way, shape, or form... They're not people. People. They don't move like people. Thank goodness. I mean, not yet. Yeah. I mean, they don't move like people. They don't look like people. They don't act like people. So...
But they are their own art form, right? But in their own art form as audio animatronics, they keep getting cooler and weirder and better and different, right? Yeah. So, okay. So let's break this down a little bit. Can you present some opinions that you've heard, like the perspective? Yeah. So I think that the main one I have been noticing is Joanna Miller, his granddaughter, is like very, and she's always been very vocal about lots of things in Disney life. Yeah.
Has come out very strongly saying, like, Grandpa wouldn't have wanted this. Please don't make my grandpa a robot. Like, she is very much against it. She's one family member, right, who has been very vocal. I haven't seen too many other things. I've seen some Imagineers, former Imagineers, which you take that as it is, right? Like, I don't know their capacity, but they were Imagineers who said things like,
I knew Diane Disney Miller, who said she never wanted her father in the park. I worked with people who said Walt never wanted to be involved. So I've heard those types. That's the main pushback I've heard is from his granddaughter, some former Imagineers, and then just the crowd at large. So let me ask you a couple of questions. Okay. The second one is kind of a big one. So I'll start with the first one. But they're both kind of...
Like, it could go. We could talk about this probably for the whole hour. So let's try not to do that. But here's my first question. No. Okay. Did Walt Disney show disrespect to Abraham Lincoln by turning him into a robot?
No. And he put his name on the marquee outside. So there's that. He put his name while Disney like you put his own. Yeah, it was Disneyland. I mean, Disneyland. Right. It's his name. Oh, you mean you mean on Disneyland? Like he's not that afraid. Yeah. Like I mean, he named the park after himself. OK, so. So, OK, well, that was actually way more concise of an answer I thought you would give. So then let me ask you the second question, which is a little bit more. Well, no.
Okay. Wait, no, I should ask you the same back. Did he disrespect Lincoln by putting him in the park? Well, so I don't think so, but I have heard. So I have heard an argument, which kind of to answer this question, which is, well, Abraham Lincoln was already.
Largely non-photographed. There are famous photographs of Lincoln, but photography was like a new burgeoning art form. And is now larger than life. So he was already kind of a mythic personality when Walt Disney celebrated him. So that is kind of a distinction you can make. Although you could also say Walt Disney, to some degree or not, is also a mythic kind of personality at this point. My bigger question for you is this. Mm-hmm.
Do we care? Listen carefully. And I'm not talking about Joanna. I've met her. I don't know her personally, but I've met her and seen her at many, many Disney events. She goes to the Waltz Barn a lot over at Griffith Park, and she's around, right? Yeah. In the community. So not her important memories of her grandfather notwithstanding, because of course she's going to have strong opinions about
But like from people that say, well, Walt wouldn't have wanted this. Do we care? I mean, seriously, do we care? I hear what you're saying.
I heard you saying, and maybe even a bigger question is Jeff, should we care? Okay. Like that's a better, it might be a better way to put it. Um, like then do we care? Um, yeah. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, should we, is it really this big of a thing? I don't know. So I, so personally, like this news came out and at first I was like, first I didn't realize they're going to keep Lincoln. And I was upset. Cause I feel like,
Lincoln, come on now. It's Lincoln. Yeah, there's me and a handful of people in there, but it's still Lincoln, and I think he should stay. And then I heard, okay, Lincoln gets a stay. I'm like, whew, Lincoln is safe. He's not getting kicked out of this theater. So that made me feel a lot better. And then I felt like, oh, what's going on? The points you made, right? Audio animatronics, as amazing as they are, they never look right. Maybe Walt didn't want it this way. His granddaughter, former Imagineers, X, Y, and Z have said this.
And then I, so I kind of milled this over my head for a day or two. And then I had this moment where I thought like, so our daughter is nine, Calla. And she is aware of who Walt Disney is because she also knows things like who Xtensio is and Thoreau Ravenscroft because she has a parent who was a Disney podcaster. Right. So, I mean, this is like in her, but I thought about her friends and,
And that age group and maybe a little older and even a little younger. And how who Walt Disney was as a man, I think is fading as generations go by. Right. Like to you and me.
We're Disney history people, so it's very important to us. And I think we were closer to his actual life. But as the next generations get further and further away, I think there is something really valid about having a presence of Walt and a history of Walt in the parks because Walt was magical, right? Like, I don't care any way you slice it. And I know he was a person and I know he's a businessman and no one is perfect, right? But he still, through those old Disneyland TV shows, is
through just the idea of who Walt was, he brings an element of magic and wonder to Disney parks. And I think there is something to be said about helping younger people have access to that magic. Okay. That's fair. Um, I would never be counted among any people who said like, we should take Walt out of the parks. He's irrelevant anymore. So I agree with what you said. Um,
And, you know, I have also never been really in the camp of don't change Disneyland, which some of this Walt never wanted to be in the park conversation I'm hearing online is a little bit get off my lawn. You never change Disneyland. There's some overlap that I can't ignore, which I just don't subscribe to. So I will throw a little bit of fuel into the fire here.
So I was talking to the Walt Disney Family Museum representatives at the expo literally the day after this announcement was made. And it went so fast. And so the Walt Disney Family Museum, as far as I know, speak on behalf of the Family Foundation, which comes from the Miller camp. Right. That was when I started the Walt Disney Family Museum. The part of the family that is represented via the Family Foundation is the Millers. Right. So.
Walt Disney Family Museum told me, and I said, can I repeat this on the air? And I was told yes, in no uncertain terms, that the family...
I don't remember if the word. So now I said in uncertain terms, but I don't remember the verbiage, which I'm kind of I'm kind of sad I don't. But the family is on board with the Walt Disney audio animatronic. Now, whether that was fully supportive or passively OK or tacitly approving. Yeah, I don't remember the actual words they used. However, I believe where they used was has approved that the family has approved the use of Walt Disney's animatronic.
likeness as an audio animatronic in Disneyland for this new upcoming deal. And then some Imagineers have kind of, I think, kind of softly mentioned there's some support from the family, but they aren't really making a big push of that. There's been another Disney mentioned out there that has said some positive things, but the museum telling me this
In my opinion, kind of indicates the Miller family, which I guess is Chris. Well, I don't want to start putting names to this because I don't know because I didn't ask enough questions because I was not talking about this, but I wish I had now. The Disney Museum is has told me and I could they said I could repeat this, that the family has given their name.
They're OK to this. And they also said they did say with the with the commentary, they said, we acknowledge that Diane had some things to say about the use of her father and she probably would not have liked this. So they acknowledge that. But at the same time, there's there's at least tacit approval from the family. So that's what I heard. Yeah.
directly from the Walt Disney Family Museum. And I said, can I say this on the air? And they said yes. So whether or not... You know, though, I'm guessing that Diane probably also would not have wanted to sell her dad's mustache in the park, which they also did. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not the first time Disneyland has done some questionable things with Walt's image. Do you know how much that mustache was auctioned for at Van Eaton Auctions? Like, they sold one of those mustaches for, I think it was well over $100. Did they? Yeah. Like...
I mean, come on, people. Like, where was the pushback when the mustaches came out? Because to me, that's like $1,000.
A thousand times worse than like an audio animatronic telling his life, like his facial hair. Well, OK, just so people are listening, saying what the what? Like they sold costume fake mustaches and called it Walt's mustache. And it was really funny. Yeah. And I bought one immediately. I should have bought 10, but I bought one and I haven't. Did you ever see someone wearing one? No, no one ever wore that. I mean, how would you know? It's just a cartoon mustache. I mean, it's just a Halloween. I don't know.
Because I would know and I hope that the day that the new wall thing opens at the opera house, you wear that mustache. Or they give them away. For opening day, they should give them away. Copyright. A free mustache. What would Dave say? Copyright. No. So, yes.
They have done questionable things in the past. You're right. So this is not the first and will not be the last. However, so I guess our conversation doesn't have to. It sounds to me like you are not super since you heard that they're not taking out Lincoln all the way. You're not super whipped up about this. And in fact, you might think it's good for the next for the alpha generation coming up.
Yeah, I think I'm kind of at the wait and see, you know, I mean, like, obviously, I'm not going to stop it. And a couple of people rumbling around on Facebook aren't going to either. So and, you know, and we know some of the Imagineers who are working on it, and they are brilliant artists, you know, and I'm very respectful of Walt and the Disney legacy. So I'm sure they're going to do an amazing job. So I'm just at the wait and see point, like, you know.
We have to wait, wait and see. And then I'll have things to say about it. Yeah, I am at the I this does not offend me point. However, I will say I fully expect it to look like a plastic robot, not any kind of human being at all. I've never seen an auto animatronic that even works.
slightly could fool a person into thinking this is a human being. Right. Having said that, like I said at the beginning, like it's its own art form that I can completely admire and respect. Right. So like that captain or the auctioneer,
Like, that's an amazing audio animatronic and the way it moves and the costume and the presence it has and the voice. Right. Like, even though it does not look like a human being, it still has, like, an amazing presence and it's cool. Right. So in their world, like, I admire audio animatronic works and what they do. For sure. But they're not convincing humans. And Walt Disney being. But are they trying to be, though, do you think? Well, I don't know up until now. But now that they're making Walt Disney, who conceptualized audio animatronics into one. Yeah.
It's a little bit weird, right? So I will say there's that little bit of weirdness to me, the whole meta all around. But we'll see. All right. Well. Yeah. It's a wait and see. It's a wait and see. All right. Get your mustaches though, ready people. Here you leave today to hear a podcast from the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Mousetalgia. Carpe diem. The magic.
Well, let's talk about the expo a little bit. So now. Yeah. So we can talk about some of the announcements. I'm not I'll tell everyone out there right now. There've already been 100 podcasts out there that the night of the announcements had to tell you what all the announcements are. I could care less about talking to presenting you news that everyone. Yeah. Tell you, like, just go online and, you know, you'll find 100 YouTube videos of different things. I want to talk about the impact, though. Yeah.
Yeah, and I want to ask you about your experience because, honestly, I feel like just from a, you know, 100-yard distance, can you guys just, like, pick a lane on how you run your expo? Like, every year it's something different, right? How they're selling tickets and dividing things up. And I just, like, pick a lane, expo people. It's a little bit weird. So I want to know, like, is the new lane, is it a better lane? Is it a, like, worse lane? Or is it just different lane? Like, how was your experience versus other years? So it's mostly just different. But I will say...
Partly it's hard to compare because exponentially the tickets sell faster and faster. Right. So the first few expos, you could get Sunday tickets up till Sunday. Right. Then they started selling out by Friday or Saturday. They'd sell out the whole thing. And now it all sells out in a few minutes. Right. So the whole idea of conventions and meeting celebrities has also increased.
in the other non-Disney world has become a big industry, right? So the Expo, we're going to call it the Expo instead of the ultimate fan event, the ultimate Disney fan event presented by Visa. Yeah.
I guess we could call it that. So D23, the ultimate fan event presented by Visa compared to like. No, it's the expo. Okay. Compared to like Comic-Con, people just want to do it now. It's not no longer that you can count on like, oh, maybe I can get a ticket later. Like you got to even kind of get lucky to get it. Be ready. So having said that, ticket sales, I believe, went pretty smoothly. Like I didn't hear widespread problems. Sure. This person had that problem. This person had that problem, but not widespread problems. Yeah. The biggest problem was I didn't get a ticket.
But that's nothing Disney can really control if tons of people want tickets. Cool. So you couldn't get one? Like you tried and failed? No, no. I'm saying the biggest problem I heard was I couldn't get a ticket. Oh, you heard. Yeah. Well, and I saw too on your Facebook, you had like a little bit of a scuttlebutt going on about like, I only got one of my selections. Okay. So that's a different story. So hold on. That's a different story. Okay. But I'll tell you about that in a second. Just to put a bow on what I'm saying, like...
More people want to go now than they have tickets for. Once that happens, nothing's going to be making everyone happy if they don't get a ticket. Like no way of selling tickets will make the person that didn't get a ticket happy. Right. Yeah. So they've reached that point. So it's going to just have to be. And I think they somehow recognize that was coming. And that's probably why they moved everything off the big market.
the big shows offsite to add more space. Yeah. But it's still sold out in minutes. So it's a little weird to me. That's crazy. That the expo's cachet changed over the course of a couple of years. Disney must've done some pretty good research into what to expect to know in advance. Like we better ship our big events across town. Hmm.
But they didn't. It seems to have given a little more space to the expo. It was still probably all those great nostalgia reviews. They were like, people are like that. The expo is the place to be. Thanks. Well, it was still a very crowded, but it was never congested. So however many tickets they sold to sell it out.
Hopefully they won't go much further, but it was not unmanageable. That's good. So, yeah, the thing about the reservations, they should have set expectations because they asked you to choose reservations for each.
like four times, three different days, like, you know, like 12 different sets of reservations. Okay. So you kind of assumed you'd get more than the free banner at animation just once. Do you know what I mean? Like, because you're choosing from all these amazing high profile people
If you have 12 things, you figure you get like three. Well, I don't know. I mean, I think a lot of people figured and probably I mean, I kind of knew like you're not going to get something for every slot, but I probably thought you'd get a couple every day. Yeah. Oh, OK. Like two things to do a day because you did pay, you know, a couple hundred dollars. A lot of money to do this. So, yeah.
My next reaction, once I found out, almost everyone got one or two things a day. Some people got three. Rare. You got one a day yourself? Most people got one or two. I got two. I got the Music of Marvel presentation on Friday, and I got pick up a free banner on Sunday. Or penned. Oh, but not two a day, just two total. Mm-hmm. Two total. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. So that was quite a...
difference in what i expected versus what happened and i think most people had a little bit of shock like yeah but so then i quickly pivoted to they must have only given away a certain number of seats like there's no way they could have possibly like given away capacity because that would be that would mean most people have no shot of anything what they wanted yeah or anything um
And my unofficial observation on that is mixed. It feels like their estimation of how many tickets they should give away for the in-person things like autographs, signings and photo ops was woefully high in the sense of people just like to sit and talk. Right. And so you never like some of the.
Well, we'll talk about that in a minute. Right. So but in general, like, I feel like they only reserved maybe a third of the big giant arena for those shows. So a lot of people still had a chance to get into the big in the standby line. Yeah. In the standby line. That's good. So it kind of depended on what you want to do. I think for the smaller presentations, like the archive stage and things like that, I think if you lined up an hour early, maybe you probably had a good chance in the standby line.
So that's not bad. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so things were manageable. And how was it actually getting in in the morning? Cause I just had these moments where I was like, Oh yeah, I don't want to get up at three 30 and sit outside for like four hours and then not get in. Yeah. So if you still, how did that go? If you still are a shopping kind of person, um, then you still were whatever you, however early you wanted to get there. I think the earliest they would let you line up is four 30. I think something like that. Um, okay.
Go for it, you know, but generally speaking, we got up at about 630 in order to get in line by 730. Now, I can't even remember what we did. I think it was shooting to go through security by 730 or maybe it was 730.
Anyway, like security was not a problem. And we got all the way to the big giant. Remember the big giant building at the end of Convention Center that they'd line you up in? Like we'd get all the way down there and in that building before we'd have a line. So I never waited more than an hour and 45 minutes to get in. That's not bad. Because it opened at 9, right? And so we would be there by 7.30 or so. And then we would just get on the floor within 15 minutes of it opening. Because usually that part of the line was not near the front. So you'd be...
Maybe 15 minutes to get all the way through the queues of people to get in. But basically, you'd get in when it opened. Right. So as long as you weren't trying to be first in some booths line to buy their 25 limited edition, probably you're fine. You're OK. OK, good. And how are the lines for things like shopping? Because I remember, like, who wants to stand for our line? Yeah. So they use virtual queue like Disneyland did for Rise of the Resistance. OK.
Was that her?
And one of them was at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. So... Oh, okay. Not reservations, but times that you could try to get a reservation. Yeah, time to, like, get your... Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you've got to commit to 4 o'clock in the morning. You had to want it. It still went in really quickly at 4 in the morning in a moment. Okay. But I do suspect a bigger percentage of people that tried...
well, by default, a bigger percentage had to get like everyone. It had to be a lower number of people trying to get a shopping reservation at four in the morning than at one. Right. So,
So, right. You think so? Well, I don't know. I'm just guessing. Did you always get one when you wanted to? We never got one. Oh, until the end, the last day. So then they started. They started. Yeah, we started tried every time. Oh, you tried it for and couldn't do it. No, we never tried it for. We tried it one. I tried it for the last day and I got into the marketplace, although the marketplace finally did open up to the public around noon or one. So we could have got in there anyways. I think everywhere except maybe a couple pin places. Yeah.
did open up on the last day to whoever wants to come in. There still was, like, even through the end, there still was, like, a 45-minute hour queue for most of the big, fancy, like, the Mickey's and Glendale's and some of the pin stuff. They pretty much handled it like how they had to handle it, right? Just too many people want to shop for them to...
Really get you in there. And that's just the nature of it. You can't do it all. Yeah. So, but we did get to go into the main D23, like the main D23 shopping place. Oh, good. What'd you buy? Anything good? Well, I got, so they are celebrating the 70th anniversary of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
I love that. I showed you a couple of things they had. They had this really cool set of two figurines of Ichabod on the horse and then the Headless Horseman. I did not get it because it was large, and I just thought, what in the world? Where are we going to put this? I loved it to death. Right. But I didn't get that. But I did get the giant leather Letterman's jacket with the big Headless Horseman on the back. Oh, stop. Super cool. You did? Yeah.
When are you going to wear that? Never, never. It's going to be a collectible. Like, it was... Jeff. It's cool. I wore it all the way home because we couldn't pack it anywhere. But, um...
And it's a little big for me. I got extra large because I can wear extra large, although it is a little droopy on me. But also because it's a little more. What if you have a sweater on? Well, yeah. But it also it's a little bit more sellable as a collectible extra large, I think. So so I got an extra large. My gosh. I mean, if you see this thing, you've seen them, right? If you look at it. Yeah. It looks like a collectible, right? It's just pretty amazing. Yeah. Jacket. So I still feel like it's funny, though, because like.
I don't know. Is Toad ever that hot? I mean, he is. He's a hot seller to some, but emphasis on some. Yeah. So, well, anyway. So they were celebrating that with some merch, a water bottle. Nice. A couple of things, a purse and ears, really cool ears. Yeah.
Yeah, I saw those. They're for girls, so I didn't think I should buy some, although the cool ears are coming up. How do you know they're for girls? Well, actually, you make a good point, mostly because it's a headband, but I guess a headband can be for anyone. No. We had this conversation when we were at Alani, because Kurt was like, gonna wear these ears, and I was like,
I think girls wear ears. And then we had this whole thing where he was like counting the number of men versus women he saw in ears. And then finally he just was like, I'm being me and I'm putting my ears on, which is how it should be, right? Who cares what your gender is? Just wear the ears. Yeah. But I think it's just funny how you say like they were girly. Well, I don't mean that necessarily the style of them looked any sex at any gender related. Like, you know, the style of them was cool graphic design. Um,
I just mean that they traditionally make the headbands for women because of women's hairdos. Like, that's why... You know what I mean? Instead of selling the big ear hats, which many women can't wear over their hairdos, they started making these headbands. Do you know what I'm talking about? You know exactly what I'm talking about. I hear your point, but... No, I know what you're talking about, but that's not why I thought they made them like that. I just thought it was cheap, because it was a little plastic thing. Well, it's not... Well...
Whoever invented the Mickey ears calling. I do not think it was price related. I think it was hair related. Like they're easier to wear.
And generally speaking, men's hair isn't the big problem with wearing ears. It's usually women's hairdo. You know, I'm not I don't have any intention on wading into any. I mean, I'm not trying to disparage any gender here. I just know literally talking about the history of how things happened. Right. So, yeah. So that's why I said they're for women because everyone should wear ears. So, you know.
They're not caps. I just thought it was interesting to hear you say that because we just had this conversation recently. Oh, okay. You and Kurt about the Disney. Yeah, it's a new awareness we have about ears. Well, I never thought really about the Alani bands wearing them. They're almost not even headbands. It's just almost like an invisible wire. You know what I mean? Oh, like the ones you make there? Yeah, the ones you make there. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, but I think he had some...
There were those, but then he had some other ones. And I was like, yeah, it was a whole thing. Anyway. We sorted it out for our family. So hear me clearly. Everyone should wear ears. I recognize that anyone can wear a headband with ears. Everyone should wear ears. I was just talking about historically, you know, I think they made them because of women's hairdos. That's all I'm saying. So anyway. All right. So they were those and they were cool, but they were 30 some dollars. And I don't know. So I ended up getting the jacket. The jacket was actually...
remarkably cheap. I think it was a hundred and what's that? Like $160 or something for a big giant, remarkably cheap, a big giant leather letterman's jacket. Like their hoodies are like $80. Okay. Anyway, it was remarkably cheap for a big giant leather. I have something to tell you later. Okay. You can tell me later. Okay. So that's enough about that. That's talking about all this time. Um,
So shopping was fine. So to answer your question and move on, it's just a different way of doing it now. It worked fairly well, but they'll change it all up again next time. Right. But pick a lane. What I don't know is if the Honda Center deal was what they would consider a giant success or not. It sounds like it was. Like, I'm not hearing a lot of like, oh, it was horrible.
Like a lot of people took an hour or more to get back, but they just accepted it because obviously it's going to take that long to get out of here. Right. I was not willing to do that. So I, um, I went to the, you know, when I was trying to get out of the part, the films and entertainment panel, I, I decided to leave a little bit early. I just didn't, I couldn't, I was tired. I'm an old guy now. I just can't be in the middle of this, the thick of this at, you know, 11 o'clock at night.
So I left about, well, right before David Blaine did his card trick, whenever that was. So I left and I got right on the bus and got right back. So there was no hassle for me. Although, like I said, it did take me 45 minutes to get from the convention center to the Honda Center in an Uber. Poor guy. We chipped him really well because he was just sitting there forever. Traffic was at a standstill. And then I started to think maybe I didn't leave early enough. But I got there 10 minutes or so to spare. So it was all right.
You know, it's interesting how they split that up because I thought – well, again, my initial reaction was like, well, that's a pain because you can't do it all. And then as the days went on, I thought, you know, this actually might bring me back just having just the floor and the convention center because I know myself well enough to know like I'm not going to be going back and forth. Yeah. Like that's too stressful for me. And so I would probably just pick –
Like one day at the convention center on the floor and enjoy that day. So you might see me back next. That would be awesome. The same way where it's split up. Yeah, you, I think you would like it. And let me tell you, it is, there is absolutely no need for me to ever do that Honda center thing again, except for, except for.
If my daughters want to go to the expo, next year might be their time. And they would want to see the TV stars come out on stage. For sure. It's fun the first time. That would be fascinating for them, right? Yeah. They may convince me to do it. So we have to wait and see. But I'd never have to do that again. It was fine. There's lots of spectacle, like any stage show, big arena show. But I just, it's not, I do not need to do that. There are plenty of, most of the content is not there.
Content is at the breakouts and the panels and the shows over in the convention center. Should we talk real quickly about the park announcements? Because that's what we care about. Yeah, let's talk about that. And no, I don't actually care about it much, but I have some thoughts about it. Oh, okay. Because, you know, how many times have I said my opinion of Walt Disney World on this show? Like, it's great. Well, I like it. It's great. Here's what I have to say. It's great for you.
you know what and when that ride shows up then i'll believe it because i'm tired of like oh we're gonna have a mary poppins ride we're not and i know and i know the whole thing this year was like these aren't blue sky ideas they're actually they're underway yeah i know how things go down so when i get my my buns in that ride vehicle okay then i'll be talking so they have no choice but to do the villains area because universal already has their universal monsters showing up right so they absolutely i have a strong opinion about
Well, they OK, well, we'll hear it in a second, but they absolutely have no choice about that. Like if they don't, they're just going to bleed away more and more and more to Universal. So they have to be competitive there. What's your strong opinion about that? OK, is this one? This is where where's it going to be? Remind me. I don't remember somewhere in Walt Disney World.
I don't like... So here's my deal about villains. I don't have a problem with a villain. I do not like the glorification of villains that started off with Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Like, it bothers me. It bothers me to no end. Like, I don't feel like the Disney brand needs to be glorifying evil. And not evil. You...
I'm not thumping a Bible at you people. Like, I'm not saying evil, evil, but I'm saying like villains are bad people. They're villains. Right. And then there's descendants where they all are redeemed. And, you know, that's a different thing. But I'm talking about like the pure essence of a villain in a Disney movie is someone who is doing a bad thing and trying to, you know, hurt or usually murder like the heroes. Right. Yeah. Like they're not good. They're not good characters. Yeah.
And it really bothers me. I have, I'm not saying we should get rid of them, but to glorify them and to have like a villain's land or whatever. I'm not, I'm not there for that people. All right. Not what I'm looking for. I've heard that. I've heard it.
I'm digesting that. I'm taking it in. I don't. So I don't as a kind of Halloween fan. Right. I see characters from the dark perspective, like the darker side of things slightly different than you. Now, I will say when Disney starts to get real with their stuff, like voodoo in Princess and the Frog or kind of the black magic, even in Wish, like.
And they start using like stars and like symbols and things that represent things that exist in the real world in terms of black magic or whatever. Yeah. I start to get a little when I went once a little bit about those kind of things, partly because of my upbringing, you know, in a faith tradition, but also partly just because people like it's it's almost a weird disrespect to people that believe that stuff.
Right? It's not a cartoon for them. It's not a cartoon for people that believe in that stuff. And some of it is turns like what traditionally we think of as good and moral on its head to, to not be good and moral. Right. So I just, the whole idea of making it like grounding it in reality that way, that kind of bothers me a little bit. Right. It's one thing to say like, here's a witch. She made an apple with a magical poison that will put someone to sleep. Like that's,
Different, right? Than being specific about voodoo spells or, you know, that kind of thing. Right. Well, and again, like, there's no, I don't have a problem with there being a presence of it. But as we say in our house, like, every day we find and follow the good. Like, when you focus, what you're going to put your focus on, your end of the day focus, like, do you want to choose something that's negative? I'm sorry, villains. Or do you want to choose something that's positive? Yeah.
Makes me upset. Yeah, I mean, but for everything that Disney... My mom horse. For every, like, villain that Disney celebrates, like, they do have... Like, what was Cinderella's something of have courage and be kind? Yeah. It's, like, pretty much the best life advice you can have outside of... No, they do. You know what I mean? No, they do. I just am seeing a surge of villains, and I'm... You're not up for it, right? I'm on edge about it. I'm kind of excited to see what they do. I'm not saying it's going to get me back to Florida. It might.
We did just sell our DVC from Florida, but you never know. Okay. But that's not the biggest news out of Florida. No. Of course, Cars Land. Right? Right in the middle of the river. So, like, it's funny. That's crazy to me. There are people... It's really crazy. Yeah. I mean, it's another kind of...
Don't put Walt in the park-ish thing, right? So I have a friend, Foxy. They just wrote a book about the Haunted Mansion. Actually, they just wrote a book about pirates, which is kind of...
Amazing. So Foxy has become an amazing author and Disney historian, but I've known Fox from back in the Haunted Mansion, Doom Buggies days, a couple decades probably. Not as a close personal friend, just as an acquaintance that I follow. Okay. And Foxy came out with this statement on Twitter, like...
To whoever it concerns, like, I'm never going back. Yeah. Really? Because they're taking the river out? Yes. Because they're taking the rivers of America out. So, like, what I'm trying to say is, like, there are people that just...
Like this is the point of no return for them. And it is. So I'm thinking about Disneyland and I'm thinking about Walt Disney World and I'm thinking about the difference between 1955 and 1971. And I'm thinking about Walt Disney, like fishing off the pier in the rivers of America versus never even setting foot in Walt Disney World. And I'm thinking that probably doesn't really matter. Like it's not a Walt thing, but is it a Walt thing? Like what's the reverence for Walt Disney World now?
apart from Walt Disney. Like, it's not Epcot. You know what I mean? So... No. I do feel like there's a fair argument to make about the reverence you hold for Disneyland as a Disney fan versus the reverence you hold for Walt Disney World. Not that it makes a difference to you historically if your park was Disney World. Like, I get it. Yeah. But I do think as a general rule, there can be a distinction between historical relevance of Disneyland's Rivers of America and the Walt Disney World. Yeah. Um...
Like paddle boat and, you know, river. So all that to say. I heard. Yeah. I heard you saying. I will. I heard you saying. I think my issue is that it has nothing to do with taking out the river. Like, I mean, things change. It's a bummer. Right. Right.
At the same time, when I think about that whole area of Walt Disney World, I mean, I like the Magic Kingdom. We were just there a few months ago. How weird is it going to be to have cars smack dab in the middle of Liberty Square and Frontierland? It's just odd to me. It's such an odd placement. That's the part. Because it's Pixar and it's new. That whole area is just that old-timey.
presidential charm. You know what I'm saying? There's a real like 1970s vibe charm to it. And I just think it's so odd to have cars in the middle of it. I mean, put them in Hollywood studios or I don't know. Okay. I'm not super concerned that they won't theme it well. And you know, like you got to look a little bit more into what they're proposing. It's not,
Radiator Springs, right? It's going to be older cars taking more of a rustic... I still just think it's weird, though. Like more of an off-road and out in Frontierland, basically. Like as if they came to Frontierland and they're taking you on a...
you know an off-road trip so that's i do not personally worry that the theme of their their cars land it's not radiator springs like it's their car but i still think it's weird okay that's fair um so but i i almost wonder here's the thing you cannot in any way reclaim that visual space like once there's cars land there you can't say someday oh we should put a river here
No, you know what I'm saying? Like there is absolutely no way back from this. And it just feels like if, if for the fun map alone, shouldn't there be a giant river in the middle of this park? Like some sort of a boat ride. Like, yeah. Even if it's just for the look of the map, like that's like, it's a Walt Disney somewhat, somewhat Walt Disney park, right? They based it on Walt Disney's Disneyland park.
They gave it a little bit more air and space, but it's basically his hub and spokes. And shouldn't there be a river there? Even for the aesthetic of... The aesthetic of a boat. Yeah. I hear what you're saying. Of seeing the boat go by. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, though, as the newly revamped Country Bears would sing, let it go. Like, what are you going to do? Like, they're having to sing for their supper at this point, a bunch of Disney IPs. All right. So now listen, I'm not going to say, I will say that. So, you know, Kevin and Jodi designed the costumes for the new Country Bears. I know. And I'm not saying it's not beautiful. It's gorgeous. I'm not questioning the look of it. I know. It is the sound of it. Okay, I hear you. And really, it's a jamboree band. I got you. Come on, people. I hear you. I got you.
I hear what you're saying. Nothing, no problem with the looks. Okay.
All right. That's fair. If you've listened to Nostalgia for 15 years, like you kind of know where I'm coming from. Like I love Disney history, but I collect Disney history like facts the same way I collect Disney Anna and Disney memorabilia. I don't live it like and I, you know, I went to Disneyland in the 70s. Like I distinctly remember Adventure Through Inner Space. That was my favorite attraction and the Rock.
You know, I remember all this stuff. So it's not like it wasn't part of my history, but I can just go with changing things and trying it out. I am a little bit. There is something about taking out the river when you realize like that's a giant aesthetic thing.
Yeah. Like moment. Like it's something. It's a choice. Most places you just will never see the Vista and looking across the river and seeing a big giant paddle boat go by. Like, and it obviously can never be replaced. Like no one's going to be tearing out Cars Land and saying like, let's take out all this real estate and put a giant river back in here. So. Well, and talk about a people eater. I mean, that boat in Tom Sawyer Island, like it's a people eater. No, it's not. Yeah.
I think it is. No one goes to the island. That's the whole point of taking it out. I know. It should be people either. It could be. It should be. But it's not. Yeah. All right. So we've talked about that. What else do you want to know about the Expo before we transfer over to Alana? I think those are my main questions. It looked good overall. Is there any like...
I guess looking to two years ahead, like, okay, I'm going to do this differently or. Yeah, I'm never going to go to the Honda Center again unless my kids make me. It was fine. It was fun. It wasn't a big hassle. Like it went well getting there. Like they give you a big enough spread and they do enough entertaining things for an hour and a half beforehand, like with DJs and stuff that it's fine. Like if you get there an hour early, you can basically while away the time in the chairs. Right. So.
They didn't make you put your phone in a Ziploc bag or anything? Nope, none of that anymore. They've joined the current generation. Like, you can't do that, so just don't give away secrets. You know what I mean? Right, yeah. So you're not going to learn anything secret. It's just like the past few expos, just like Comic-Con. Like, yeah, you get to hear it like one second before. Well, not even that. A lot of people are simultaneously live-streaming.
So you don't even get to hear it in advance. You just get to be there for the big reveal and be in the same space as movie stars. You're in this in the space. Yeah. So same place. Like, like there's some cool stuff they did. Like there's fire fireworks in inside fireworks they use for some of the shows, which is cool. Aubrey Plaza came out on a showboat.
Well, so there were a couple of moments like the witches. Was it Muppets on a Showboat? Well, this is what I liked. No. Equally to Muppets on a Showboat. They did. Well, no, it wasn't Muppets on a Showboat because we had some of the Muppeteers there that we'll never hear from again. Yeah, Muppets on a Showboat. Yeah. Amazing. But I mean, like Frank Oz, I think was. No, he might not have been Muppets on a Showboat, but we had a lot of. Doesn't matter. So Muppets on a Showboat. Yeah.
But there was, for instance, the whole cast of WandaVision. What's it called? What's Agatha or whatever that coming show? First of all, it's going to be terrifying. I don't think you'll like it. It's going to be very in your face. American Horror Story light. No, thank you. I know. But having said that, like the cast is pretty intriguing, including Aubrey Plaza, who who doesn't love the quirky Aubrey Plaza. Right.
And, you know, they came out singing this gorgeous song by the Lopez's, right? Because they're the songwriters for Marvel now. And like this beautiful chant that the witches were doing. And I thought this has to be like recorded, but I, I believe that like they were singing it. Like the cast came out singing this beautiful song. Like live singing. That's nice. Yeah.
♪ Through many miles of strife and trials ♪ ♪ We'll tame your fears, adore our peers ♪ ♪ The time has come to go down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down, down ♪ Down
And that was cool, you know, and there were moments like I missed the David Blaine magic show magic trick, but I got the cards. I'm going to try it. Actually, I haven't mixed them up yet. So I'm going to take them out and watch a video and see if I draw the same whatever three hearts or whatever everyone drew. I'm kind of intrigued, but I'm sure it was a, you know, stacked deck, but yeah.
So there's some moments that are really cool, but I just don't need that. Getting there. By 5 o'clock when you have to leave to get over there, I was already like, I just want to go to bed. I don't want to stay up another three or four hours or five hours. I hear you. But it was great. I am, of course, like always, I'm mostly there for collecting. And that is a little bit more difficult. They're never going to have the days when you and I would wait for the animation stuff.
It was a different time. Yeah, you can. So none of my standbys for artwork actually... One of them did work, but most of them did not. However, I got lucky because my wife...
kind of separated herself and managed to she would never cut in front of anyone she's not a cheater but she is i like let me ask questions and get myself quickly where i need to be different than me i'm more following like where's everyone going she just works it so she worked it and she got brian crosby's comic book signed for me which i'm really glad for because i didn't get to meet cross didn't get to i got i texted with him a little bit but i didn't get to actually go say hi which is a bummer yeah i was like can't you just mail the to him later
I guess. But I mean, the point is to see him at the expo where he's signing his alternate figment comic, right? So Julia got up there and told him, like, I'm Jeff's wife. He's back in the end of the line. And he had no idea the standby line went all the way into the other room. He's like, what? Yeah.
Like, so I wasn't, I wasn't even close to getting up to sign. Yeah. I think he's a little chatty. So that could have like, when you think about it, like if you have an hour to sign and you chat with people for, let's say a minute, that's 60 people get to sign it. Not the 300 people in line or more or a thousand people in line. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And if you even chat for longer than a minute, it's,
Even if you just say like, hi, nice to meet you. 15 seconds. Like that's, you know. Right.
So it's not an easy. And let me tell you, just play it safe and keep your mouth shut. Okay. Because once you start chatting, you never know what's going to come out. All right. So, but luckily. Words of wisdom. Luckily, my wife did get up through to meet Brian Crosby. And she also got up through to meet Eric Robison, who I was in a panel. Nice. Marvel music. So I had to kind of miss his first signing. And I absolutely wanted that on a mansion print. And I didn't know what to do. Oh.
It turned out that his second... Could you just ask him, too? Well, he doesn't own these prints. Disney owns these prints. They bring them out. He signs them. Then they take them back, and they're gone. Oh. He doesn't just bring all these millions of prints to give away. Do you know what I'm saying? He didn't go to Kinko's and print them out. No. They're nice lithographs that Disney provides. So, actually, I ended up getting four, but that's a whole long different story. Four? I'll tell you. None of them are up for...
Like, what happened was Julia went and got hers. Because you gave me one? Well, listen, no. But Julia went up and got hers. And then she said, oh, I'm Jeff's wife. He really hopes to see you, but he's in a panel right now. And he said, oh, let me. So then he signed one special for me, which I absolutely love. I'm glad it made it home. And then Julia and Tina wanted one. So we got in line. And I wasn't going to take another one because I had one. It's cool. But I was waiting with them. And then we got cut off, like, 20 people before the end of the line. And then we said, can we just...
They said, no, no, no, no. So I kind of snuck over there to the side and waited till the end of his line went through. And I said, Eric, Eric. And he came over. And so he called me in and he said, you should have cut. I'm like, I couldn't. We did actually try to not cut, but we tried to ask them, hey, can we just get into that line? Because it's over now. And they said, no, no, no.
Like it's cut off just because it's he's still there. Like, we're not going to let you do that. Yeah. So I just kind of waited there and he called me over and I talked to him for a little bit. And then I said, my friends over there, they really wanted your print, but they didn't make it. So he signed a couple for me to take to Julianne Tina. Oh, that's nice.
So they did get his print, although we didn't make it. So it was pretty tough actually to get into the signings in Talent Central. And also it was a madhouse trying to figure it out. Like there was just a massive human. Like where's the line? Yeah. Yeah. I don't like that. Yeah. So I was very lucky to get that. So I don't have four prints, but I managed to get four of them at a time. I mean, get four of them for through the time. And then I did. So here's.
Let's see. What else? If he sends you one more in the mail, though, will you send it to me? Absolutely. Thank you. I did get to. I mean, just in case. Yeah. You do have one of his Tower of Terror signed, right? Maybe. I had like a hundred of them in a box. I don't think I gave them back to you. Maybe you did. But I don't think I got it. I don't think I got it signed. Remember we had the big stack of them, though? No. Well, someone I had like five or a hundred or a thousand of those. I actually sent a lot of them back to him because he did a Walt Disney World video
Tower of Terror anniversary event this summer, or last spring. And he didn't have any of those. He's like, oh, I sent him all the Jeff. And so I said, I've given a lot of them away, but I think I still have a couple hundred. So I sent them back to him. I think I gave them back to you when we moved. Because I remember in the Ballard House, but I haven't seen him in Kenmore. Yeah, you probably did. So it was good to see Eric. I was glad I got a chance to walk up and sneak over there and say hi and take a picture and, you know,
That was super cool. So I did get a listener. Thank you, Rochelle. A listener invited me to use an unused member of their party reservation to get Bob Weiss's signature in the book that he just wrote. So I got he was the president of Imagineering up until what, 2021? I don't remember when he retired, but that's a good one. Yeah, super one. That was very popular. His book sold out every day. Like a lot of people online were like,
I'm going to get in line and get his autograph, but I couldn't get the book. And so they had these giant cards, like learn to make book plates, Disney. Like they had these giant white cards, like these big six by nine cards for autographs. That's like, no, that's the wrong one. Oh, well,
Like you can't even glue it in the book. You know what I mean? It's better than a post-it. I guess it is. So that worked out because we had a reservation and we had a reservation for Anika Noni Rose, right? Her book signing. Yep.
Okay. So you remember when she became a Disney legend with, I think with all the princesses all at once. You remember that? I think that's when they made her a Disney legend. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So here's, so there's two stories. One is very short and one is a little longer. So the little bit longer one is we had a reservation for her. We bought her books the day before. So they're children's books. So unfortunately I don't really collect children's books, but okay. Like it's a free autograph and we get to meet her. Right.
So we got... We went up to where they're holding her book signing, up by the book selling of the second floor. And luckily, we decided to get there fairly early. So... Okay. And the reason we did that is because I wanted to get Bob Weiss's book because it had sold out the day before. So it's fortunate that we did all this. Then we happened to be there early and we got in line for her signing. So we were maybe...
I want to say a row and a half back, 20 to 40 people back at the most. Okay.
This is the voice of Tiana, right? So it's like a big deal. So she had her standby line like well over half an hour before she was even scheduled to sign was full and capped off like all across the hall. Like this big mass of people. So you had a reservation. We had a reservation. Julia got a reservation. Okay. So the four of us had a reservation. We were in line. So.
She didn't come at her time. There was a DJ playing songs. There were a ton of Disney book publishing people and Disney studio people and security people and various handlers of different shapes and sizes. There were like photographers and people with the big microphone and the fuzzy boom thing.
Everyone was there for Anika Noni Rose. But I mean, they just have the new Splash Mountain redo. I get it. I get it. And I'm like, listen, I'm not commenting. I'm just telling you what happened. Right. All the people. All right.
All right. So let's say it was 10 o'clock. So 1015. So we're still waiting. 1020, 1030. Still waiting. Like and, you know, the signings was to end at 11. These times might be wrong, but just simplifying it like it's an hour. Right. The time is ticking by. And like more than half the time of her supposed signing has gone by and she isn't even here yet. And there are other signings up here. Like she can't just, you know, we can't just change the schedule.
And so I started getting nervous for all these people in the standby line. Like no one's telling them like, just leave, but like they're like, you're not going to make it. There's no way. So I think it was like 1032. Yeah.
The DJ starts playing like he turns up the music and plays. What's that song from Princess and the Frog? Like, you know, almost there. Almost there. Yeah. Let's say it's that. I'm pretty sure it was that. Yeah. Because she was almost there, maybe. But she wasn't. Then the music ended and you could tell like they thought she was coming out from somewhere and nothing. Yeah. Right. Like maybe she's on her way from the Honda Center to an Uber. Maybe. So then another five minutes go by.
10 minutes go by. It's like literally been 40 minutes. Like there's 25 minutes left or so of her signing. Okay. And then, okay, turn it up. Almost there. Plays again. Like, and he turns it up and I see one of the executives say, turn it up, turn it up. So, so, okay, she's coming. Right. So then. Yeah. Yeah. So everyone starts screaming and you hear, you see a Nick and Oni Rose come out in a mask.
And she walks out. Okay. And she kind of turns around and looks at the table. And she shakes her head and turns around and walks out. Oh, no. So we're like, I don't know what happened. We were all kind of like, is it something we said? So she came back. Okay. She sat down at the table, maybe a little bit of concern, kind of describing how she wanted the air purifier set up on the table. Which, listen, let me intervene here and say, like,
Anika Noni Rose is a Tony winning celebrity. She does not have to come to the expo and sign books for her fans. No, she does not have to do this. I appreciate that fact. This is, you know, nothing she had to do.
So they finally got the air purifier and the fan kind of set where she wanted it. And then she had people coming up and then she was just visiting and like she wrote whole sentences like to the BAM family with love. That's nice. Monique and Oney Rose, voice of Tiana or something or Princess Tiana. Yeah. Like she's writing big long inscriptions in the books. Yeah.
It was well after her time, by the time we got up there, or just close to a little bit after her time being up when we got through. And I heard quiet but concerned mutterings amongst the staff. And they would occasionally go up to her and whisper this or that. And she would say something to them and then kind of go back and forth. I think they were telling her, we've kind of guaranteed these people in this line your autograph. Yeah.
And all these people by this time had been waiting in the standby line for at least two hours. And they said, sorry, you're not going to be able to get your autograph. So then they all left. Which, to be fair, you know, you're hopeful to stand in these standby lines. Like, they tell you every standby line, they're super clear, you might not get in. Right? So it's not like anyone should have expected it or were entitled to it. Yeah. But here we were. Right? So...
Okay, so then I don't we left when we were done because we had other things to do. Okay, here's story number two.
Okay. Story number two is we also went to the book signing for Martha Blanding. I don't know if you know who Martha Blanding is. I do. We almost had her on Mousetail, but it didn't quite work out. We tried for that, right? And she was very important to the 90s at Disneyland. My Disneyland era, all the fine art time, the fine art programs and days. That's all Martha Blanding's big time, right? So she's finally a Disney legend. She was actually the first black person to have, I think, a 50-year career with Disney. Yeah.
Like Floyd Norman, I do not think worked for Disney that long in a row. You know what I mean? I think he did for a while and then left and came back. I'm not exactly sure.
But they claim on the book that she has the longest career as a black woman. Or maybe it's woman. I'm not sure exactly. But it's a big deal, right? So she's a Disney legend. Yeah, she's done a lot of great things. She wrote a book with Tim O'Day. So they were there. Tim O'Day was great. Like, he's like, oh, mousetail. He's like, come on over here. So we got the signing. However, all the book...
posters on the walls, like digital posters said, um, with a forward by Anika Noni Rose, Disney legend. Oh, but the books we had the, the first copies of the books and they did not say that on the cover. So maybe she jumped in later. Well, we had the books in our hands, like they're printed. Oh, it wasn't actually in the book. Yeah. There was nothing on the cover or in the book about Anika Noni Rose. So when we got up there and I kind of knew, I kind of have,
I'm not, like I said, I'm not giving any actual opinions here, but I kind of had made my decision about what happened. But Tina, of course, likes to say a lot of things. So she, in a good way, right? So she went to Tim O'Day and she's like, hey.
The poster there says forward by Anikinoni Rose. And there's nothing in our books. Are they advanced copies? And Tim first ignored her, which was the professional thing to do. He ignored her and answered a different question, which was, oh, the book comes out in October. These are advanced copies. But then she's like, no, no, no. I mean, it says Anikinoni Rose wrote an introduction. Where is it? Way to go, Tina. And he goes, well...
Yeah, she was going to do that. And then he kind of made a joke. He said, yeah, these are collectible digital posters now. You know, it's kind of making a joke. And then he said, actually, that's a typo. You know, we kind of talked to her about it. But then she got she got hired to do a musical. OK, so she's busy. Yep. That's the end of my two stories about Anika Noni Rose. I like that he said anything because I sort of said sometimes things don't work out.
Which is probably what he should have said. But, okay. But, I mean, you couldn't avoid the fact that it was printed on some artwork for the cover, right? Had that embedded into the cover, right? Because they were clearly going to feature that. The same way that I put...
Guillermo del Toro's quote in big letters on my cover. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so that's okay. So I'm not. So those are my two stories. Until my buns in that seat. I'm not going to celebrate. I do want to say something about Anika Noni Rose. She was delightful to meet. Like she was super sweet.
And when we were actually before we got up there, or I think maybe right after we got up there, there was a little girl, like maybe two year old dressed like Tiana. And she stopped everything. She pulled her over there. She took pictures holding the girl. She met her family. She pulled them all out of line. Like it was perfect Disney magic. Very lovely. Right. So, yeah. You know, and I just want to say that a few months ago when Leanne and I were at the little house in the Prairie Convention, like,
We almost saw bloodshed over a similar situation with Melissa Gilbert. Let me tell you. Like, is she there? Is she not there? People waited, like, literally, Jeff, like, six, seven, eight hours, like, their whole day. And then it was like, I have a Post-it. I'm supposed to get it in. These other people were like, well, I have a red Post-it. I have a yellow. It was like, Leanne and I, I think we were probably one of, like, ten people who got an autograph that day. And it's just because, like, we...
I'll tell you later. I use my expo skills to like work it in. I hear you. But it was a similar, I think sometimes these things, you know, it just, there's a miscommunication or,
The bus is slow or things happen. But I'm just going to say she was charming. Things happen. I'm happy that we got to meet Nika Noni Rose. And I actually also bought her. So the Disneyland Records, or I guess it's called Disney Music or whatever they call it. They were selling a signed copy of Princess and the Frog that she had signed the cover for.
for $75. So I snapped one of those up and I got that. And also they were selling a goofy picture disc that Bill Farmer signed. So I snapped that up. So I did get her autograph twice. Once I bought and once I met her and actually got her signature. But it was...
An interesting experience. Those autograph lines are hard because I, you know, you just don't. I think the people who run the lines have very little control over the person who everyone is lined up to see. Yep. And often those two worlds just don't meet. And it's really sad when that, you know, for the people who are really big fans and like literally have waited for hours. And it's nobody's fault. I will say. It just didn't work out. I just want to say there's a fear of celebrity that people should not, I think, be.
that organizers should not have. If the celebrity can't handle facts, then they're just not the right celebrity for the venue. Right. So what I'm saying is they should, I think not, I'm not talking about Anika Noni Rose. Like no one knows what that situation was. I'm not talking about her, but in general, I think they should say we've given away 200 tickets. You have one hour. That means about average 20 seconds per autograph to get through the line in an hour. Um,
Can you do this? Are you willing to do this? Are you interested in doing this? Is this something that is important? And there needs to be, it's like when you go to get a photo op with a celebrity and literally like, don't blink or you'll miss it. You know, like someone in the line needs to say like with the post-it note, like, you know, we were trying to get everybody through, please keep your greeting to hello and thank you and continue to move on. Like people just need, you know, to have their expectations set. And I think when you do that, cause I've had that in settings before and I'm like, all right, you know? Yeah.
And for the most part, when someone in line is willing to say like, here's how this is going to go down. People usually, for the most part, are pretty cooperative. Now, I will say Bob Weiss seemed to be like over the moon thrilled that his first book in his whole career. This is his first book that people were coming out to see him. And his book kept selling out like they didn't have enough copies of it. And so when he did his last book signing on Saturday.
I think it was up in. So I met him in Talent Central, which was his main biggest book, like crowded book signing. Right. But then he did a second book signing up in the where where we met Anika Noni Rose. He stayed there, I think, for a full hour afterwards. Like he just kept signing books until everyone in line left.
And I mean, partly he had the luxury to do this because there was not a signing after him that had to get out of the way. But he stayed there signing books until he was the last person that had a book of his got a signature. That's really nice. Yeah. So, okay. So that's, you know, I, boy, there's so many Expo stories I still have. I'll tell some more on another episode of Nostalgia, probably the next episode. So stay tuned for more Expo talk and conversation. Yeah.
Who's the team behind the show you're listening to today? M-O-U-S-E-G-A-L-G-I-A. You're listening to Nostalgia. Hashtag Carpe Kingdom. Hashtag Seize the Magic. Yeah, yeah.
Kristen, I do want before we leave to talk for you to talk about Alani. I'll try and keep it concise. OK, so we we went to Alani for the first time 10 years ago when I was pregnant with our daughter, Kala. And then we went again this June. So like 10 years later, Kala's on the outside this time. We're very excited about it. So we did the DVC rental dot com. It's a great place to rent a house.
It's like a David's DVC rental. And we were lucky because we really wanted to go and it was kind of like, I don't know, probably two months before we actually were going to go on the trip.
And someone had put up, you know, the way those rental sites work is you can either request dates, which good luck getting what you want that way. Or there's pre-existing reservations. Like somebody made a reservation, they've changed their mind and now you can take it. And so we found one. I couldn't believe it for six nights at the end of June, which again, and the rental sites are like, it's usually like one or two nights. Six nights is a rare five. So we're very excited. So we snapped it up a deluxe studio, kind of a similar situation we were in in Florida. Yeah.
And off we went. So we got an island view. It's in the Awad Tower, which all the DVCs are. I do. But let me ask you. Yeah. Why did you choose rental DVC rental points? Because it's literally like half the amount of money. Yeah, that's what I wanted you to say. I'm not kidding you. So when we look, we priced out Alani Online for those six nights for that same time frame. I think it was like, for a studio, I think it was like,
$8,000 or $9,000, which is heart-stopping for me for a hotel room. And on Davids... Or not Davids, pardon me, DVCRental.com, it was $4,200. I mean, it was literally half. I mean, if you can do this, I love...
regular travel websites and I love MEI, but when it comes to staying in it, if you want to do like a DVC type of situation, like go to these rental sites. And again, like it's, it can be hard to get what you want, but when you're lucky enough to figure it out, it is a bundle of savings. Yeah. Cause I'm sorry. Alani is not worth it.
It's not worth $9,000 for six nights. It's not. It's amazing. Well, I mean... It's worth $4,200, but it's not worth $9,000. That's my takeaway. That's good. And once you get to like the over $5,000 line... It's a lot, right? It's kind of like...
You are budgeting your life differently than workaday people. You know what I mean? So anyway, yeah. And I just feel like at that point going to cruise, like do something else. Anyway, so we're very, very thankful to do that. A couple of things I want to give you some tips about Ohlone in general is, so again, we were Island View, but we called probably two weeks in advance. And then I think two days before we checked in to request a high floor. So you can never say like,
There's no guarantees on what you get besides like the island view, ocean view, or, you know, garden view kind of a thing. I'm sorry. So we had garden view, not island view. And so they put us on, I think, the ninth floor and we actually had an ocean view. So that was great. So, you know, when you, I think there was something about calling just saying like, hey, can you put me on a high floor? We were not facing the pool. We were on the other side, on the luau side, which is fun. It's also very loud. Yeah.
So that's my tip on that. If you have a light sleeper, you might want to call and just request a room on the inside, on the poolside, not on that outside. And the luau goes like two or three times a week. And then one night's movie night. And so there's basically like a lot of noise every night until about 930. Yeah.
Just keep that in mind. A couple of other really important things about Alani is scheduling. Alani guests are not messing around when it comes to reservations. So the luau, you can book 180 days out, which we booked that and did not get in early enough for the reserves, like the special seating. We said regular seating, which was great. And I'll talk a little bit about the luau in a minute. And then to do any of the aunties beach house, it's 90 days out.
So we did two for Calla. We did two of the paid three hour activities, which she absolutely loved and cried when she left because she loved them so much. And I think they're actually a really good deal. They were like three hours was like $60, which-
And it was fun. It was like one of them was led by Moana. Like, who doesn't want to hang out with Moana for three hours? And then the other one was like Goofy and Max led it. But one thing I didn't know until it was a little bit late was that if you stay at Ohlone, you get 90 minutes of free Auntie's Beach House every day that you stay. Oh. And you can also book that 90 days out in advance. So I didn't realize that we got that as part of our thing until...
probably less than a month before we went. So there was very limited times left. We did have a chance to book, I think,
three of them we used one of them and we used when we used was actually in the last day when we checked out and it was the 8 a.m one it was perfect because we could drop off cala kurt and i got a coffee at the beach and just like take a breath before we leave so i would say at that 90 day mark book an auntie's beach house 90 minute free reservation for every day and then if you don't use them you can always call the day in advance and just cancel it's not a big deal like you can cancel in advance so make sure to do that 90 days out
Also, 90 days out, you can book, I think, the cabana rentals and the spa. And then also 30 days out is your dining reservation. So you have to get online at midnight Hawaii time. Wow.
30 days out. And you got to do it. Like if you wait till an hour afterwards, like all the character breakfasts are gone. And I know it is possible to stand in line and wait, but we booked the character breakfast our first full day there. And then on our last day, and we absolutely loved it. Like the food was delicious. They have malasadas, which is one of my favorite things. You can also just get malasadas like at the walk-up bar, which get those. Oh my gosh, it was so good. And the characters are great. And it was a really great experience. So that's your like,
I guess, date reservation. You really got to keep these things in mind to be organized. Yeah. I also found out about another thing, which we're going to do. We're going back in February and we're going to book this then is that at the airport in Honolulu, they have a Colina lounge that is free for people staying at any of those Colina resorts. Have you guys seen this before? I didn't know that.
So koalinalounge.com. Yeah. You can book it out 90 days in advance. It's a private lounge for anybody staying at like the Alani or that neighboring hotel. Yeah. And you can have up to five people in your party. Oh. Have your nice private lounge. Wow. So yeah, I'm going to do that in February. Yeah. And I'll let you know how that goes. So yeah. So like I said, overall, six nights, seven days. And then we went to Maui for a day on the way home. You know, we had had a couple of ideas about things we were going to leave the resort to do. Yeah.
We ended up only leaving the resort one day to go to the Dole Plantation just because, like, Alani is... It's magical. Like, I love Alani for so many reasons. So, like I said, we've been there 10 years ago. Kurt and I, we had a lovely time then. Alani with a child is a different ballgame. Like, I feel like this is...
This is our new family vacation. Sorry, Kurt, and our bank account. One thing is that it is so child-kid friendly, right? I mean, the water areas are amazing. Auntie's beach house is amazing. The food is amazing. Like when we went to the luau.
They had all the traditional luau food, plus a little bento box for all the kids that had like chicken nuggets and French fries. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, and then they could also go in the regular line too, because Calla really loves poi, which cracks me up. Like she and Native Hawaiians love poi. But she had a little bento box with all her like kind of just Western macaroni and cheese, that type of stuff. And then she can go through the line and get poi too. But I love that the luau is so childlike.
child-friendly there they have activities ahead of time you know it's like you don't just go and sit they've got the like the fake tattoo stamping and the ukulele lesson and you know the make a lay that type of thing yep and then just all the other things i mean they have the the menehune hunt so many activities um
And at first we felt guilty, like we really need to be leaving the hotel, you know, like seeing that quote unquote real Hawaii. And then we had this moment of like, you know, we're spending a lot of money and we love it here and we don't have to leave. Like we're just not leaving. You know what I'm saying? It was just a moment of accepting who we are as a family, how much we love the line and just being like, it's fine. Like we don't have to go to Pearl Harbor. We don't have to go, you know,
do this and do that and go to the Hawaiian Heritage Museum. It's okay to stay here. So kind of our ideal date, Alani, what we figured out worked really well for us was we get up in the morning and
We would go down to the lagoon and grab chairs. So Align does have the rule where you have to be at your chair every hour. I feel like the beach in the lagoon is kind of no man's land. Like I never saw anyone checking towels down there. So you can go down at like, you know, seven or whenever you get up, put your towel down and come back. So we would spend our morning at the beach, come back,
You know, kind of eat and do whatever, do an activity and then do the pool in the afternoon, which worked really well for us because we're not we're not like get chairs at the pool and lay at the pool a day. That's just too hot for me. So just kind of being in the pool in the afternoon and then beach in the morning. That beach is so gorgeous. Like and I love how it's a cove is that man made cove. So it's not big waves for kids. So that worked really, really well for us.
I want to talk about food. Yeah. Past the luau. So we ate at the Character Breakfast twice, which I totally think was very good food and worth the money. We also having a deluxe studio had a little kitchenette. So toaster, microwave, refrigerator, sink, kind of kitchen basics. So the first day we arrived, we had a rental car. I went to Long's, which I miss Long's drugs so much because I really feel like.
Long's has the cheapest groceries you will find in Hawaii outside of Costco. But when you have a little studio, you don't want to Costco run. You don't have the space for it. But Long's, you can check the longsdrugs.com flyer on Sunday, see what's on sale and go and get
food that's pretty close in price to what you might find at home. We also packed food. Like, I'm not ashamed to say that I packed like a pack of 30 tortillas. I packed two cans of refried beans because refried beans are like $10 a can in Hawaii. Yeah.
Because we ate a lot of our meals in the room. We usually ate out one meal a day. And then the other two meals, usually breakfast and either lunch or dinner, we had in the room. So we had things like burritos and sandwiches and Kraft macaroni and cheese, that type of thing. So yeah, don't be ashamed to pack your food for Hawaii because then you have room for souvenirs on the way out. That's true. We also went to Monkey Pod across the street. We'd have a reservation there. Have you guys been there when you were at Ohlone? Yeah.
I really like the food. I love, we went for a happy hour, which, you know, it's like a BOGO drink situation. So I had two Mai Tais. The food was really good, really good prices. We really, really liked that. I would say too that like,
If you are a planner like I am, there's a couple of really great Facebook groups that show you lots of tips and tricks for Ohlone. And also, people leave their stuff in the ice rooms when they check out. And so you can go and get stuff, which I really like this because, you know, you never use all your groceries. You know, maybe you can't take your flip flops home or something. So with the exception of alcohol, go on to Facebook. There's a couple of great Disney, like mom, Disney planning groups where...
When you leave, you can say, you know, I'm leaving like we left some food and some, you know, kind of other like cleaning items or whatever, like ninth floor, a tower ice room. And then people just go and pick it up. So anything you don't use, you can leave behind. People leave things behind that maybe you want, like lots of like. So I presume this is unofficial, but Alani must tacitly approve. Yes.
They are because people move fast. Like you can't see something and go an hour later and it's gone. Right. But I think for me, like we never actually I never was fast enough to ever get anything. I only tried maybe like two or three times. Yeah. But it felt really good to have a way to leave things behind. Like, you know, and not just have it be garbage and kind of like paying it forward. So I really love that. I think another thing I really loved about Alani, which will have a reason we go back again and again.
It's just, I feel like it's like that Disney service kind of pre-pandemic. You know, for example, when we checked out on Sunday, we were like,
We took the elevator down to the lobby and at the base of the elevator, there were some ladies from the housekeeping department that had a cart full of things like Mickey and Minnie shaped pens and Alani chocolates and all these different kind of souvenirs that they were handing out for free. Oh, wow. Thank you. I know. Like, thank you so much for coming. You know, and it was like and it was like they gave us our card. Like, if you want to leave us a good review, you can. Yeah. But I feel like there were so many of those moments or like when Calla checked in.
They gave her a little Menehune necklace. There's so many of those little magical, I don't want to call them perks, but just little pluses here and there. The staff is so friendly. The rooms are so beautiful. The grounds are so beautiful. And they're tight, too, about things like the pool usage. You've got to have a pool band. You can't just come in off the beach and go there. I just think their resort is really...
really well run and just a beautiful place to be the level of service it's so expensive but I feel like you get what you pay for it's interesting because we have a friend who has not been to Alani who is child free and she's thought about like going or not going I've said you know if you want to go for a night it's fun to kind of check off your Disney bucket list but I really do feel like Alani and I'm going to get hate about this
But I do feel like in general, it's a family. It's really it's really geared towards families. I think families get the most out of it. I think anyone can enjoy a Lonnie. Right. But for that price point, as an adult without children, I would go to other hotels for a similar price for a really lovely experience. That would be a little bit different. Like, yeah, Mickey Mouse is not at my breakfast. That's really important to you. You should, of course, go to a Lonnie.
But I think there's like comparable options for that same price point that can maybe be more enjoyable as a childless adult versus Alani. Would you agree with that? 100%. Yeah. In fact, I thought myself this trip, I thought I'm fine. Like we own Alani DVC. I'm fine for that to be our home base for Hawaii trip, like for a trip to Oahu. But I'm almost always going to like I will always go to Pearl Harbors. So like I'm always going to want something different.
Beyond the wall of Aulani. I'm not a swimming pool person. And if you're a swimming pool person, like, Aulani for days. It's amazing. Yeah. But I just... I'm not. I love swimming with the fish. I'll do that one day. Like, I'll spend a day there. Yeah. Like, doing this stuff. But then I want to go to the North Shore and look for an endangered duck. I want to go, you know, here and there. I want to swim under a waterfall. So there's other stuff I want to do in Hawaii every time. Right? So... And I think...
and I think if we weren't such Maui people, like we were in Maui three times last year and we have two more trips planned to Maui this year, you know, like we spend a significant amount of time as a family on Maui doing that type of thing. Like if I, I wouldn't want my Hawaii experience to just be Alani, like that'd be a different story for me. But I think because we do have such a,
such a rich outdoor Hawaiian experience when we go spend time with our family on Maui. When we go to Ohlone, we just really soak in that resort. And again, as Kyle gets older, it might be a different story. Like I think nine, holy cow, nine is a prime age for Ohlone. You know what I'm saying? Like you feel like as a parent, she can say like,
I'm going to go down the water slide. I'm like, okay, when you come off, just come back and check in. Like, I feel like she can kind of have some freedom. I don't want her to be like on her own all day, but I also don't feel like I have to stand at the bottom of the water slide and wait for her to come out. Like it feels really, really safe. Like there are lifeguards everywhere. Yeah. They don't stand still. They are marching around the pool like constantly. Which I,
Which I don't know if I shared our Maui experience. I don't think I did on the show about what happened to us last year. And I will keep it really brief and family friendly. But we were at a very large corporate hotel in Maui.
And there was absolutely no lifeguards, no lifeguards in this pool. And this woman passed away in the pool and was there for over an hour. It was horrible. It was horrible on so many levels, but nobody noticed because there was no lifeguards on duty, right? And it was traumatizing for the family who lost the woman. It was traumatizing for everybody who was in the pool. And it was like an absolute nightmare. And when you go to a place like Ohlone that has like literally a lifeguard every 10 feet,
Especially after going through that experience, you just feel like, oh, like I don't like I will never go into a pool ever again. That doesn't have a lifeguard. Never happens to anybody. But like without looking at that pool in a very different way. And I love the fact that even we were in Florida, lifeguards everywhere like Disney Resort pools everywhere.
for kids are so... And for adults, too, are so safe. Oh, yeah. And that means a lot to me. Oh, Julia and I were just at Trader Sam's last week, and we sat there and we heard three times during our dinner the lifeguard whistles going off, right? Right. They're constantly moving and watching and taking care of things. Well, and I think, too, after this experience we had last year was that I realized, like,
pool safety is not necessarily about like swimming or drowning. Like things just happen naturally to people in a pool setting that can end in a really bad way, which is what happened to our, for our family in this situation. And lifeguards are lifeguards. Like,
play a lot of roles and i feel like so many of these big hotels have cut corners and they just put up signs and say like no lifeguards on duty so make your own risk because they don't want to have to deal with the liability of it and disney is i really feel like one of the few that still owns that responsibility and that that to me is priceless yeah so all right alani two thumbs up for your safety two thumbs up for your food two thumbs up for your crafts for your beach for everything there wasn't one thing i can't think there wasn't one thing i didn't love excellent so
Going back in February, thanks to you and Julia renting us your points. Well, you're welcome. This time we're going to be in a two-bedroom full place, which I'm very excited about. Yeah. Taking my parents. We'll have to have you back to review it again. And it will just be a glowing report of Elani. I hope so. I sure hope so. All right. Well, that is all the time we have for this episode of Nostalgia. Thank you for listening. If you want to give us any feedback for myself or Kristen, just write to comments at nostalgia.com.
Or you can even record yourself giving us a message and send it to mousetongue.com. We'd love to hear what you have to say. If you want to support the show, go to nostalgiaplus.com and you can learn about ways that you can help support the show. And I'm very thankful to all of you that do that. And I think that's about all the time we have. So without any...
Wait, you have anything last moments? Anything last thing you want to share? Are you still is Bortique still up and running? Bortique is back. Okay, you're back. So I was shut down for the summer, but Labor Day reopening with a lot of really exciting products. Oh, great. So head on over to Bortique.com. Okay, Bortique.com for all your amazing Disney memorabilia. What do you call it? Disney re-upcycled? Upcycled treasures. Treasures. There you go. All right. So let's all go and Carpe Kingdom and seize the magic. Bye, everybody. Bye. Bye.
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