D23 Expo 2026 - Day Two

0:00From west to east and kingdom to kingdom you're listening to the Connecting with Walt podcast. Connecting with Walt is brought to you by Dreams and Limited Travel, experts at helping you plan the perfect disney vacation. The best way to support the show is by booking a disney land, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, or Adventures by Disney Vacation with Dreams and Limited Travel. Get a free no obligation quote today for your next dream vacation at dreamselimitachravel.com. Hey there, hi there, Ho there and welcome to episode 378 of Connecting with Walt celebrating our ten senile year. I am your host and is historian Michael Bowling and I am joined by my co-host producer and good friend Tom Bell. Tom how are you today?

1:04Hey Michael I'm good yourself. I'm doing well so looking forward to the Labor Day weekend and at the end of the summer season. Yes, next for day off. I am celebrating because one of our local movie theaters and a lot of them around the country to celebrate star checks 60th anniversary. They are showing the first four films, Star Check, One a Night, Friday through Monday, along with an episode of the original series that so corresponds to the film in some way either thematically or like Rathik Khan's Space Seed. So I have tickets for all four movies so I am really excited about that.

2:39I have not seen Best Little Horus in Texas since it came out. I haven't seen 9 to 5 since it came out. I actually watched that today. They just added to Netflix. They did. It doesn't hold on. Well yeah, I mean working the or working situations have changed since then but it was still a good film. It's time and they had good chemistry. Three of them. Talking quick talk about films. I want to put it in a plug. I think Coyote versus Acme. I saw that film. Go see it. It's a delightful film. I grew up with the Loonie tunes because I guess I'm not a baby boomer. I'm generation Jones. I want to found out. But we grew up with the Loonie tunes Saturday mornings and in the movie theaters.

3:43So this is just a delightful film. I mean I laughed several places out. It's a good story. There's even some emotional bits in it. So I don't think it'll be in the theaters much longer. I suspect. But yeah, go on and see it this Labor Day weekend if it's around. Today we're continuing our journey through D23, the ultimate Disney fan event as we head into day two. You joined us for our previous episode. You know the patty and Susette were there with me as we experienced the excitement and exhaustion of our first full day of D23. And I'm delighted to welcome both of them back today. Patty, welcome back. Move. She said with the excitement. It was still the exhaustion. And Susette, welcome back. Hello. Hello. By day two, you are no longer technically a D23 rookie. You now have one entire day of experience under your belt.

4:46Yes. Yes. Yes. But we're also adding another voice to our conversation today. Joining us is our good friend, the wella, who many of you will remember from our legacy Disney Land podcast. And from her many appearances here on Connecting with Lollap. Wella, it is wonderful to have you back with us. Yes. Hi everyone. And I'm excited to be a part of the conversation. And my wasn't it a exhausting D23, but a good exhaustion, right? All good. Day two gave us another fascinating mixture of Disney history, creativity, characters, and the passion hearing and a glimpse into the future of Disney parks and experiences. And one of the things I enjoy about attending D23 with friends is that we don't always attend the same presentations. Sometimes we divide and conquer. That means Patty and I can come back talking about Joe Rodi and floating mountains while Svuella and Susette can tell us what we miss celebrating Spider-Man and returning to the mammal metropolis of Sutopia.

5:53But there were also some experiences we absolutely wanted to share together, including conversations with Disney legends. And of course the huge Disney experiences presentation at the Honda Center. So we've got a lot to talk about. Let's head back to day two of D23. So this is the Disney legends in conversation. And all of us attended this one. So one of the many things that has always fascinated me about Disney history is that it isn't simply the history of one man or one company. It's the history of people. Walt Disney may have provided the vision, but he surrounded himself with extraordinarily talented individuals who helped turn ideas into films, characters, attractions, music, and experiences that have endured for generations. And the Disney legends program recognizes many of these people whose contributions have become part of that remarkable legacy. So in all four of us had the opportunity to attend Disney legends in conversation.

6:56This seemed like a particularly appropriate presentation for connecting with Walt. Before we get into the individual stories we heard, let's talk about the presentation itself. So for everyone, what were you expecting from this panel when you walked into the room? So Patty, what did you expect? Well, like the title says, and I'm just happy to hear more conversation because we don't really get that much engagement from all the all the legends during the legends ceremony. So I like the opportunity to have a more slightly unscripted look at who the people are and any kind of quirky stories that they can share. Yeah, Lewella, how about you? Yes, I agree. And with there being a moderator, I think it can lead to interesting stories, which when they do the legend ceremony, which is fantastic and they're highlighting all their accomplishments. I was hoping to hear certain nuggets and which I did.

7:57And it wasn't a very large group, which is nice. So they can go into details. And what I also loved is that in what I was expecting is just there's four different types of legends. There's an animator, there's an imaginer, there's a voice actor, there's a Broadway star. So I was hoping to listen to the dynamic between the four of them, which is what I got. It was a great man. It was. Yeah, it was. Yeah, from all different areas of the company. So is that how about you? What were your expectations? I really think that the panel, the presentation was exactly what I expected after going through day one and seeing how those panels work for the first time. It was exactly what I thought it was going to be, you know, the four of them sharing their stories was somebody kind of guiding it. I think the thing that surprised me was some of the interaction between Eric Goldberg and Alan Tudyk. Because there was some overlap with them and Eric was just kind of, he was just a character. But.

9:01So I think it was what I expected. So, so let's get into it now that the Disney legends that were there were Eric Goldberg, who's an animator, long time animator with Disney and imagine your Kim Irvine voice actor Alan Tudyk. And then actors Broadway actors and voice actors Susan Egan. And then the moderator was Robin Williams and rock rock. Robert. Robin Williams back. As the genie. Yes. Which Eric Goldberg animated. So maybe that's what that was in my head. Yeah. So anyway, so she was the moderator and she started out by saying and the good thing about having all of us here is that you all will add into what I didn't write down. So she said she fell in love with with all of us back in 2019. Of course that's when she became a Disney legend.

10:06She said, I wanted to come back to thank you because you encourage us to be creative. And that was a big theme through I think this whole day of people saying that about about D23 members. So her first question to the group was what is the creative process you bring to a project and Susan Egan and feel free to jump in and hold you in a elaborate because some of these I only have like one sentence written. Susan said it's the source material you draw from. And then Eric said an animator can't just start drawing. You have to know the character. He said he had to get to know Phil, you know, in Hercules. So he knew him is a workout coach and a half goat. And and he mentioned that he still animates on paper. He's really for a long time until recently he was only 2D animator left.

11:11Now Kim, she said working in the model shop, you learn to collaborate with art directors, sculptors, and they share stories of Walt. And that lots of there's lots of collaboration and research and working as a team. And she said that the operations they state their needs. And then we and then so for instance, when they said that they needed a much larger queue for the haunted mansion. And then it's basically a imagineeering job then to work on that need. So I thought she was going to talk about they needed the gift shop for the haunted. We need a way for people to spend more money. But imagine you probably don't notice that gift shops very controversial. Is it? Is it because it anyway we can get into that later. That's another show that is hurt out of matching your hand. Nothing to do with it.

12:13Okay. But Alan said he started out as King Candy in record Ralph. And he said every character is different. They wanted an Edwin type of character. And so his agent said, he can do that. And then she called him and said, can you do that? And then and then he was the prime minister of weaselton or west. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what he announced at Wesselton. I think it's less. For Frozen, I believe it's Wesselton. And I think for Zootopia, weasel. Weasel. He's. That's right. They did do a play on that. And then he basically he started with a photo. And then he said, I think it's a lot of the character look like. And then Valentino in wish they tried him doing all kind of a lot of voice registers.

13:13And then they got to that really low one. And apparently I think this is where he said, you know, in the film, the character of Valentino says, who know I speak this low or something. That was an ad lib. And then he got to that register. That's just something he said during the recording, they decided to put in the film. So Sue, even because she brought Belle to Broadway. And she said there were five families at the time who produced Broadway shows. And Disney didn't collaborate with any of them. I don't know if she thought this was a positive thing or. Or not. Also the Disney refused to rent a theater. So they bought one. And so she said they weren't very welcome by the Broadway community. So, but with beauty and the beast they learned, you don't have to follow the film exactly.

14:14And so of course that was then followed up with the Lion King. Which is that story. And so it was fascinating just their entrance into Broadway. And how Disney was really writing a new story for them. Getting into Broadway. That was that's these are the stories that I love to hear about. When I was going to this conversation, that was very enlightening for me. Yeah, they won't put that in the Cecilria. Yeah, what's going on behind the scene? I mean, you kind of imagine these five families were mad at Disney. I mean, that picture itself. So you know, was Disney carving its own path? Or is it that they just didn't? The five families wouldn't work with them. And so they had to carve their own path. I mean, you never know that could have been it too. They said you own Broadway and you're not. Welcome. Yeah. So anyway, but yeah, I've seen I think all the Disney Broadway shows.

15:15The exception of Tarzan and they all expand upon the story now. And so they're really terrific. And then she went on Susan went on to be make in Hercules. And at first they wouldn't let her audition because she was Belle. And Belle was so different, but she just kept persisting and finally they said, OK. And so for her, she said Belle was acting, but Meg is closer to her real self. I've heard her say that before, like that Belle is a character, but Meg is where she lives. Yeah, exactly. Exactly what she said. Yeah. And so Meg was written as a 1930s femme fatale. And she said she loves those films. She's with her family and she started out as a stage actress and she never did voice acting.

16:15But this helped her be more emotive vocally on stage. And Alan said for film, you have to construct a vocal performance. So that's all I wrote for that. I don't know if there was more. Yeah, he said, let's, I think he, yeah, he said it's a process of creating and voicing a character. And then being an actor in real life and he kind of deferred to Susan on it really when they asked him, he was like, yeah, he kind of deferred to her. Yeah. Eric said that he sort of started out in the 1980s. He with the London based pizzazz pictures. He started the company and they were doing animated TV commercials and then he sort of got discovered. And then for a feature, he said, you can't be as hands on as you, as because you're as an animator, you're in front of the camera.

17:18But as a director, you're behind the camera. But Disney was different because they had directing animators leading a team of animators. So he was mentored by Art Babitt who led the Disney strike in 1941. And but he also, he also worked for Luni tunes and so or Warner Brothers. So he also animated Tweety Bird and Marvin the Martian, but he also voiced them as he has. I was fascinated that he voiced Marvin the Martian. I loved that when I was growing up. Favorite favorite. And then who's always trying to destroy the Earth because it blocks his view of something. And he says because you have to feel who they are and he did these voices there. So during during this talk. And so he told his animators they should listen to the soundtrack enough times to know the characters.

18:27So and I think even said that like you know, he knew the songs by heart. He knew everything by heart as he was animating. Okay. And then Kim said her mom worked in the model shop and she became the voice of Leota. And she was working on haunted mansion with Rolly Crump, Harriet Burns, Yale Gracie. And I didn't know this or if I did, I don't, I didn't remember. The Harriet Burns was first asked to be the projected voice for Leota. And but her face, cheekbones weren't high enough. And so then they asked her mom on Leota tombs who should be the projected face. So she would practice at home. She said, you know, and still doing the lines in the voice. She's practicing what then Kim would bring her friends over from high school. And they hear her mother practicing all of these lines, you know, in the bedroom or whatever.

19:31And they say, what's up with your mom? I was so funny. But then the make it even better. Her dad was an animator and he would animate at home. And of course, if you've ever seen videos of the Disney animators, they have mirrors up so that they can make the funny faces and voice the characters they're animating so that then they can copy some of those faces, you know, down as they draw. And then they're hearing her mother making, you know, coding all the Leota lines. And then there's the dad downstairs in the living room making all these crazy faces and voices and all that. So then it say, well, what's up with your dad? So. I would have loved to have been one of her friends walking in. Right. What is up? Stories until now. And her daughter, Ali is also an imaginer and she is a principal set director and she worked on the redo of Tune Town, which I think all of us would agree was a very successful project.

20:47I mean, I've never heard anybody unhappy with Tune Town. Because I assume that's the addition of Mickey and Minnie's runway railway. Yeah. And she even mentioned nobody knew that she was the daughter. Yeah. Which is cool. She applied and got the job without telling her mom. Yeah. So Kim went on to say, when we make changes at Disneyland, it's usually a request and they try to make the change within the story. And she was mentored by John Hent who would walk the park with her and tell her stories of why things are built the way they were. And this was like a regular thing every, you know, couple of weeks or so. I've heard her tell the story before. And then they always ended their walk with the ride on Space Mountain. Now, John is in his late 80s. And so to sign Space Mountain, it was his favorite attraction. So they'd go around once and then he'd say, hey, let's do it again. So she'd have to tell the ride operator to go again and ride operator would have this stem look on these.

21:54There's this old man in there. And she said, Kim said she would just shrug her shoulders and say, yes, it's okay. Plus they'd go around again. I couldn't do that. I could not go around twice in Space Mountain. Alan said, what question was how do you, how do you approach animal characters? Because he said it's a very niche role. He said he'd done a lot of birds. But when casting Moana, they were casting appropriate actors for the roles. Well, he said he's a white kid from Texas. So they cast him as the chicken. And he got the call when he was in Hawaii. So he followed a chicken or act. I guess getting, getting inspiration. Then when he was, then the two cannon in Conto, he got, he said, Ayago didn't have a voice in the live action film. But, well, Ayago didn't have a voice in live action film.

22:56But he, so he didn't speak. So when kids hear, one of the things is that when parents like introduce him to a child and say, he's the voice of like King, this is King Candy or something like that. They look at or one of his other characters. They look at him like he's a fraud. And then he will speak in the voice. And then they then they realize, yes, he's really King Candy whoever it is. And then he did show a clip of Eric Goldberg's animation of Alan voicing King Candy. That's always fun when you get to see that really granular beginnings. Yeah, I love that. He's films they take. He said it was the first time he had done that he had worked with Alan's voice and King Candy. And then they said they were invited to watch Frozen before its release.

24:00It wasn't quite finished. Then afterwards there was a dinner and everyone got merchandise. But that there was no Duke of weezerton weezleton merchandise. So he had an so what they did is the animators sketched his character and framed it. So Josh Gads says we got merchandise and he gets that. So now everyone gets a framed sketch of their character that they voice in the film. So Susan Egan said songs in the Disney films are special and they go beyond the films. So she's now the godmother of a Disney ship. And then she joked and said she said now Alan will want one. And then Alan Mankin wrote a song for the stage show of Beauty and the Beast. It's called House. And the production that was running long.

25:01So Alan Mankin basically was told to cut a verse from home. And so he didn't want her to find out because she was new, you know, to Broadway and all that. So he didn't want her to find out in front of everybody that one of her verses is being cut. So he called her and left her a voicemail letting her know. And so and it didn't bother her. She said she said she said she was more touched that he would think highly enough of her to call her. And I think she said she saved the voicemail. And but then she but then she said she sort of pretended she was hurt and then asked if it could be recorded for the album. So the cut verse is in the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. And then Robin asked well there have to be challenges along the way. How did you overcome them? Kim said she did and I don't think this is what Robin wanted to hear from Kim.

26:02Because Kim said she really didn't face any challenges. There were a lot of women at wed by this time. And it but a Disney land. It was all men. So she did have two strikes against her there. She was from wed and she was a girl because they were setting up an office at Disneyland and the imaginary office there on site. So she hired a woman as a lighting director and she just said so there were two women on the team. And she said she just kept working on teams going the meetings working with them. And you know finally, you know she was accepted and there were no issues. Eric said that finding the tone on Pocahontas was difficult. He said after working on the Genie and the Latin, he had to sort of subsume any comedic tendencies to stay, you know, to stay on the picture.

27:03Because there wasn't a lot of comedy in Pocahontas. So finding the tone of the picture when it's about a real person is difficult. And I do remember at this time they were also animated. There's another team animating Lion King. And everyone thought Pocahontas was going to be the big hit. So the people who are working on Lion King felt they were on the secondary picture. And it turned out to be the opposite. And then Alan said, his parents didn't take him to Disney animated films when he was young. So he loved the live action films like Apple Gumbling Gang. And he watched Loonie tunes on TV as a kid so he draws from that. So he didn't plan a career in animation. He did a little something for ice age and nothing for years until wreck it Ralph when he was 40 years old.

28:03And then he said nowhere has he had so much freedom to improv on the characters than at Disney. And Susan said there is something different about this company because there are no obstacles. They always welcome new ideas and they want the creativity. And then Robin said, you know, D23 super fans are our lifeline. Eric said thank you for enjoying our stuff. We do it all for you. And Kim is grateful for how much people love and care about Disney Land Park. So that's pretty much what I have for that panel. Is there anything I left out or anything you wanted to add? Well, there was one story that Alan Tudyk told about those drawings that really kind of stuck with me.

29:05He said that the drawings didn't start until frozen, but wreck it Ralph was before that. And so he didn't have any drawings of him. You know, he didn't have merchandise. He didn't have he didn't have a gift like that. And so that that day of the panel, he actually got a picture from Eric of a drawing, a couple of drawings of Ralph. Because when they had all met on Zoom the week before to kind of like talk things over and how they were going to do this, he said he had been asking people at Disney for years. And everybody kept saying, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll get to it. We'll get to it. And he said, I just asked Eric if he would do it for me. And Eric had given it to him that day. And he was he was very pleased by it. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, that was a very nice story. So did you did any of these stories give you a different perspective on any of the legends? Well, I was super excited to meet Eric Goldberg because I actually had a signing with him the day before in day one.

30:13So me and my friends got that as one of our RSP choices. And he gave us a beautiful artwork that was a lot of the characters he drove. And I remember telling him, I'm excited to see you at legend and conversation tomorrow. And he appreciate he said that. But I didn't think he'd be that funny. He was so funny. He was so. Yeah, I'm intrigued. That was probably. Yeah, that was probably like my biggest surprise because you know, when you're doing these meet and greets, it's just like, okay, thanks, you know, but he really led himself his real personality shine. And they talked a lot about collaboration. And I think they're all legends in their own right, but there really is a lot of people that help them get to that point. A lot of collaboration. Yeah. So after hearing these legends speak, what do you think makes someone a Disney legend is it simply the body of work they created or is there something more?

31:14I'm trying to make things. I think that it has to do with their achievements. I think Eric Goldberg's legend should have came sooner. I've been a great admirer of him. I'm glad it came when it did. Some of them I wonder they came so early, but they did have a great achievement that they provided to the company. So I can see why they were announced to be a legend. I think it's the achievement that they give to the Disney company. That's what I'm seeing. I think one of the things that struck me also is not only did was it their body of work, but they all seem to have such delight in bringing these characters to the audience and to the Disney community. And they all seemed really engaged with how all of this artwork was accepted, you know, the various things they were doing and how much it meant to them that it meant people.

32:21So to me, it was also kind of like not only what they did, but that they were striving to bring something of quality that people would enjoy. But that ties into them back to storytelling and the theme that I believe Robin mentioned at one point was a connection and like human connection and just going along with everything, what everybody said, it's just basically how many people can they touch with their work and with their body of work. And I believe they've mentioned it at one of the panels in the evening about human connection and reimagining human connection and some of the rise and stuff. So it's just a recurring theme that keeps going on and all these panels. I think they they exude a spirit that is really unique, a love for what they do and a love for the people that they do it for. The all sorry, sorry Michael.

33:22No, that's okay. Go on. The only one I was truly familiar with was Alan Tudick way back in 2002 with Firefly and his career, my husband and I watch a show that he does called resident alien. It's ended and and then just all of the various voices he does. So he was really the only one I knew and I was delighted to be there because he was there. And Eric Goldberg, he just kind of was like a he was just like a sleeper agent. You just didn't expect that you know this was he was going to bring that. I'm hoping he can also reader. Oh gosh, can you imagine the chaos? You know anybody that wears an aloe shirt, a Disney aloe shirt with suspenders. Yes, yes, I don't know if you noticed at the legend ceremony when they got everybody up on stage and they were telling them, OK, you know, we're going to take the picture now.

34:23If you go back and watch it, he kind of goes out there and he's standing there and he's just kind of standing by himself and the Jonas brothers kind of go up and they're like, OK, you know, they kind of like take him under their wing. And they're like, we need to do that here and because he was just so excited to be there, but it was so cute that moment between the Jonas brothers and him at the legends showcase. Well, sometimes I always find meaningful about these gatherings, something I always find meaningful about these gatherings is like this is that what's like a seated stop in 1966. People who want to call it another generation, that generation taught another and eventually people who never met Walt, remember the less influence by ideas and standards that could be traced back to him. That's one of the reasons these conversations matter. We're not simply celebrating careers. We're listening to human chain through which Disney's creative legacy has been passed from one generation to the next.

35:25So our next presentation took Patty and me into the world of imaginary and into the extraordinary imagination, one of the most distinctive imaginaries of the modern Disney era, Joe Rodi. Long time Disney fans certainly know Joe from his work on Disney's animal kingdom, particularly the remarkable detail and storytelling that define that part. Small part of this conversation focused on another enormous imaginary challenge bringing the floating mountains of Pandora to life. So think about that assignment for a moment. James Cameron creates a world for motion picture in which enormous mountains appear to float in the sky and then somebody says to the imaginaries essentially build that. Patty and I attended floating mountains of conversation with Joe Rodi and this is exactly the kind of presentation I love at T23 because it takes us beyond what guests see and allows us to understand how imaginaries think. So Patty, before we get into the technical side of the presentation, what was it like seeing Joe Rodi in person and hearing him describe the creative process in his own words?

36:34I find him to be so fascinating. The way his mind thinks and the way I mean I was listening or I have relist into the presentation and I walked away with it just thinking you know what he's he's like a creative scientist almost. He's very scientific in his thinking, but he's also very good at structuring the organizational thinking that's required for creativity, which almost sounds like a counter counteracts each other, but but it works. And I feel I don't have the book I wasn't able to get the signing or anything so I'm hoping that he tours for the next year and I catch him, but I feel like his book is probably like a master class into his organizational thinking type of mind. I had seen him when he was in the legends of conversation panel back in 2024 when he was inducted. So I was always fascinated with his story even back then, not knowing that you know he grew up on film sets because of his father being a cinematographer on like planet of the apes and everything, but he had he had some really great gems of when and with you know bits of wisdom that he showed up.

37:57And this presentation. Oh yeah, and floating mountain, you know he precedes his floating mountains, a conversation of Joe Rode's name the panel floating mountains, a priestess the name of his book and that's a metaphor. It's not just about how he created the floating mountains for Avatar. I got so drawn into this conversation. I think I stopped taking notes at one point and it was so complex. I thought that was a lot of problems, but a fellow named Ed from the Walt Disney archives was the moderator and and just introduced show and there's talking about his upcoming book and well no, first Ed came out and then he and then Disney plus this is Lisa. So he said, she was actually the moderator. So in 2024, Joe became a Disney legend and she asked when did you get the call and he said Bruce Vaughn called to tell him and he was surprised because his his work was more with the net, the net geo style than castles.

39:07So it was a great honor. It's the people who make you a legend because they believe he did something. And I'm petty, I know I've left stuff out because like I said, this was such a complex. His thought process is so complex that it involved that I know I got lost one way. So he started thinking about some type of book with that geo and so they wanted something similar to his Instagram and he wanted it to be a value. So he took his essays and he coupled them with the idea of group creativity and the art of creativity and he wanted it to focus on collaboration rather than a singular genius. However, creativity is never totally isolated. So if you're working in a group, it lifts you up. So the book opens with a Hawaiian word that means manufacturing friendship. I didn't capture the word, but that's what it means.

40:14When you introduce yourself, people want to know who you are, where you're from and what you think. So that's how you start to manufacture the friendship. So he said he comes from a creative family atmosphere like you were seeing Patty. Dad was a cameraman, mom was an actress before marriage and he said their generation thought creativity was a form of rebellion. But in his household, they encouraged him to be creative. His dad took him to film sets like you were saying Patty planted the aches and those Irwin Allen TV shows that I grew up watching, you know, like voice should the bottom of the sea and Batman things like that. I know lost in space. I think was one of them too. I hope one of you went on that set. So anyway, so he learned about the art of illusion and his dad would wake him up at 4 30 in the morning and instead of going to school, they take him to the 20th century studio lot.

41:17And then he would wander around the sets and he said it was a wonderful way of feeding the senses. And also he sort of learned about how things were constructed. He saw how the sods were in illusion in the front and then he saw the construction on the back. So he could start to see how things were made. And then in junior high, he fell in with a rough crowd. And he was also reading books from the library on French architecture and Chinese history and all these eclectic kind of things. So he was sent to high school for boys who needed more direction. And so his teachers dared him to build a theatrical set. And I think he said, yeah, well, I decided I'd show her. And so he didn't go into detail about the set, but I got the impression it was an elaborate one.

42:21And then he said he also acted as well. And then he was a teacher for three years, which he said makes you a student again. So you have to craft the information so that it gets through to the students. And then he said he got sort of harvested out of teaching and into imaginary through a friend. But he had never heard of it. So he put together a portfolio and then he he had hair down to his waist at this time of his life. He went to an interview and he was hired as an entry in an entry level position in the model shop. And he said there was a huge model of Epcot. And he realized he couldn't do this, but he couldn't lose this job. So he had to figure out how to migrate to something that he could do.

43:24So he worked on the Mexico pavilion and he was good at rock work and things. And then he worked on Disneyland's new fantasy land dark rides. And then the project ended. And then Tony Baxter, though brought him back as a concept illustrator. And he did early sketches for a temple ride near the jungle cruise that would become Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones adventure. And he worked with Marty Sklar. He said for creative people, information is raw material. And he said, you want to keep the system really flat rather than a pyramid system. So Marty felt the walking around visiting offices and cubicles and checking on everyone, seeing how they think, making them feel seen. That's a lot of what Marty did every day. And he said a lot of that stuff didn't get built. They were working on.

44:26And he said it was crazy, but Marty was very patient with it. He was also fascinated by how the human brain operates. Or he's fascinated by how the human brain operates. And then he said humans involuntarily react to the concept of status. And he said, we get this from primates. So this is where his thinking was sort of going all over the place and getting like really fascinating. It is he mentioned the gorilla. I forgot the gorilla's name on the safari. Genoa the gorilla. So when they were walking around at animal kingdom, Gina, the gorilla would detect executives. He figured out who they were and he would make a big display to show he was in charge. But when he got Joe Rody, he didn't do this because Joe said he ran a flat organization.

45:29So it was really interesting. So when animal kingdom started, there were no titles. Everyone was equal. But he would always assign himself subordinate jobs. And so it created an atmosphere where people can talk to each other. And he said roles is just, you know, roles in a project are just roles because you never know when creative ideas can come from. And he said you don't want to say creativity can only come from certain roles. So he said human beings are fundamentally narrative creatures. We assemble stories with our brains. Stories work because of a plot. Not because of a plot, but because of the theme. The plot is within the theme. So if you state what the theme is in the beginning of the project, you get an extraordinary tool to direct the theme.

46:33And everyone is a director who can create appropriate things that gives everyone autonomy and freedom. And remember, Patty, what do that whole thing about? Is about the doorknob. Yeah, so if you went through this whole organizational exercise with the entire room and said, well, if you were going to design animal kingdom. You know, nature is a value and to create a product where the value is nature. What would be the theme would it be a formal nature or informal in the crowds as informal. Okay, so if you have a building, would it be Christine or would it be weathered and say weathered and what if there was a doorknob? It would be, you know, shiny or rusty and everyone said rusty and they're like, okay, and in five seconds, we've already know what this one little piece in this theme park would look like. Now, there's 700 people who are creative. They might all have different interpretations of what a rusty doorknob on a door in a boring building and animal thinking would look like.

47:42But it will all be according to that theme. And it was kind of like to watch that in real time and just listen and participate. It was just like a wow, like wow, this is great. It's like, would the door be made out of metal or wood? And then that's why now everybody had a visual concept of what this whole area would look like. So as they went on the create, they didn't have to ask anymore because they knew the theme. So yeah, but it was great. And he did it all in like one minute. It was so quick. It was so quick. Yeah. So he said, he said that he is a conservative designer and he's aware of money due to his childhood. And there was that then there was a tree of life story. Do you remember that one, Patty? He was well, I remember the floating mountains more, but the tree of life, I think he said, they designed it and had a thought of the banion tree.

48:49And he had every every other person who was saying, well, if you wanted to, we're going to do a geogasic dome on top or something. And other people, the sculptors were coming in saying, well, if you're going to spend this much money on this, we can actually sculpt the animals to be a lot bigger. And then the concrete people came in and said, well, we can do this. And it said it just organically wound up being that they didn't even need the geogasic dome. By the time they were finished, everybody, every person with their part was contributing. And it's a kind of a way of life that it just kind of morphed into what the tree of life is today, without even trying, and without even being close to what he thought about, there was going to be in the very beginning. Yeah, but his initial concept for it was organically became what it is today through all these conversations.

49:50And people throwing their creative ideas out there, it was fascinating for this. And then he said, there was a lot of pushing boundaries not everyone was on board with animal kingdom. He said it was a very different business plan. You know, what what is exciting about animals. There's lots of data that people find animals exciting, but he had to convince executives. And there's the very famous Tiger story that I've related on the show a few times where in order to prove to Michael Eisner and, and, and Wells, Frank Wells, that they were excited. They had a meeting and the other executives there too, and they had, they put in like, you know, plants and all that in the room. And then they had hired a trainer to bring. He brought a lion and a tiger and the lion.

50:50The lion was not going to have anything to do with this, so they didn't bring in the lion. So then as so as Joe Rody's pitching his presentation about animal kingdom, what people find animals exciting said into the trainer then walks the tiger in through the room. And all that of course Michael Eisner and Frank Wells just like, oh my god, kind of thing. But if he proved his point, the people find animals exciting and interesting and all this stuff. So it's very famous story. He said he did get in trouble. So he said, but you have to be willing to get into a little trouble sometimes. And it helps the system not to be too rigid and it helps you grow. And there's more to that story. It's in one of these things that the secretary had a whole thing going on as she saw these animals arrive and, and all this kind of stuff. So anyway, it's a key story. And then anyway, so he talked about the adventurous club.

51:52It was the first autonomous club and originally thought it would be about magic with someone with some set decoration of masks and spears and things. But it's a project began, it began to morph and ideas cascaded and they decided magicians would be too expensive. But they still had the adventure theme. And so then it became a living character sort of prototype. And it worked theatrically because it was all about belonging with the anthem and the secret handshake and convolution, you know, all this stuff. So it just sort of became a place where people just wanted to be. I never went. Did you go? No, Caroline, we're going to go, but she was too tired. And so I said, oh, we'll go on our next trip. And it was like weeks after that, the announced it's closing. I was so disappointed.

52:52But we were like outside of it. And Carol decided she was too tired. So, oh, well, those things happen. They said having, having descent is part of the creative team is important because they help you focus on, on the project and ideas. And then there is, here's the floating mountain story in Avatar. Did you want to talk about that, Patty? Well, he gave credit to his wife who came up with the title and said that it refers to a few different things. He said it refers to magic, refers to Avatar, and it also refers to the Himalayas, which if you are in front of, they do appear to float. And you can take it from there because I think that's the extent of playing with this for you. And they're floating in real life.

53:52But at first, in building, you know, they wanted to have these floating mountains. He said, well, maybe we can make arches and we can do this. And again, it was another thing where it then sort of, well, if we couldn't do this, then we can do that. It was this whole, everybody started throwing up the creative ideas. And by the time they were done, they actually had what appeared to be floating mountains. You know, in the Avatar land. And yeah, and he showed photos. There were a lot of photos in this presentation. He showed photos of the Himalayas mountains in Nepal. And they do, there's these smaller mountains. Then there's all of these clouds. And then suddenly above the cloud. So you think you're looking at the Himalayas. But now the Himalayas mountains are behind all of these clouds, the tops of them. And they literally look like they are floating in the air. I mean, it is very magical.

54:56And yeah, and his wife came up with the title. And it does mean magic and imagination. And now he's, he'd work with Jane Goodall. He's working on a project in Tasmania. For her, it's an artist to artist project. And it is her dream project. Future projects that he wants to do. He really wants to now work with artists and explores on commercial works of art. He likes connecting people through art. So that's what he sees his future be. There was a Q&A. How do you know when to stop refining something? It was a question. He said, creative people have to stop and ask, is it emotionally and cognitively effective? You know, does it work? And if the answers are yes, then he said, then you stop. That was the only question I chatted down. I don't recall if there were others.

55:59That was the one I found interesting. I don't remember. I do wish that they would have touched on Halani a little bit more. They didn't really touch on that one as much as I thought they might. And he was very instrumental on that too. I've heard him talk about it before. But it was really good. And his thinking and the way he just, he said that there's an organizational diagram even in the book. He has it in there. So I am interested in seeing more about, you know, his flattening technique is what he calls it for. He's an organization and how he works. It's just really interesting stuff. Yeah, it was. I'm looking forward to getting his book. I'm hoping he's going to be at the Walt Disney Family Museum giving a talk at some point. Because I know he is making the rounds. He's going to be here in New York at the Times Square, um, Disney store on September 9th, I believe.

57:08Are you going? I wish, but I don't think I can make it during the time that he's going to be there. So I'm hoping he makes another loop back to the East Coast. You may, he may. But Joe Rodi's work raises an interesting question about imaginary. When imaginary are creating something completely fantastical. How important is it that the fantasy still feels believable? Pandora doesn't exist. When you're standing there, Disney wants you to believe that it could exist. And isn't that something Walton is imagining yours were doing from the earliest days of Disneyland? While whilst Patty and I were exploring floating mountains in the creative process of Joe Rodi, Loella and Susette headed in an entirely different direction from Pandora to Queens, New York. They attempted celebrate 65 years of Marvel Spider-Man. Now, this is one of the advantages of having four people covering D23.

58:08I didn't attend this presentation. So Loella and Susette, you are going to have to take us inside this room. So first set the scene for us. What exactly was this presentation? Did you, did you have any expectations, Loella going into this? You know, 65 years is a lot of years. It's almost as well as this Disneyland. So I thought they were going to just talk about everything, which is what they did. But you know, first off, Susette, thank you for letting me join you. I know you got this as your RSV. But I had tried to get into a Spider-Man panel the last D23 expo, and I didn't line up early enough. So I never made it into the room. But the room was tiny. The room was tiny. And then so when I came into here, they did the premiere. I guess that's what they called it, the premiere room. It was huge. Oh, yeah. So I had 3000 people at there. Yeah. And I knew they were going to fill that room.

59:10Especially with brand new day having just come out. Yes. And I will say this is, you know, when we were registering for the panels we wanted, Patty was like, you know, put the max guests, put the max guest. And so I was so happy when we discovered that you had Zootopia. And I wanted that. And I had Spider-Man and you wanted that. So it worked out really well. But I kind of didn't know what to expect going into it. So I, but I kind of like you said, it was kind of like, well, they got a lot to cover. So just to kind of paint the picture for Michael and Patty. What they did is they just really touched on all the mediums that Spider-Man is consumed by the public. You know, they started out with Marvel. Then they went to Disney Junior. Then I've got let me, let me think, but they went to Disney Junior. Then they talked to, um, they talked about the Disney parks.

1:00:16The Disney parks. Yeah. They talked about, um, like I think one of the TV shows. Oh, yeah. Your neighborhood Spider-Man. So then they went back to TV. And then they did Kevin Feige and Jacob battle battle battle on. And they just ended with the movie, but they, they started with the montage with Stanley narrating it. So they were, they were touching on the fields. They're a little bit of history of white, of his idea on creating Spider-Man. So if you had known nothing about Spider-Man sitting at the, for the montage alone, talked a lot about just his creation. And however you consume Spider-Man, they touched upon. And I think that was one of the, a nice thing. I think, you know, since Disney purchased Marvel and, you know, and inherited this Spider-Man character and really brought it into Disney.

1:01:21And there's even rides now. I think it's a great way to just encompass 65 years of Spider-Man. I was glad to hear the montage, the, the Stan Lee's, the, the him talking and talking about. But because really, they didn't touch on Stanley much. Yes. When they were doing, they started the panelists for the talking to people. I mean, when they talked to the comic book guys, it was, you know, Stanley created the character and blah blah blah. But they just kind of like, that was about all they mentioned Stanley, really. Did they mention Steve Ditko? I don't remember his name being mentioned. I don't remember. I'd add up a plaque to him at Avengers, um, campus next to Stan Lee's. I think what this panel was doing was talking about things coming up. So, um, the host, his name was Brandon Davis and he introduced, of course, he began with comics.

1:02:22And, um, he introduced, I think the editor and the writer, his name is Nick Lowe and Joe Kelly. And the main thing they talked about is Spider-Man's 1000th comic, which is coming on September 30. So, if you want to get that comic, why I, I checked it out. It's already the pre sale sold out. Oh, there's a collection. Well, and they said it was delayed by two weeks because they ran out of paper. Yes, they give me orders. What? Yeah, the pre orders were so big, they had to push the release date because they ran out of paper. Wow. And they had to get more paper to even just handle the pre orders. That's crazy. And then if you could imagine, there's lots of variant covers and everyone wants to collect it. But it's going to be, they gave hints on it and there's going to be an interview with Tom Holland on this 1000th comic. So 65 years and this is the South 1000th one.

1:03:22I think that's an amazing milestone. I think they said it's the only comic to ever reach that. Did I? Maybe not. I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but. They also teased a new villain. And I don't know, are we giving away spoilers? Should we talk about? Yeah, talk about whatever they meant, talked about in the panel. Well, they, they also said that they are bringing in. That Spider-Man doesn't know it, but he has a cousin. That, um, may, what was been in May, right? Yeah, uncle, and uncle Ben, uncle Ben had a child that they thought died at birth. Oh my God. And all these years later. Oh, yeah. And so they, they thought this child had died at birth. And so in the 1000th episode and the 1000th comic, they are introducing a new character to Spider-Man.

1:04:25And it is his, is it the cousin he knew nothing about? Who is his nemesis? They did it. They did it. Say, I don't think they want to spoil a lot, but they did mention, you know, uh, you know, that was in the comic. Like, how do you keep writing stories? I mean, that's a square, the way who hasn't had the love that Peter had. I mean, that's just like drama, dreaming, just that this underneath. Oh, God. Okay. Well, and they also said, Noah Holly, Noah Holly, who has done a lot of television and stuff. I think I'm trying to remember what I can't remember off the top of my head. He's also helping write this episode. And it's like the first time he's ever written comics. Yeah. So exciting September 30. Yeah. Then they went to Disney, Jr. I was very fascinated with, I don't know about you, Susette, but when they talked about Disney, Jr.

1:05:26First off, what I'm going to say is it's the longest running Spider-Man series. And it's also the most watched Marvel television series on Disney Plus, which is over a billion views. I'm sorry, Spidey in France. Spidey in France. His amazing friends. Yes, yes. It is just creating a whole new generation of fans. They started this panel talking about what was your introduction to Spider-Man? And this spider and friends, it's a real early introduction to preschool. They had the head of Disney, Jr. Alissa Sapphire, come out and speak. Sapphire, yeah. Yeah, about how, you know, when you're talking about Spider-Man and preschool and how they really were thoughtful on this generation. And I was just amazed that I did not know that this is the, at over a billion views on Disney Plus.

1:06:26I didn't know where that went. Yeah, she said they have created a Spider-Man that preschoolers can call their own. Yeah. Yeah, that's cute. Yeah, he's really cute. I haven't seen an episode. I, my kids are too old for that now, but it's very smart. I've just seen it on the scroll. You know, when you get on Disney Plus and it's like on top of the suggested or whatever, I've seen the images of them. They look very adorable. And you see the toys in the stores. Well, one of the things brand and Astor was like, how did the idea even come to be? And she said it, at Disney Junior, they really make a point to understand preschoolers and to meet them right where they are. Their interests and their passions and what fuels their imagination. And she said, and we know they love superheroes. And so when the time was right, they connected with the people at Marvel. And this is the result.

1:07:28Yes. And they showed a little clip. I guess there's for it's renewed for another season, but they showed a little clip of the Halloween episode that's going to come. And there are two new villains, but they're voiced by Patrick Stump of fall-out boy and. Himes from the band Hime and they sing a song. So I thought that was cute. And you know, it's these Halloween episodes are always fun. So that's yeah, I think they look forward to that's coming up. So the next season is season seven. Yeah. And that's one of the things she said is they've been renewed for season seven. Yes. And then what was what was next in the Disney parks. They had Brent Strong. He's executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering and Brian Crosby studio executive of experiences and development.

1:08:33They touched on Avengers campus talking about bringing that attraction to life. And I don't know. Web slingers. Yes. Web slingers. They talked about that. Yeah. Talked about the how they have a news. It had a new spider suit and designing the spider bots and just encompassing that into Avengers campus. As well as they didn't go into too much detail, but there's a whole new land spider man land at Shanghai Disneyland. That's going to be devoted entirely to spider man, which really says a lot about. I think that's the most important thing. The most important thing is that the spider man, just you know, spider man, just worldwide. Such a blue love is care under. I think at the event. Is it all the theme parks? There's a spider man attraction in every one of them. Yes. I think. I love that one at Disneyland that web slingers. I think that is the greatest ride.

1:09:35It's a great. Yeah. I think that's the most important thing. After that portion, they, then they talked about the. They had Jeff tremble from his spider man showrunner about friendly neighborhood spider man. And they just finished season one and they're now talking about season two leading into the classic villains. And they also shared a little clip of. Season two. And he announced. Yeah, it's it's animated and he announced that season two will drop in January of 2027. When I was young, they also had a spider man cartoon series too. Yeah, I remember growing up. Spider man. They played that a little bit at the beginning. They did. Yeah. I saw season one of the friendly neighborhood spider man. It's interesting. I've forgotten it because it's been a little while and so I'm like, well, I'm going to have to watch it all over again to remember.

1:10:37What's going to happen for season two? Because I feel like it's been. I don't know how long, but long enough that. I don't necessarily remember it all. So he said everybody has been very patient with them. So I think you're you must be right. It must be a little bit because he said everybody's been so patient. I just thought it would be one of those one and then cancel, you know, after season one type of things. But it was well done. And they brought in Dr. Strange, I think, on it as well. First season one. It's an interesting. Yeah. So yeah. So then what was next after Disney parks or after friendly neighborhood spider man. And then they have they ended with the bang. The movies spider man brand new day, which at that time. I think was over 1.9 billion. It's earned. That's what he said. Yeah.

1:11:37Yeah. And that was this is the the nice surprise. I mean, when they came out first, they introduced the actor who played Ned Lee. So Jacob Batallan. He came out. And then after that Kevin Feige. And people were really chanting Tom Holland. Not Tom Hall. But they had a video from Tom Holland. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. How much did we have to say. Basically, you know, thank you for your devotion to the movies and to spider man. And sorry he couldn't be there. And you know, it was, you know, you're basic. I think it's like that. Tom Holland was there. Michael, we would have heard them from the convention. Can you imagine. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. But yeah. And then at the at the end, they, you know, they talked about the movie and just spider man's legacy.

1:12:37And then the wonderful gift that we were all going to get. And then the, the, the, the graph of 65 years of spider man with all different spider man's and different costumes, which I think was a pleasant surprise. And then the nice, yeah, nice memory of this podcast. I mean, this is not podcast. The panel. Yeah. It was nice. My daughter loved it. She acquired it immediately. Because she's a huge spider man fan. So. And then she was like, well, if you have to identify one reason spider man remains one of the most popular superheroes after 65 years, what would it be? I think one of the things they touched on was that spider man is in Peter Parker is like the every man he's always in over his head. And he's always sees his angst. You always see his anxiety. And he's just a real person. And I think that may be why?

1:13:37Because they said even the writers are like, OK, you know, you have to write what you know and who you know. And I just think maybe because Peter Parker is so genuine. He has flaws. Real flaws that we all have. I don't know how his body takes the beating it does. OK, well, well, Lohuelens is at state together for the next presentation, but this time they left the Marvel universe behind and headed to a city where predators and prey have supposedly learned to live together. So it's hard to believe that it's already been 10 years since audiences are first introduced to Judy hops. Nick Wilde and the extraordinary world of Zootopia. So the film gave Disney animation another wonderfully imaginative world. But beneath all of the visual humor and animal puns was a surprisingly sophisticated story about assumptions, prejudice, fear, friendship, and learning to see beyond stereotypes.

1:14:39So Lohuelens, is that tell us about Zootopia 10 years in the mammal metropolis? So who was on the panel and what roles did they play in creating Zootopia? It was a big panel. It was a big panel, but they did not in the D23 app list Jennifer Goodwin and key Huy Kwan. They didn't list them. They didn't list them. And so I was really thinking they got to be there because they were there the night before at the center. So I was really crossing my fingers that they were going to be there and then they were. They came a little bit later, but I think the moderator was Yvette Nicole Brown, real involved Disney fan. She does everything. She was the moderator and introduced Jared Bush, who's the chief creative officer of Walt Disney animation studios.

1:15:41And he's also the director and writer of Zootopia. Michael Gia, who is the composer, Byron Howard, who was the director, Yvette Marino, who's also a producer. And then Clark Spencer, who is the president of Walt Disney animation studios and also the producer. And so those were the ones listed actually in the app. So I was expecting to see them. And then after their introduction, then they introduced Jennifer Goodwin and key Huy Kwan, which I had my finger was going crazy. I had my fingers crossed for Jason Bateman, but because I'm I love Jason Bateman, but no, no. I know we were hoping Jason Bateman, but I didn't think because he wasn't there the night before. Yeah, I know. I was like, oh, maybe. But I honestly was in just I was really absorbing so to be honest, I didn't take a lot of notes.

1:16:44I was just so enthralled, so excited. I love Zootopia. And when Zootopia two came out, I had my hesitations. I don't know about you, but I'm like, I don't know if you want to mess up a good thing. Yeah, mess up a good thing. But what was one of the things they touched upon and I was very excited about the Zootopia two was the key Huy Kwan. I love key Huy Kwan. I love him in Indiana Jones. And I loved him in where he got his Oscar. And so when they talked about him, one thing they mentioned was if you recall in Zootopia one, there are no snakes. And I was like, what's there no snakes? Yes, there were no snakes. And so that was a great storyline for Zootopia two. And key Huy Kwan was talking about, you know, everyone's afraid of snakes.

1:17:46And he's a pit viper. But the animators had a way of making this pit viper kind and goofy and lovable. And what you would assume would be a scary snake and really have a heart. What do you think? He said, well, one of the, I thought that was true. And I also loved the story that he told about them calling him in to interview him and not interview him. But they brought him in. They reached out to his agent and asked him if he would come in. And he went in and he said, and I was going up in the elevator and I go up there. And they bring me into this room. And there's, there's showing me all of this stuff and this, the snake and this and that. And he said, and then I went home and I called my agent, my agent said, how did it go? Did they offer you the role? And he was like, they never, they never offered me the role.

1:18:46I don't, I don't remember. And so then I think it was Byron Howard said, so let me tell you the other side of this story. So we go down, we write up in the elevator with you and we're all excited and we bring you in and we show you this and this and this. And we're all excited and then you leave and we went, wait, did he agree to do the role? Yes. So it was kind of because he was like, no, no, no, let me tell you the other side of this. So I thought it was, I just think he brings such a unique spin to everything. I think he was such a great addition. He's still endearing. So did the audience say anything about the original development of the movie? Well, they did touch on how, they did touch on how they came about it. Byron said that after Tangled, he was given the green light to do whatever he wanted and he had always been fascinated by animals. And he thought that an an a movie with animals and pants was a good idea.

1:19:49And then Jared joined the project and said, okay, but let's also put them in shirts and give them cell phones. So that's kind of how it all began, but they did talk about the research process and that they went to animal kingdom and they went to Africa. And they did research about how cities are built and how communities are built and how animals interact with each other. So they said, that's one of the good things about Disney is the research that is done and that goes all the way back to the original studios when they brought in the deer for Bambi. And so it was kind of interesting to hear that, but yeah, they did talk about how the idea came about, but then also how they went about developing it. So did they discuss any ideas, characters, or storylines that changed significantly during production? I don't I mean, they said from the very beginning, it was always a rabbit and a fox.

1:20:53But I mean, Louella, do you I don't think they really talked about any characters that changed other than with Zootopia 2 bringing in snakes. Yes, and then with Zootopia 3, I think that was the big thing that they also said there's no birds if you notice in the first two. And so now this is going to be about birds and you wonder like, oh, yeah, birds are coming. Birds are coming. Friendly birds or birds of prey or. Yeah, you saw was like a feather. They had they had mentioned there's no birds in the first two, just like there was no snakes in the first one. So which is crazy because you don't even notice you don't even know. Then you go, oh yeah. So it's like they had it all planned out that these are we're going to do sequels. Yeah, maybe you said there was always going to be a fox and a rabbit that they talk about.

1:21:54Why why that relationship became the emotional center of the film. I'm not sure why Byron went with that. He just said that there was always there now when. I mean, it is predator prey. You know, kind of things. Yeah, he did not go into why I don't remember him going into why that. I don't remember that, but Jennifer Goodwin did talk about how. Judy and Nick they're like puzzle pieces that. Complete each other. They yeah, they they're really partners. They make each other better animals. Yes, and that she feels like they can't exist in isolation. She said it's an intangible thing that they are together and that they're kind of like an opposites attracts kind of thing. Okay, yeah, did they say anything about the legacy of a zoo to be after 10 years?

1:22:54Why it's so popular and now going to be theme park. Well, he said that he said that he feels it resonates with the audiences and it goes back to Disney that Disney encouraged people to dream big. And it reminds them that anything is possible. And he said he feels that's the main theme of Zootopia that anything anybody can be anything. And so he said that's why he feels it resonates with the audience. He talked about the how Zootopia has really shown that there's belonging and kindness and you celebrate each other's differences. And that's what he loves about Zootopia and just the that whole franchise. And so like I said, I was really skeptical about the Zootopia to know I'm excited about it. But I'm always afraid that they'll mess it up.

1:23:54It's just fantastic, but I think they did a great job. And I'm excited about the next one. The first one, the second one, the third one. The third one, the third one. The third one. You know I think that it just made me love it more. And I really did. At the end of the panel, you just love Jennifer Goodwin and Keith Waikon because they didn't leave. They went to the front and stayed as long as they could to let people take selfies with them. Just love them. You just love them. And I was just running up to the front and it wasn't until their hand was like, we gotta go, mix panelists coming. And they love their characters and they love this franchise and even all the other panelists just love this franchise. And so I would love to see as Utopia land

1:24:58and expansion of the characters. But it made me want to watch the first one again, but I've seen the first one multiple times, multiple times. I just, and I, you know, have to say, even I might like the second one even more just because of Gary, the snake. So, well, it makes you want to go back and watch it and go, okay, are there really no birds? Sorry. Yeah, there are. I just really, really start paying attention to the detail, seven. Because it is one of those movies that you probably pick up on more and more as you watch it, the more things you pick up on. So, yes, so is that, so is that that's what's gonna get you to go and watch it again and see if there are any birds? Oh, yeah, I think so, definitely. Well, great. Well, yeah, I'm just gonna get me to watch them both again. I really like both those films. So, now when it was time for all four of us to reunite after that, because if you're attending D23

1:25:58and Disney's about to tell thousands of fans what's coming next to it's clean parks, resorts, cruise ships, and experiences around the world, you go to the Honda Center. The Disney experiences showcases become one of the most anticipated events of D23, because this is where Disney gives us a glimpse of the future and for Disney history fans, there's something particularly interesting about these presentations. While Disney was constantly looking forward, Disneyland was never supposed to become a museum, while famously told us that Disneyland would never be completed as long as there was imagination left in the world. So, whenever Disney announces major changes to its parks, I find myself asking two questions. What are they building and perhaps most importantly for connecting with Walt? Does it continue the tradition of storytelling, innovation, and imagination that Walt established? With that in mind, let's talk about horizons,

1:26:59the Disney experiences showcase. So, first of all, for everyone, what was the atmosphere like inside the Honda Center before the presentation even began? So, Patty, let's start with you. Well, this might have been when I stuck away to go grab food. I can't see exactly what I was thinking. You picked the one day that I wasn't there. Now, I mean, they always have their hype people in the front getting the audiences all engaged and excited for everything. So, I don't think that shifts from any other arena day. And we all just kind of sit there armchair quarterbacking wondering what do we think is going to be announced and what we will be disappointed if we don't hear more about. So, hopefully the announcements are up to our expectations, right? I know you had expectations. Oh, I should be.

1:28:02Michael did. We'll get into that. We'll go on. So, was there a sense that people were expecting some major announcements? Well, I will be honest, I had been reading a lot of social media and Instagram. And you know, just the various bloggers. And probably about the week before everybody started saying a gesture expectations, a gesture expectations. This is honestly just going to be a, this is the big announcements we had two years ago. And now we're going to kind of tell you what's happening with those. We're going to give you a little bit more. I think they spoke to that on the Disney Parks blog and when they, I don't know if the title of it was out, how really the title of it was out, but it was Caricella Progress. It was a progress report of what's happening. It was a new information. And that was the thing.

1:29:03Right? That was the thing for it. It was. Yeah. So, I went into it not expecting anything huge and major. Now, of course, you know, we did have some surprises here in there, but I kind of, what they did is kind of what I was expecting. I went in expecting to half of what we heard will never be built. You know, it looks, I mean, having attended this experience panel years since almost the beginning, it is a big show to me, like with Neil Patrick Harris. Oh, it got so great, right? All of the, well, it's streaming on Disney plus. So now it's a huge production. Yeah. So I think for me, it just, it takes away from the intimacy and I feel what they're going to announce is going to happen because it's not like this private little room when we were there because now they're streaming it. So for that reason, I feel like, well,

1:30:07there's not as many announcements or it's not as detailed as the announcements. It's not as detailed. And I think that's because now they have to have room for the production numbers. Yes. It's not as detailed. But as you said, the host was Neil Patrick Harris. My, your favorite. And then the band is the Phoenicians and Neil, Neil, we're on first name. Cheese. When you're calling him in pH, I'm hanging. I'm hanging. I'm hanging. I'm hanging. I'm hanging. So he said this is his first time at D23. The, the, actually, he has some good lines written for him. The last host was Josh Demaro. And if my math is correct, before months, I'm, I'm, I'm 24 months away from being CEO and 48 months away from owning the Lakers. Oh, yeah, that was money.

1:31:07That was money. It just been announced the day before. So the food is for the old Bob Iger had bought what? 51% interest. I think of the Lakers. Hi. So the song. Um, the song, the role waiting for me, waiting for me as a cast member. Oh, um, he had a song and it was to be a Disney and a metronik. Again, it was, it was very cute. So Tick McCart, Nataro, she had a recurring, there were several recurring people who had little joky things. So she was Abraham Lincoln in the theater, Skylar Austin and someone else, the other guy, the other Imagineer, I did. Darren Chris. Darren Chris is the, Darren Chris. This is Darren Chris. They came, they were pirates. So and then, um, oh gosh, I can't, oh, and then, um,

1:32:10Chad Megan Hillty. Oh, sorry. Well, who was, okay, Megan Hillty, I don't have that name written down. She was Madame, Madame, Madame, Madame, Madame, the theater. Okay, that's right. And then Jack McBrayer, he was the cast member. And they all, this is so funny. He kept coming on. He had this, again, it was a recurring character coming out. And he, and every time he came out in some outfit, they thought, are you, did you get this from like the cast wardrobe? And he's like, no, I'm still looking for wardrobe. And he's dressed like in all these weird things. And he's like, oh, did you not buy wardrobe? No, I, this is my clothes. It's a running gag. Yeah, it was funny. We were all part of this show about being an animatronic. And then, um, and then Paige Ahara was there. And then, and they sort of break. And then Joe Rodi came out to fix them. That was hilarious. When they got stuck, which I think was repeated the lines over and over again.

1:33:10Yeah. Yeah. Sort of a spoof on the, the Yeti. Yeah. In the attraction there. Then Tom, um, oh gosh. Maslow. Maslow. Yeah, I went through this earlier today too. Yeah, I'm getting tired. The head of Disney experiences comes out. So we put you at the center of everything we design and do. And thanks to you, the cast members, many of whom were picketing outside. Uh, that's my commentary on that. And then he says that we have new lands, new shows, new ships, new park with, and they did mention Abu Dhabi. Because I think everyone was wondering as that project already been shelved or not. So they mentioned it. Then Bruce Vaughan, president and chief creative officer of the imaginary, trotted out.

1:34:11And he said, what started 75 years ago by Walt's grown worldwide, um, nearly 50 Imagineers have been made Disney legends. And then Leslie Iwerks, um, you know, was there and he said, sorry for the loss of your father, Don, um, Don. And he said up Iwerks and Don Iwerks are Disney legends and her father's spirit lives on it Disney. And then her new film Disney World, a world builders premieres tomorrow. And of course, it's already it's now on Disney plus and. It's going to be Walt Disney Family Museum in this special presentation shortly. And then she announced this is exciting. There will be a second season of the Imagineering story. And they're filming now and she's been given access. Um, that no one has ever been given before. It's going to debut in early 2028.

1:35:11And they showed a little real, um, when the world stopped, Walt did not. Um, or when I'm sorry, when the world stopped, they did not. No, I'm a little confused by it kept me on during COVID. Yeah. And all that. He's saying Patty, but if they've used in 2028. So yeah, they started filming in 2020. And they're still filming and it's going to be here. I assume they were going back and talking about what they did during the pandemic. And what they would continue to develop things. Yeah, I mean, this is a real that they shared showed everything that we know about. I thought, at least that's how I felt when I saw this. It's so real. It didn't really give us a peek. Oh, no. That I got sort of what this is a real is, I guess. I don't know. Anyway, but I'm excited. Then Bruce said everything we imagine, everything we do, every story we tell, we do it for you.

1:36:16It always makes me feel so special. Yeah. I know he's talking right to me. Right. I know. And then, um, and then there was another little thing, the, uh, the entire area is a carousel of progress. The whole theme was that how the entire area here is a carousel of progress. They're going to take us through four chapters. So Neil Patrick Harris, he plays the father in the carousel of progress. That was sort of his character through this. It was so. Yeah. Carousel was the Walt Disney World. So they announced how they were updating the whole show, starting in the 1960s, up to today. Mother and father are going to be voiced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Brian Cranston. And, um, and then they sort of shared concept art of the 1980s. This is going to debut in the late spring of 2027.

1:37:20So what do you think of that? The shifting of the decades. My daughter is not a fan. She is a massive carousel of progress fan. She feels it should not be touched. And so she's boycottting, I think. That's against the Walt Disney War. Everything would always be moving forward. That's true. Now, I do know Jamie Lee Curtis, I was reading is a huge fan of carousel of progress. And actually at one point said she would like the story to be made into a movie. So I think it's neat that she's going to be voicing one of the roles. I think I heard that each decade is a certain holiday. So I'm, and I think the 80s is going to be Halloween. Oh. And like one of them is going to be July 4th. One of them is going to be. So I'm actually excited now. I'm excited for it. I think that it's not a museum.

1:38:21And the moment that my kids don't want to go, I think, you know, and I always feel they got me, you know, if they don't change anything, they got me who they're trying to get are my kids. They're trying to make them man. And so, you know, so I kind of take their, you know, their lead a little bit. And so I'm sometimes going to carousel of progress alone while they're writing something. So I think something, I think it, I love how it is now. We don't have it. It did me live. So, you know, I'd rather they'd change it than take it out if they're not getting the traffic. Yeah. I think, yeah, it's another generation. Carousel progress was made for people that originally grew up during those decades. Well, people like me, you know, I'm not the target audience anymore. So it's, yeah, it's time to update it. So will they get rid of the first scene to replace it with the 80s?

1:39:22But how that works? They're, they're going to be bringing in Walt to do the introduction. Yeah, and it starts with the 60s. Oh, okay. Yeah. And yeah, and they're going to have the walk and talk and Walt is going to introduce it. And it's going to be based on how we introduced, from one of his TV shows, we need to introduce carousel of progress. We would be like the Franklin Institute. For the world's fair, 6465 world's fair. The walk and talk and Walt, is that what you called him? So it would be a hologram or full animatronic. It's a Franklin. And an animatronic. Oh, it's going to be like the one at Disneyland. Yeah. Got it. So, and then what I wish they would do is have the original carousel of progress at Disneyland. I think there's this your idea, Tom. I'm not sure that have the original at Disneyland.

1:40:23And then you have the continuation, the updated one in Florida. So when you travel between the parks, you get the whole century in there. I think by updating it, it at least gives us another what, 10 years insurance of carousel of progress. Oh, it's an animatronic. An animatronic. I agree. And then for Disneyland, they talked about nighttime spectacular. February, remember dreams come true returns, refreshed with new projections, and an updated world of color. I'm in the summer. The summer, the magic happens parade returns. So basically, Disneyland is just getting all this old stuff back again. Nothing new. But refreshed. Yeah. So I was, I don't know, I don't know.

1:41:25Luella's in Tom, this is our home park. When you heard that, were you like super duper excited or were you as disappointed as I am? You know, the I went, your little light went on on your wrist. I don't know. We'll see how it is. I'm okay. I mean, I love, for example, paint the night. I mean, I love it with a passion. So which will take it away? So I wouldn't want them to take that away. I know I love it. It's already gone. So yeah. That is the, with the fireworks, I'm pretty sure that that's the one with Juli Andrews, right? Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's a great fireworks. It is a great. It's probably, if they had to bring back one, that would be the one. Oh, yeah. As far as I'm concerned. I'm not excited about the other two things, but I'm excited about from emergency in scum trip. Yeah. That's just hope Juli Andrews hangs in there.

1:42:28Right. Oh, God. Oh, geez. Okay. And then Ali Rubenstein and Mark Rover. Yeah. I think from Tokyo Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland and Paris Disneyland, they said two space mountains will be reimagined about what we love about space. So for Paris Disneyland, people are very excited about this. The original version is returning. Hyper space mountain will close and the original soundtrack will return. Yeah. Hyper space mountain never made any sense in that park. So we've got Tokyo Disneyland. We all know it's been completely rebuilt, torn down and rebuilt. This is going to be space mountain earth's rise. It's the anchor of a reimagined tomorrow land. You will literally blast into space. It says it celebrates what makes the planet so beautiful and special.

1:43:31So they didn't go in any details about it. So they say it literally will blast into space. I'm assuming it's going to be similar to what they do at Disneyland Paris, where they will launch you. They propel you. As long as it's not like mission earth, where it spins you and makes you step. Yeah. And then space ship earth, they said it hasn't been touched in nearly 20 years. So today it focuses on human communication. Now we'll focus on human connection, but it will remain classically at the cut. This has me very worried. But there's a theme, the theme of human connection. You just kept saying that like two or three times. Yeah, over and over again. I don't know what it means. So, Patty. Patty and Cezette, this is your home park. What do you think about the tinkering of space ship earth? I think it could be.

1:44:32It could be good. I was never that committed to space ship earth, to be honest. I mean, we always ride it because it's air condition. Exactly. It's a nice little rest. I think Scott falls asleep. I always like duck out and don't get my picture taken during that whole picture part. But I'm always like, no photos. I think it could be really interesting and exciting. Judy Denton. Yeah. Oh, the voice, right? They do. Yes. She is right now. I don't know. I'll be. Yeah. But it'll probably be Neil Patrick Harris. Fingers crossed. But I don't like the ending when they changed it to where you choose your own future. And this iteration is not my favorite, but I'm a little concerned about. I think we're still mapping at that part. Yeah.

1:45:33That's the work that I try not to get my photo taken. The one big thing, the one exciting thing Thomas said was, they're bringing the Yeti back to life and ex-podition Everest. Yeah. So they're trying to say goodbye to disco Yeti. And then they brought out to say goodbye. This was amazing. The queen of disco, Goria Gainer, sinking, I will survive. They wield her on a. We can't see. Can feel things. I know. I know. And it was amazing. First, she can lip sync really well. But it was it was really good. But everybody was so excited. Happy because remember they said they can't repair it because of the way it's attached to. Oh, they'd have to disassemble the mountain. They would have to. Yeah, there's always been a whole line of bull about what's going on with it.

1:46:33This surprised me because I've always said there's no way they're going to repair it. Because first of all, there wouldn't be enough attractions in the park. But because it's right, it's not affecting ridership. If ridership dropped because it wasn't working, then they would fix it. So this one really stends me. Josh Demaro said his mom told him he had to fix it. Yeah, I want to give her a list. Anyway, then we had John Stamos, Brent Strong, Kevin Feige, and lost Lobos. To talk about Marvel projects in the parks. And they said we can tell stories that go beyond the screen. So Hong Kong Disneyland, Tomorrowland is transformed. There are Tomorrowland has basically gone. It's Avengers campus at this point. The Quinchet landing platform now, there's going to be new parts of the Stark Expo to explore.

1:47:46There's 120 vertical feet that you'll go to Asgard and Wakanda and all this stuff they're talking about. Oh, I think because basically they're building basically a tower of terror, attraction, but it's Marvel themed. That's what it looked like. They had the model of it when we talk about the show for in a couple episodes. But they had a model of it in the imaginary display and all that. So, but yeah, it's tower terror. So you won't get me on that thing if I go back. Anyway, while you mind, then they talk about Shanghai Disneyland. And when you were talking about in your Spider-Man panel, the first land dedicated to Spider-Man, there'll be 20 murals throughout the land by local artists and the spider-boughts are putting together another roller coaster.

1:48:49So that will be exciting. And then at DCA, they talked about the expansion of the Avengers campus. There's two new attractions. They're down where the Quinchet is. That will be the Q. Avengers Infinity Defense. They said it's a there's massive physical sets. You'll be welcomed as recruits for affinity defense and led by Miss Marvel. God, did anybody want her back? I don't say that. I love her. No, we're friends. She's better than Captain Marvel. I love Miss Marvel. Oh, okay. We like all the women in the Marvels. We're friends of it all getting our confusing Captain Marvel. So any work with the Avengers to defeat King Thanos and the original actors are all going to appear. So I'm looking, I'm really looking forward to this attraction. I think this is going to be cool.

1:49:50I didn't think it was as big as it was until they showed all the clips. Yeah. And then the Stark flight lab, the one I am not looking forward to. Yeah, I will not write. I will not be writing that one. No, here's here's Bre Larson. Okay, so Miss Marvels and this Captain Marvels and this one and Anthony Mackie and Robert. Oh gosh. I wrote a name here. I don't know who it is. Oh, Robert Downey Jr. Yeah, of course they will they will train you. But I looked at this. This is it's one of those Kukla arm things. Twist you and do all the kids will love it. I will be just. They will be pictures of them. Yeah, and it's opening in 2028. So I know for a lot of these they were, they were, they were, they were really stressing how it's going to be a family friendly ride and someone they were with. Yeah, I'm saying why are they keep stressing that?

1:50:50I said because everybody's complaining they're just building thrill rides. The families can't go on. So that's why they keep stressing that. Now we're going to get a lot of boat rides. Yeah. So and then let's see. Oh, can I skip a page here in my little notes? Nope. No, I'm not taking it. No, no, no. And then jungle radiator springs. Oh, for, I wrote jungle and radiator springs and I have no idea why. But anyway, oh, Harrison Ford is going to be the actual model for the Indiana Jones audio animatronic in animal clothes. Yeah, I was excited about that. So and then let's see Michael. Hunger and Chris. Oh, my pen run out. Baby, I think it's a bit baby. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. To talk they talked about the new Indiana Jones attraction. So they said Harrison Ford will be the face of the eight figure.

1:51:53The name is going to be Indiana Jones in the night of the Jade surfe and the myth of the Jade surfe. They said animal kingdom is dedicated to animals, real and imagined. They will explore the Mayan culture and nature. It's set in the 1950s. So is this after he got blown up into an refrigerator? I should have asked. In the temple, there is a tunnel to the Mayan underworld that is protected by a mythological serpent. So we get sucked into the portal and have to escape and we come face to face of the serpent. I think this sounds cool. It sounds very cool. Yeah, I'm excited about it. I was sad to see dinosaur go, but I'm excited about this. Yeah, I like dinosaur. Yeah, we did too. I don't. Yeah, and I know it's basically the same track and all of that.

1:52:54Yeah. So I'm still going to be a serpent. It's a ball or a dinosaur. It's going to be a serpent. Yeah, probably. Yeah. And then he talked a little about tropical America's land. They'll be hand carved carousel with 20 unique Disney Pixar animals. Again, they had some of them displayed in the imaginary pavilion. They look really adorable. I know. I want to write the Heimlich one. They were so cute. Yeah. Yeah. And then for them, they talked about in Conto. So Jared Bush, the chief creative officer of Disney imagination, came out and he was the writer and director of in Conto. And, um, and then let's see the name of it is of the of the of the attraction is going to be Antonio's yesterday in Conto and all the original actors are coming back. So he said we're in the casita and it's Antonio's gift day and the and the community of animals

1:53:57and we are invited to celebrate with the family and the extended animal family. So the ride vehicles are pieces of the house and futuristic. There's going to be more than 50 audio and a metronic animals throughout the attraction, which are authentic to Colombia. And there is no high-tru requirements. Yeah. That was big. Yeah. That was attraction for the entire family. Yeah. So I think this will be, um, I think this will be fun. I'm excited for it. Yeah. I think it'll be cute. I hope the house somehow looks living like moves or shudders. One would think they have to do that. Do we know if this is going to be trackless? I think it's going to be trackless. I went to Imagineering. I think it's going to be similar. Don't know my gosh. Maybe I shouldn't say it. I think it's going to be similar to ride of the resistance. That's why it looked like. The ride vehicle looked like rises of resistance. We had models.

1:54:58We had models. Yeah. And I remember it. It was they said it's like the casita furniture. Yeah. You see it like one like had a dresser and one had a piano. Yeah. It was so cute. So cute. And then I'm excited. Yeah. And then Coco, Aloslova's played again. And there's Ali Rubenstein and Emo O'Brien. Did they sound as bad in person as they did on the streaming? I think they sounded bad. I enjoyed the movie arena. I think they sounded bad. Okay. Maybe I think I was napping. At this point. I like the song. So of course, this the Coco attractions being built at Disney California Adventure. They said they will work with the original film and the new one and the music of the story connects us all. They want to bring that emotional connection to the attraction.

1:55:58So the story picks up a year after the film. And Miguel talks about his adventure and also we go through a museum dedicated to Hector and we relive his memories. And there is no height requirement. So this one. All family attraction again. So I think I'm looking forward to this. I like Coco. I think DCA is a great place for it. I think it'll be good. It's location, I think is a really good location. So hopefully that we won't hear the sound of the in credit coaster. Maybe one day in the far future might even get like a holiday over a layer of something since they do like Viva La Navidad and all that other stuff. That would be fun. This is the whole reason why there's no more run Disney at Disneyland because of all the construction that's going to take place.

1:57:00Again. Yeah, because that's where we would run. Yeah, we would run behind there. You're running out of places to run. Yeah, we're just going to be running in the parking lot. You're right. Yeah, run through the parking lot. Yeah, we're running structure. For Disney on Paris, this is on I would love to see the Lion King attraction based on the animated film that retails the story of Simphas Journey from Cub to King. And this is going to be a flume ride. I love flume rides. So it's basically splash mountain, but it's the Lion King. Where do you think they would find that? Where do you splash down like when his dad died? I don't know. I don't know that my shoe is dry. Thank you. When I hug you just get you. I don't think my shoes are dry from the last log. I don't think Luella is dry. I mean, we got that.

1:58:00Tiana's by you adventure. We got so. Yeah, that was the shripping out. And then Josh Breyer came out as fix it Felix. Yeah, that was so great. That was so cute. And Tokyo, because Tokyo Disney runs getting a new wreck at Ralph Rye. I'm gonna let's sweet rescue. And it will transport you to the world of wreck at Ralph to help Ralph and Nellie be against King Candy. You say you have to risk it. Doors, sugar bugs, to their original form. I don't know what that means, but I don't know. I love this should. I love this franchise. Yeah, I did too. What's interesting is is that imagining they said years ago that the new attractions were going to continue the story rather than retail them. But it's sort of like the Coco one is sort of retelling the story. The Lion King attraction is retelling the story.

1:59:03Yeah. So they're sort of going back on on some of that. So I don't know if it's because guests want to see the story again. Or maybe they don't understand, you know, why what is this? It has nothing to do with the film. Yeah. It's not resonating. It's not resonating with folks. No, it's interesting. Well, I think when they talked about the aptly named Villainsland, glad they spent two years coming up with that, I think it sounded like those rides were going to be a continuation, but we haven't gotten there yet. No, we haven't. But let's see. Cars are two new attractions. So Michael Hungin and Jason Grant came out. All right. They talked about this didn't piece national park. And then there's misfritters, daredevil spin-off. Spin-along, yes.

2:00:03Spin-along, whatever. So exciting. It's a car. So there's the car. I hate this. I hate this whole concept. I know. I was in a engineering that this huge enormous model and people are saying, oh, now that I've seen the model, I'm in favor of it. It made me hate it even more. You will not be the wildest racer in the wilderness. Michael, we know. Oh, I'll go on it, but I'm going to hate every minute. I'm just going to hate every minute. I need to go on that ride with you. Cars, Ridge, Run, Rally, each car competes in the fastest car in the wilderness, fastest. And that's the concept of this piston peak national park thing. And the misfritters daredevil spin-off. Remember she was the school bus in the demolition derby. It's basically madeers junkyard jamboree.

2:01:04Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say it's either Vatter, Luigi's the way it spins a little bit. So. Yeah, they said there would be like a life size and a metronink bus. Yeah, yeah, which I think there's a version of madeers where they have a big madeer. So there's going to be a new show. Cars, lightning racers, Cheryl Crow, she performs the show's theme, built to last. It's going to be on Disney Plus and Disney Junior. And it's for the 20th anniversary. She sang real, I have a question mark. What song did she sing? The real gone. The 20th maybe. The first song that she had with, isn't that what it's called? Real gone. Real gone. That's what I wrote, but I thought I wasn't sure if that was it. Anyway, so yeah, so there's a new show coming out too.

2:02:07So and I have no doubt it takes place in piston peak. They got to bring it on somehow, Michael. That's right. Get everybody excited. Okay, and then it's final spin. Because they're still doing this carousel progress thing. Claire Weiss from Disney Cruise Line. She said there continues to expand the fleet to 13 ships. Walt Fucky number by 2030. So they're, of course, they have now the treasure, the destiny, the adventure. And I started thinking about, okay, what other names? And there are these Disney like and all of that. They don't sound too, the pixie dust. No, I mean, they have to sound like good ship names. You don't want to say I'm the captain of the Disney pixie dust. Anyway, they're doubling the number of cruise,

2:03:07cruise is sailing from San Diego. So that's good news for California. In the summer of 27, 2027, the Disney wishes going to Europe. And the magic and wonder both will be going to Alaska. So anyway, so people were very excited about that. Disney believe the fourth ship in the wish class celebrates magic family nature, probably connections. And it's going to be family friendly. Yeah, and there will be no hype requirement. Exactly. Of the bow art is tinkerbell. And the stern, I have to admit, looked really cute. Buzz and Woody and they're using crayons to draw the word believe on the ship. On there, then Jack Breyer came out as captain jack. Yes. And he announced, what is it? Moana is in the grand oh, Moana is the statue in the grand hall.

2:04:15And so and also with Pua and hey, hey. And there. So they're going to have a new class of ship in 2029. And it's going to be, it's interesting because cruise lines, I think the era the mega ships is ending. Yeah. Cruise lines are now starting to go back to smaller ships. And so this is going to be a mid-size ship between the classic ships and the newer ships. So and then they did a little teaser trailer. That showed nothing. Nothing. Yeah. That showed nothing. There's a difference. Cis are real of absolutely nothing. They don't want to admit. I'm excited about the mid-level ships though. I am too. That was surprising. Yeah. And just to say that when you were saying that all of these are being to the carousel of progress under this ship, the the feaming for this section is called possibility.

2:05:18So maybe they'll cancel half of these orders. I don't know. Or maybe that'll be one of the ship names. You know when they had that up there above it, possibility. I was like, oh, I did have that thought. I was like, well, this is the part that they're like, yeah, this is just a pot. I did have the exact same thought when I saw it up above there. Right. Yeah. But do you think they're expanding with so many ships because they're getting ready to retire? The all the carousel? Because they said they're going to have 13 ships. Okay. I just can't imagine seeing a Disney ship go to one of those yards when they break it up. I mean, visually that would make headlines around the world. We'll be crashing into those. Yeah. Yeah. They'll have to put it in the middle of seven seas lagoon and make it like a water sculpture. Make it. You would think it and that cast away key or like house point to make it a spot. It's something you can then you can dive around it.

2:06:20I think they'll keep refurbishing them. I mean, they're beautiful ships. Yeah. They are. I can't imagine they'll trash it. But I don't know that any other cruise lines have ships that are that old at the same time. I don't think so. Yeah. But I think it's because they're such classic lines and all of that. It's not like they're going to go out of, you know, out of. Yeah, they're beautiful ships. I don't know that. Yeah, they could always redo the interiors. Got them and we do them. Yeah. So anyway, so that class of ships coming in 2029. Then they talked about Minstropolis at Disney Hollywood Studios being built on the graves of the Muppets. The graves of the Muppets. They really should let me host the house. You and your best buddy, Mia. You all can do this show to get. Arm and arm. Yeah. Your show can be called connections of Walt.

2:07:20No, no height requirement. Yeah. Megan Hilti saying welcome to Metropolis. I guess that's the theme song. And then Michael and Chris, the song was written by Randy Newman. It's the first song for a theme park that he's ever written. And it's the title of the new monstropolis stage show. So unlike Disneyland, it's getting no stage shows. They're getting a stage show out there. The land is alive with dramatic effects. They're going to have Harryhausen's restaurant that they said everybody's been waiting for. And the sushi chef will be there as an audio animatronic figure. And they did show a clip of the shoe chef. They look cute. Minds me. Who's that singer over in Tomorrowland? They're in Florida. Oh, funny. Is it Sonia Cliffs? Sonia Cliffs. Sonia Cliffs. Yes. Minded me of him. You mentioned eight arms. You mentioned the grave of the muffins,

2:08:20but they also mentioned a pizza place. So something still live. Oh, Rizzo's. Yeah. Did they. Oh, they did mention a pizza place. Yeah, that's right. Huh. I wonder if I'm. And then they said, they taught it. And so in this, you know, the doors attraction, you'll be lifted 40 feet in the air. And landed into the vault of doors. And it opens next year. I'm excited about that. Now I'm excited. No, it's going to be too rough. It's going to be a poster, right? Yeah, so part of the land opens next year, the door attraction is later, I believe. So the gift shop will do. Oh, well, the show, the show in the fall. Everything except the door attraction opens next year. So the show and the restaurant and the door attraction is later. So are they basically just using the building structure that's there for like the restaurant and all of that? The only thing they're truly building is the coaster.

2:09:21That's what it sounded like. Yeah, I read. Yeah, if you're going to open next year, yeah, one would think. Yeah. So anyway, then the magic mirror makes an appearance. It says two years since his decree of myism, thing like that. He's come and speaks for Tom Maslow. So Bruce Vaughan and Carolyn May came out. And of course, this is about, you know, this magic mirror was promised the villains land. So anyway, so it's, so they talked about the villains in the magic kingdom. They said we're going to announce what they said. Well, why not go with a good thing and it's villains land? Tomorrow land, fantasy land, adventure land, frontier land. This is villains land. So they said it. And like you were saying, she's that they're creating a new story for the characters and a new wave. Seeing them, this better not be like they're all reformed and misunderstood.

2:10:23I was tired. I was. No, these and all that. Anyway, they're going to be new elegant costumes. And then there's going to be, you're going to enter a dark forest. And you come upon a broken, twisted wishing well. And and what if someone made a wish so evil? It has broken open to spread evil. So one of the most ambitious lands ever made on the scale of galaxy's edge. So. So. So. So. Okay. So. Well, I do wonder how that transition will work because I mean, you're walking through, you know, these happy places and then all of the sudden, you have to think evil thoughts and and throw a coin in the well. And it'll be the same transition is from frontier land to that piston peak. I'm going to play from the happy place to a place of evil. And. Piston peak is not a place of evil. This is going to say.

2:11:24But I don't know about evil. What they did with galaxy's edge at Disneyland from fantasy land, you know, I do. The tier land. They they did a good job. The music changes and I would imagine that it will be gradual. It's not going to be like, boom, here you are. Yeah. We didn't do a good transition for galaxies edge from like toy story land in over in Dutton, Disney Hollywood studios. That transition was iffy. But you're all sitting there. Yeah. Yeah, but I I think they'd have to build something where as you walk, you go through a tunnel area with trees. It's going to be dark. And everybody's going to have to go in and out the same way if they're going to tell the story of this wishing well. Yeah. Remember they showed it. Maybe they'll have to like like, I don't know, pick your pockets, you know, you're going into a battery, a town. If you're a pocket when you walk through the gate. Well, that's true. That's true. They did have in the magic of nearing

2:12:25that they had a tree and a little anybody model person looking up at this like really foreboding looking spooky tree. Yeah. So I'm assuming that that was part of the dark forest that you would be walking. Yeah. At the room. Yeah. The tree was all had all this twisted trough. Mm-hmm. So all that. It looked cool. If it's done well, it's going to be amazing. Oh, yeah. I think so. If they don't go if they don't cut the budget. In half. Right. Yeah. Anyway, it's going to be a thrilling coaster experience where you'll encounter molyphicit as you dash around the briars of her castle. Again, I think another attraction. I won't be able to go on. So, um, and then you go down into the mirror realm where, um, that are, that are, where the villains are conjured by the magic mirror. And then Glenn close came out as, in a relatively, she's upset that molyphicint was getting her own ride.

2:13:28And then, um, she looked good. I thought they're not, are they announced something? Mm-hmm. For a girl. Everybody said that. Everybody was confused. They were like, a ride. Is she getting? Yeah. Maybe she'll get a spinner library or in her car and you spin around and be another like, like, you know, it could be dumbo. Maybe you can get in her car and you just go up and down. So, anyway, and then back up around saying back in his four inch heels came out and sang Karella Deville. So I was so. You noticed Beck's heels, but you didn't notice Glenn, Glenn close in her platform, red, patent leather heels? Well, that's the costume. I could keep that costume too. Make them look a little more comfortable. I was confused about Beck. So I was, I was confused why Beck was there. Yeah. We had a friend. Why was that close? Was there? Yeah.

2:14:29I think somebody texted us in a big group text. It was like, is everybody excited to see Beck? And I think my response was the only person who's excited is Beck's agent. Because he's getting a cut of this. And then they were wrapping it up and I just thought skunked again. That is it. Disney Land got screwed and all the different cultures and good enough for you. And then this. Mazelum or whatever his name is. He said he comes out. He wants to bring us back to our first Disney experience, Disney Land. As we approached the 75th anniversary, let's look at Tomorrow Land. And we're reimagining it with the optimism you've been hoping for. And this is when Michael lost his mind. There's a figure that appears. He was so excited. No, Michael lost his mind.

2:15:30I literally jumped out of my seat. I grabbed patty. Oh my god. And just shook her. Shaking for my wife. And she thought it was fake. He was like, oh my god. This is how many years if I waited for this and now. Yeah, I was right there with you. I was on the other side screaming. Were you shaking Stephanie for a first life? Screaming screaming. I didn't say what they're going to do. But I think just I wrote that down. No, I'll tell you in two years. He jiggles back. I've got to live long enough now for this second. They never acknowledged it. So this is the first time they've acknowledged it. So I'll take this. I'll take this. They're going to tell you in 2028 what they're doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And then neopactor carousel weren't done yet. Because this is the part I loved. Yeah, not only did the Disney landers get something but the Walt Disney worlders got something too.

2:16:31That I am also excited about. Neopactor carous first of all because it looks like this money or something and it's like you you promised me. I hosted this. I would get something you would restore my favorite and metronic and a metronic to its former glory. And he unwrap him and he is dressed as dream finder with pigment. And it said we are going to we are going to to our on a new journey to imagination. And the crowd. So what I hoping means is they are going to completely redo that attraction. I have a thing to the optimistic fun idealistic attraction that it was with dream finder and pigment. Figment as a sweet innocent, you know,

2:17:33character. Figure. And just in the expression not the obnoxious teenage pigment. My husband's my husband saw on Instagram. He told me that he was watching, you know, little clips on Instagram and that when they announced that they showed the audience. He said there were literally people running up and down the aisles screaming about the dream finder and Figment. He said it was crazy. Yeah, so they left the best for laughs last I think. So and told us absolutely nothing about. Yeah. So Patty, what was your highlight of the entire presentation? Oh goodness. I'm trying to think. Highlight for all of us. I do like the I mean I found it interesting that they separated into the four pieces. I'm excited for the cocoa ride. Honestly, that was one of the things that I was

2:18:34excited to learn more about. And being cocoa ride as well. Yeah, me too. The middle ship, the mid-size ships is interesting. I haven't been on a cruise in a little while, but you know, I always love it. Disney cruise lines and stuff. So I'm excited to see what what comes out of a middle-sized ship. Having been on like the fantasy and and also the magic and the wonder to see something a little bit in between. We'll be we'll be closer. Okay, well, what announcements surprised you the most? Well, tomorrow and surprised me. I think I was screaming. Me too. Finally, I mean, I was screaming at the top of my lungs. And even if there were no details, I'll take at least an acknowledgement. I'll take that. And then what of my other friends was wearing her tomorrow and dress and I she was saying like, I'm going to just on the way there and I was like, girl, you're wasting your time. You see, you're told from the end of the day.

2:19:36You're wasting your time. And then I said, I went off the road. I stand corrected. It did good vibes. That one really excited me. I don't know what's going to happen, but I think as far as just an attraction that is announced, I'm excited for the Coco. I love Coco and I'm excited to see what they do. And I think it'll be a nice addition to the park. So, this was your first D23 experiences, Disney experiences showcase. We talked about the atmosphere, the announcements, and thousands of Disney fans reacting together. Was this one of those moments when you finally understood why people keep coming back to D23? Yeah, I think I did. I kind of felt like in some regards, it was like an off year where there was nothing huge really announced. I remember like the last one, it just seemed like it was just one thing after another. But I'm beginning to see at the end of day two, I'm beginning to see why people continue to do it.

2:20:38And even though there weren't huge, huge, huge announcements, just like the Dream Finder and the Yeti being fixed. And finding out more about the Monsters land, I was excited about that stuff. Yeah, at the end of day two, I'm beginning to get it. I'm not quite exhausted yet. What I found interesting in the presentation is what what's it talked about and was just a one-off sentence, which was, and we have Avatar coming in the future. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. And then we got, and then they announced days later that Avatar has been dumped down. Yeah. And tomorrow land is now the priority. Yeah. So, do you think we're going to get Avatar? I hope that you see it. I don't think we are. I don't think people, I don't know if people hugged when they announced Avatar the way I saw them hugging on the audience

2:21:41when they announced tomorrow. And so, you talk about that. Yeah, I, it wasn't surprising. Yeah, I think that really. It wouldn't surprise me if they, um, we thought Avatar. So, actually, because the last movie didn't do as well as the others, I haven't seen it yet. And I know Cameron is talking about re-editing them, making them shorter the, up the next ones. And, um, so I don't know, it might be that the Avatar bubble is, um, bursting a little. So, so we shall see. It always felt odd when they made that announcement for DCM, like, really? It doesn't pull on there. Yeah. Not at all. And unless they're thinking of it for if they expand DCA to the west. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but in my, I only would land it makes no sense at all. No, okay. So, what, uh, out of some of the things they announced,

2:22:43what could you see? One of them duplicating it at DCA? Someone even announced for another park or an international park to put into an awesome distant peak. Record Ralph. Record Ralph. Record Ralph. I would love to see a record Ralph thing. I think a Zootopia. With, um, yeah. And a thinking Zootopia. Zootopia. Yeah. Yeah. And they can't think easily with the California environment. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they would be really cute. Yeah. With 100, yeah. With forest. Kind of feel. Yeah. Country. Yeah, country area. Make a land we haven't visited yet. In Zootopia. Yeah. And that would actually be. We have a California condor in there. There you go. For a Disney Land Forward type of thing, it would totally have enough, you know, with a hub and five different little things, would be able to stand on its own.

2:23:45Almost. Yeah. But, um, I know for me, like, what do I feel? I really need to experience. Obviously the new tomorrow land. Um, and then, and definitely in contour and cocoa. But, um, the Indiana Jones attraction. Oh, yeah. That would be good. Me. And I'm really looking forward to as well. And I would love to go to the international parks again, once this stuff is all built and see some of them. Like, this, you know, but, um, anyway, so before we leave the Honda Center, I want to bring this back to Walt. We just spent an evening hearing about what Disney plans to build in the years ahead. Some of these projects will undoubtedly change before they're completed. Some may turn out differently than we imagined. Some may never be built. And years from now, Disney historians may look back on this presentation as the moment when a new chapter of Disney experiences began. So here's a question of like all of us to consider.

2:24:45Of everything we saw announced tonight, which project feels most connected to Walt Disney's philosophy of moving forward, experimenting and trying something that hasn't been done before? What do you all think? I think the, uh, the monster's door coaster. I think that's going to be something unique. Unless there's something going on at an international park that I'm not aware of, but that door contraption, it seems very unique to Disney. I just hope they can get it to work. Yeah. I thought using Harrison's Ford likeness for Indiana Jones is something that is really, you know, forward. I mean, we had Indiana Jones, the ride at Disneyland, has been around a long time, but I always felt he looked a little off. He didn't look like Harrison Ford.

2:25:47But the technology wasn't there. But now we have this technology. So I think it's going to look amazing. Yeah. Okay. I think for me, I think I see it contoured traction. Because I'm hoping, I'm wondering if they're going to use some of the technology from Fanta, I'm not from Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland with the way the walls move and stuff and then with the audio and a metronik animals. So I'm hoping it's going to be something like that where there's going to be a lot of new technology we haven't seen before. That would be nice. Well, we'll get some moving forward with new tech when they bring the Yeti back to life, right? Yeah. Okay. That's for Yeti. Because ultimately that's what Harrison should represent, not simply what's next, but what's possible. So before we wrap up day two, let's go around the table one more time. So what was your favourite moment of all of day two?

2:26:50So Luella, what about you? My favourite moment. It's such a little thing, but I was like a Yeti kid when Jennifer Goodman and Kihei Kwan stayed back. I was, I rushed that stage and it made me excited of what D23 can bring, right? Bringing the celebrity, bringing these people that you don't see normally, because I can watch the movie anytime, but to hear about it and then to see them and see the creators, I, that was a big plus for me. Patty, how about you? Now that, that is also a big plus for me. I mean, I, I didn't spend, I don't, I don't think I spent as much time on the floor. I don't feel like, at least with the panels, I felt a little bit more like grounded into what D23 is about, right? Learning more about everything that that goes into all the storytelling and the effort. So I really did like,

2:27:53going to the floating mountains panel on hearing Joerodys speak about, just like his way of thinking and how he leads by not leaving with his organizational thinking and, and, and the creative process that he has. So I found that to be really, really interesting. And Suzanne, how about you? Well, I have two. One was you when they announced the tomorrow line, because that was priceless. But I really enjoyed the conversation with the Disney legends. Like I said, I am a huge, allentotic fan. So I enjoyed getting to see him and hear more from him. But I also really enjoyed Susan Egan and Eric Goldberg. I mean, Kim Irvine was so, she was so much quieter than most everybody else in that panel. She even said, she was like, I don't, I'm not as funny as you people, you know, as you guys.

2:28:58And so she was very quiet. She was very nice. But the other three, some of the stories they told, I was, I was really happy to be able to do that. And yeah, and for me, it was, of course, hearing about tomorrow land. Don't I know it? And also, and I think Jo Rody, hearing how he thinks in his creative process and how he plans out projects. I found that fascinating. And so, Susan, after two full days of your first D23, how are you holding up? Because you still have one more day. I think I was still doing pretty good. Let me think really, really the tired hits on Monday. Because I think Patty, I mean, don't you think we were still doing pretty well Saturday evening? We didn't get in as early. I think we took a beat on Saturday morning and didn't get in as,

2:30:00as we didn't go into the little underground dungeon with you guys. We kind of stayed in the courtyard as long as we could linger and found our way out to the floor without having to get hurt of like cattle. I was just, I was like anti-catal mood that morning. Because I just didn't actually do it. So the first morning was the first morning that the first day was the only time we ended up down there in the dungeon the rest of the time. And with that day two of our D23 adventure comes to an end. We spent the day listening to Disney Legends reflect on remarkable careers, what behind the scenes of Imagineering with Jo Rody, celebrated 65 years of Spider-Man and 10 years of Zootopia and then came together at the Honda Center to look forward together at the future of Disney experiences. And that's one of the things

2:31:01I love about D23. In the course of a single day you can find yourself looking backward at Disney history, going behind the scenes of how the magic is created today, and then looking forward to what Disney hopes to create tomorrow. But we're not finished yet. There's still one more day of D23 to explore. Now next episode, Patty, Cisette, Lawella and I will return to take you through the final day of the event. The panels we attended, the experiences we shared, the surprises we encountered in our final thoughts as another D23 comes to a close. And we'll ask Cisette the question we've been building towards day one. After experiencing your first D23 from beginning to end, was it what you expected and would you do it again? I think I already know the answer. We're rooting for you, Cisette. Come on! It's going to be a surprise reveal. Stay tuned. Join us next week.

2:32:06If you can get New Patrick Harris to announce. Yeah, exactly. In full costume. Yes. I was hoping for Jack, right? Oh yeah. He's still looking for you. I forgot what scene he was in where he said, I'm an adult. Oh, I forgot. That was, I can't remember what it was, but it was so funny. He totally just ad-libbed it. Yeah, absolutely. It was so funny. Everybody died. I was either him as Felix or him as the pirate, I think. I can't remember. He was sitting down. I just remember that. I think it was Felix. I liked it when Neil Patrick Harris would break because he couldn't hold the tone of the carousel of progress. Yeah, that was pretty funny. I thought it was boring. Well, and then when Glenn Close was on stage, he should go to talk to him and he'd be like,

2:33:07I'm over here in Boss because he wasn't where he was supposed to be and he'd be like trying to cover. She was great with the camion, yeah. Totally in character. Yeah. Well, thank you very much for joining us. I'm connecting with Lotte and Luke Ford to talking about day three next week. And now it's time for this week in Disney history. All right, Tom, what do you have for us this week? Okay, so I had to go for the one that made the most sense and this may be one where we actually overlap. Based on the news that's happening, September 9th, 1973, at Disneyland, the general electric carousel of progress, progress closes. And of course, it's going to be moved about this world and replaced in Disneyland by

2:34:08America's Singles in June of 1974. Yeah, yeah. I don't think I ever saw the original. The original carousel. Yeah. I remember seeing America's Singles. I mean, you know, the vague child memories, but yeah, I don't think I ever saw because I have pictures of myself in Disneyland at like maybe the proper age to be open, but it's kind of in that could have been just after it closed or something. I don't know. Yeah, I remember both. And when Kessah progress was two levels because after the last scene, mother invited you to see progress sitting yourself, the model and all that. And I definitely remember America's Singles. Yeah. That's a good, strong memory. So that, which was a great show, didn't belong in Tomorrowland, but it was a great show. But um, lots of things don't belong in Tomorrowland.

2:35:12Yeah. Well, hopefully they'll take care of that. It's fixing that. Well, mine, I have to go with, I guess what we've been talking about September 10th, 2009, Walt Disney Company president, CEO Bob Eiger launches the first ever D23 X-Coyle with an hour long presentation in the Anaheim Convention. Those are the days. Lena in California, I know. And then following the presentation, they immediately did the Disney Legends award. And it was handed out by ABC personality Tom Bergeron, remember them. And it's the first time the awards were ever handed out off Disney property. And the Disney Legends award honorees included Robin Williams and Betty White. This is the only one I didn't go to. It'll continue through special with special events, guest speakers, exclusive screenings. It went through Sunday,

2:36:13September 13th. It was also four days. Yeah, the only four day one they had. At the Expo, they announced the launch of the new Diamond Collection, the definitive collection of Walt Disney Studios. Most historic and beloved animated classics that would debut on Blu-ray High Deck. And so it would start out. It started out with Snow White and Seven Dwarfs in October. They'd be thoroughly restored to the highest level of picture and sound and feature groundbreaking state-of-the-art immersive bonus content. Remember those? And now of course they sort of dropped home, you know, the home media. Now some studios are bringing it back. I think Disney's one of them. There were two studios that announced they were going to start bringing back home media again.

2:37:19That was an interesting D23 Expo because no one knew what to expect. And so they were able to pull off surprises. And there were a lot more like giveaways and things like that. So it was fun. So spotlight on Walt's Park. So of course we're heading into the holiday season, you know, October's right around the corner. But of course in all the stores, all that Christmas decorations were already out. I've already two, three weeks ago. Christmas music on some of the streaming services. Oh my goodness. They started their Christmas channels and stuff. I couldn't believe it. So of course that means we have to talk about the holidays as Disneyland Resort. This year they're running from November 13th

2:38:20to of 2026 to January 6th, 2027. And last year we didn't have all the events because 70 because of the 70th anniversary. So some things are coming back. First of all though, Blueley and Bingo picking poor old Santa Claus out of the Fantasyland Theater and into the Charlie barn at Mickey's Tune Town. Because I've never heard of called that, but okay. I know I had either. It's near Roger Rabbit's cartoon spin. Picture I saw it's Stroller Parking. No. Is it really? Oh my gosh, that's horrible. Where will the strollers go? I'm sure, yes. I just can't believe they couldn't find a better place for Santa. Yeah. I mean, Main Street Theater Cinema, I mean some place they could have put them.

2:39:24I don't know. I'm trying to think. It could be if they're not well Princess Fantasy Faire is hopefully still running shows. Yeah. So that's taken up. But just I'm just trying to think, this is not a lot of places, but I don't know. I would have voted for Main Street Cinema. Just decorated inside. Is it big enough though? It's a pretty big line. How the line? The room do you need for Santa Claus? The line though. You need a Q space. Now let them go around and have sat in the middle on that elevated. You have a little thrown up there, Nick. The key can go around them. Now the nice thing is World of Colors season of light is returning over at Disney California Adventure and and I'm a Princess Fantasy parade and believe in holiday magic fireworks and the snow fall is back. Also, California Adventure, Disney, Viva Navidad is back and Mirabelle's

2:40:31gifts of the season and Mickey's Happy Holidays Cavalcade will be there. Haunted Mansion Holidays already is there and it's a small world holiday. Luigi's Joy to the World and Mater's Jingle Jambury will also all be back. So I'm looking forward to all of that. I love Disney Land at Christmas. So again, you got to, if you haven't been to Disneyland at Christmas, contact your dreamsellimited travel agent. Dreamellimitedtravel.com. Get a free no obligation to go today. Get to Disneyland for the holidays. It is so beautiful and magical. If you're used to going to Walt Disney World for the holidays, you've got to see Disneyland. Go to the lobby of the Grand Californian and see the Christmas carolers. Get those gingerbread and sugar cookies which is a must for me

2:41:32and their hot chocolate and sometimes you can get a little adult beverage and mix it. And it's just so marvelous. Absolutely marvelous. So definitely go tell them Tom and Michael sent me in and of course it helps the show. You book with dreamsellimited travel. And so anyway, a couple of other things going on there. Main Street cinema has reopened. It's, you know, they removed the Sherman Brothers tribute. But you know, they used to show the classic Mickey Mouse shorts. But now they're showing those modern style Mickey shorts. Which don't fit it all into the theme of the show. You know, and it says six separate screens, but apparently they're showing the same film. Yes. Which makes no sense. But you know, we talked about why not show different silly symphonies or even like there's Halloween silly

2:42:35symphonies. There's Christmas silly symphonies. They have seasonal cartoon shorts, Mickey Mini. I mean show those. You know, there's a couple of Christmas Disney shorts that they did that we've talked about on the show. I mean, why not do that? Those would be more in keeping with the era of Main Street. I don't get and people don't see those as often. And so start playing the show. The Oswald. I mean, you know, because there's no theater really over in DCA for that. So I don't know. But I totally disagree with this. If you're going to show them Mickey, modern Mickey cartoons show them over, you know, in the Tomorrowland Theater where they're showing the Pixar shorts, show them in there if you want to do that. But anyway, so a big boo to this. The only positive is it may get

2:43:44younger, younger guests into there to watch them. I don't know. I don't know that I know I'm just, you know, what happened to the theme in the story. And then on the happy notes there, cars line an adventurous campus are finally connected again. So that little shortcut between them is back open, which is nice and full call way around. And there's a new restroom in there called Take a Break B-R-A-K-E restroom. And it's just past, if you're coming from carsland, it's right past Reds Community Garden. If you're approaching from adventurous campus, it's behind the ancient sanctum that apparently Dr. Strange has abandoned, abandoned, yeah. So anyway. So, but that's that's positive news in there. So, and so Tom, until next time, how can my

2:44:50listeners connect with you? Well, feel free to drop me an email at tomatdisneyinfo.com. On Facebook, you'll find me at I'm too excited to sleep. On Instagram, I am the Disneyland Tom. And on Twitter, I am Disneyland underscore Tom. I also want to mention that we talked about Christmas at Disneyland. The Orlando show this week's episode is about the things they love about Christmas. So, head over to YouTube and look for a disillemitted. And they talk about Christmas there. Good. And you can send me messages at MichaelBulling at disneyinfo.com. On X, formerly Twitter, I'm at Emboeling21, Facebook, MichaelBulling, Dash, Connecting as well. Instagram, I'm MichaelBulling, the Diz. And you can connect with me and Tom on Twitter at ConnectingWalk. We would like to listen to more shows on the history of Walt Disney, his studio, his Imagineers in Disneyland. Check out our Disney Land podcast archives of my Disney history episodes. On the link Tom includes in our episode description, and look for past episodes of Connecting as Walt and iTunes Spotify Stitcher,

2:45:54Google Play Pandora, and Amazon podcasts, where you can subscribe to our show and leave some positive reviews and ratings when possible. So thank you for making us a part of your day. And remember, I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing that was all started by a man Walt Disney and his brother Roy.