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Episode 292: After a week off we are back to discuss the latest Disney news & rumors and give a quick review of the Mandalorian Season 2. We also do a preview on Jon’s upcoming Walt Disney World trip! In the news this week we talk about a price increase for DVC fees that will take effect in 2021. The Grand Californian will re-open to DVC guests in early December. We got a first look at the new roller coaster trains for the Guardian’s of the Galaxy coaster at Epcot. The Muppets are back at Liberty square in the Magic Kingdom and we give a construction update on the various projects that are still ongoing at Walt Disney World. We discuss some start wars news before diving into our review of the first 2 episodes from season 2 of the Mandalorian. Finally, we preview Jon’s upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. He talks about his strategy and expectations about going to Walt Disney World during this pandemic.

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Episode 291: The Hurricane slowed us down a little bit this week but better late than never to discuss the latest Disney News. Today we cover more of the depressing layoffs news within the Disney Parks. This week the majority of the performance cast members have been laid off. There’s still drama out in California but Disney is being creative by using some of California Adventure park as a retail space. Rise of the resistance saw a few new changes roll out this week. More maintenance projects have been announced and some have been delayed yet again. Bob Chapek finally responds to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s letter from a couple of weeks ago. Also, we have some new merchandise! If you believe that the Tom Sawyer Island Rafts are a “Ride” then we have the merch for you! Visit our Spreadshirt store to check it out!

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Episode 288: This week we discuss some Disney news and give our Disney+ review of The Rocketeer. We are down to a two man crew this week because Jason is currently at Walt Disney World (look for his trip report next week). So it is up to Me and Jon to hold down the fort. We discuss the latest drama with Disney and the state of California, More details on the layoffs that are happening around the Disney organization. We go over some current and upcoming refurbishments that you should be aware of if you are coming to Walt Disney World anytime soon. And finally we give our review of the underrated and classic Disney film The Rocketeer. This movie is not without it flaws but there’s a stellar cast, good acting, great music, and witty dialogue. This movie deserves a watch if you haven’t seen it at all or if you haven’t seen it in a long time.

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Episode 287: This week we discuss the recent somber news coming out of Disney. 28,000 cast members across the Parks division have been laid off. We talk about what entities have been most affected and what this means for the future of the Disney Parks. California has some very strict guidelines and we go through each one. Meanwhile, Bob Iger and Josh D’aMaro have been very vocal about their distain for the state’s guidelines. Speaking of Josh, He was seen on site at Downtown Disney in California after the layoff announcement listening to cast members and letting them vent. We can’t say enough about how much we admire him for that. In other news, we give some construction updates and talk about a new feature that Disney+ just rolled out. Lastly, Jason previews his upcoming trip this week to Walt Disney World.

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Episode: 286 Today we talk about the latest Disney news and we have our first Disney+ movie review! In the news, we discuss the re-opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, and the landlock situation that the resort finds itself in. Epcot is testing fireworks for Harmonious and there’s some mystery construction going on at the Italy Pavilion. Out in California, Josh D’aMaro is voicing his frustrations with the state of California about the lack of guidance on re-opening the Disneyland resort. Meanwhile at Walt Disney World, the Swan and Dolphin resort is about to layoff over a thousand workers because of struggling occupancy. At the Magic Kingdom, the Tron coaster construction is moving along nicely. Finally we wrap up the news by discussing the amazing new Beauty and the Beast attraction the just opened at Tokyo Disneyland resort. This ride look incredible and we are wanting to go to Tokyo right now. After the news we give our first Disney+ movie review. We hope to make this a regular segment as we have a pretty long watchlist of Disney movies to watch! This week we give our review for The Emperor’s New Groove!

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Episode: 285, Today we finally have the long awaited park challenge guest on the show! None other than Kent Mullins himself perhaps better known to the challenge community as UCFKent. We talk with Kent about his Disney fandom and of course how he got started on the Parkeology challenge and go through some of his favorite challenge completions. Kent is a 6 time challenge winner and recently took part in the tag team challenge which they completed as well. Before we get to our interview with Kent, we do discuss some Disney news. We talk about the new things coming to Disney+ this fall and we discuss what we are most looking forward too. Some equity cast members have started returning to Walt Disney World. Meanwhile, Disneyland in California is still yet to have an official re-opening date. A new Star Wars VR experience is coming and a guest was thrown out of Hollywood Studios over Disney’s mask policy. Be sure to follow along on Twitter this Sunday September 20th as we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Jason’s parkeology completion with a special re-tweet of the entire day with Jason’s added commentary and thoughts on his very topsy-turvy day.

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Episode: 284 The 2020 Christmas (party) at Disney World has been cancelled. We talk about all of the recently announced changes to the holidays at Walt Disney World this year. Which includes no Christmas parties, no candlelight processional, no gingerbread houses, and no lights on Cinderella Castle. People have gone crazy for the new Madame Leota sipper cup, Daisy Ridley spills the beans on Rey’s lineage in Star Wars, which also causes outrage. There’s a new documentary coming out called The Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Also, Jason got to see the new live action Mulan on Disney+. He gives us his review. Speaking of Disney+ reviews. We are starting a new segment where we watch something on Disney+ that has fallen through the cracks or is something older that some people may not have seen yet and we are going to give our review on it. We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of Jason’s epic challenge completion and to celebrate on September 20th we will have a special review of that run on Twitter. Be sure to follow us if you aren’t already @twtmpodcast

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Episode 283: Disney released a plethora of discounts for the fall this week but are the discounts really that impressive? We give our take on several different options for a fall discount. The Polynesian Village resort is going to close until next summer and is going to receive a Moana makeover…Just how far will Disney go? Do they know the way? Will they be saying You’re Welcome after this is over? We hope so. In sad news, Chadwick Boseman passed away this week. We talk about what this means to the future of the Black Panther film franchise. Disneyland may begin their phased reopening sometime later this month and they just started construction on their version of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Disney World Annual Passholders have started receiving their “Thank You” magnets (one per household). Disney is also selling a $600 box set of NBA themed magic bands. Will anyone actually buy this?

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Episode 281: We discuss the latest Disney news and get a health update from Jon. Now that it has been 3 weeks since he started dealing with Covid-19 Jon is almost back to 100%. Jon also updates us on re-scheduling his Disney Cruise for next year. We talk about some helpful updates to the My Disney Experience app when it comes to getting a Rise of the Resistance boarding group. Speaking of Rise of the Resistance, the final Kylo Ren animatronic was down extensively the other day…We talk about how we like the B-mode of that scene instead. I also point out that there’s a scene in Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway that is very similar to that scene in ROTR. Finally we wrap up the episode by talking about Bob Chapek’s comments on the recent earnings call that got him into some hot water with annual passholders. Please check out our YouTube channel. Jon recently uploaded some new content there…and consider subscribing!

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3ACC24F1-1C1F-4ABE-858D-C3E1FB9BDF4DEpisode:279. Today, we reveal that one of us has tested positive for Corona-virus. We also discuss the latest Disney News. The movie release of Mulan is coming to Disney+ for an additional fee. The Disney 3rd quarter earnings call happened this week and there’s some good and bad things that came out of it. Annual Passholders are continuing to see some extra love and attention these days with extended discounts and of course a new magnet! (one per household). The average wait times for 3 of the 4 Walt Disney world parks has gone up week by week since re-opening but one park has seen wait times go down. Could you guess which one? Splash mountain had a boat sink as well this week and had to close for a couple of days. Isn’t that the attraction to have a boat sink this year?

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D33393A3-D0A6-4FB4-AEEE-F8100C612024Episode 275: Today on the show we discuss some news and the results of our recent social media polls! We caused quite the debate with our poll on which side to start with when visiting World Showcase at Epcot. Do you start with Mexico or Canada? We discuss the differing opinions and give our thoughts. We also had a poll last week where we asked which form of transportation would you most like to ride for fun…The Monorail or the Skyliner. We discuss the results of that poll as well. In the news, Walt Disney World is re-opening as we speak and the early results so far have been positive. There was a huge mistake this week with erroneous charges to annual passholders that had to be reversed. We also discuss the precautions that Disney has made to try and make the parks as safe a possible.

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1CB542A0-761B-41DF-8DBC-ABF152AC4AC7Episode:273. That is the question. Will Disney World open on July 11th or will they push back the reopening date because of surging covid-19 cases in Florida? We know that Disneyland in California has had to postpone their opening date indefinitely. Will Walt Disney World follow? It doesn’t look like Florida is going to stand in the way of it so it will be up to Disney to decide how to proceed. We discuss this and the fact that I (Adam) made a reservation in July to go to the parks. I talk about my experience using the new park reservation system. Jason gives us and update on DVC pricing now that they have started selling again. Jon gives us an update on the status of his cruise and the new flexible options that he has to choose from. We also give our weekly construction/castle painting update. And we tease the topic of next week’s show. It will be all about Splash Mountain and the changes that were announced, so stay tuned!

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B78ACE94-6DDA-47AD-93D7-72B4FB3C7267Episode 271: Today the team discusses the plethora of new details that are coming out about the re-opening of Walt Disney world! There’s a lot of news surrounding the limitations and restrictions that guests will face once Disney World re-opens on July 11th. Guests who have existing reservations at a Disney resort are not guaranteed entry to the parks. Some resort amenities and restaurants will also not be available right away. We list out all of those details for you. Other topics we cover are things like, the castle repainting has resumed and The NBA is officially going to finish their season at the Wide World of Sports complex. We wrap up the episode by going through some Disney history from this week in June.

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2AD84D1A-55FE-4E3A-9C23-943C988B0182Episode 268: Disney Springs is now open! We discuss this and the recent promotion of Josh D’Amaro to Chairman of Parks & Resorts! We will miss him as president of Walt Disney World but as Chairman of Parks and Resorts I have a feeling that we will still see him around. We discuss the positive impact that we think Josh will bring to the guest experience in the coming years. We also talk about the other cooperate shuffling that has gone on this week at Disney. We also noticed that things seem to be picking up over at the Star Wars galactic Starcruiser construction site. Also, we now have masks in our spreadshirt store! check them out.

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A2901AE8-1B4B-4E5D-B901-55CC4509BEDBEpisode 267: Today we cover some of the rapidly changing Disney news. It seems like any time we cover the news lately, that something changes the next day. We cover the reopening of Shanghai Disneyland and how that went this week. We discuss the opening of Disney Springs on May 20th and the growing list of establishments that will open next week. Hamilton is coming to Disney+ on July 3rd! We also cover some of the smaller news stories like some facts about the Flight of Passage pre-show, and the old Food Rocks show that used to be at Epcot. We also do our fair share of speculating just when will the parks in the U.S. reopen?

 

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002C2186-9272-4CAE-861F-64868A74A241Episode 266:We start this week by covering some news…A Disney Park (Shanghai) will finally be open again starting May 11th! In our main topic, It is Mother’s Day this week and Jon and I interviewed our Moms about Walt Disney World. It turns out that our love of Disney is really and extension of their love of Disney. It started for them back in the 1950’s with the Mickey Mouse Club and the Wonderful world of Color on TV. Our Mom’s went to Walt Disney World several times in the 1970’s and we asked them what it was like back in the old days of Walt Disney World. We asked them about the early days of Epcot as well. We had a great time asking them all of these questions that we will certainly have to do this again. Maybe we can convince them to be on the show live next time?

 

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75E61D8D-11C3-44FF-B685-90415EB2B31AEpisode 265: The Electrical Water Pageant has been operating since 1971 and has been a favorite of ours for many years. This week Jon and I take a fond look back at this “water show” that takes place nightly (weather permitting) along the shores of the 7 seas lagoon and Bay Lake in the Magic Kingdom resort Area. The show has seen 3 significant revisions over the years but the current version of the show has remained mostly unchanged for  the last 24 years. We take you through each version of the show and sample some of the music that makes this show so memorable. The Electrical Water Pageant holds a special place in our hearts as we grew up with it and we talk about how we even brought some of the magic of it home with us as kids. Let us know what you think of this show in the comments.

 

Here is a link to a video I made from a room at the Polynesian. 

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D6FE3E14-01DA-4E9A-BDEF-60B57830F01AEpisode: 263. Hey all you cool cats and kittens! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist). There’s no new episode this week but I thought it would be a good opportunity to dig into the show archives and put together some parts of older episodes that some may not have heard before. If you are like me, this isolation has made me appreciate the Disney parks even more! One way that I like to connect to the parks during this time away is to reflect on the sounds, smells, and of course the music that I love from the parks. I took 2 very old episodes (back when it was just me and Jon) and put them together where we discussed this very topic. If I closed my eyes while listening back to this I could almost feel like I was there. I hope this episode will help bring the parks a little closer to you during this time of social distancing. Stay safe everyone!

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D21E28D7-3A9E-457C-ABBB-612F65C9C2A5Episode: 263. Today is the exciting conclusion of our March Madness in April Walt Disney World attraction tournament! In our last episode we narrowed down the bracket to the elite eight attractions at each park. This week we pick up where we left off and narrow it down until we have one attraction left standing above them all. Which ride will it be? Be sure to let us know if you agree or disagree with our selection as the best.

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3D0E2A1A-789F-488C-B216-10F92A1B9F18Episode 260: We discuss Disney Moderate resorts! On our recent poll the Disney Moderate resorts won hands down. We begin the show with a news discussion. We Talk about Haunted Mansion’s continued problems, The opening of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and we give our advice on how Disney can save money on construction projects during uncertain economic times. When then go into our main topic of the day, The Walt Disney World Moderate Resorts. We compare them by price, location, food & dining options, pools and amenities, and transportation. Which resort stands above the rest? It turns out the we all agreed on which 2 resorts stand out above the rest…Can you guess which ones? Tune in to find out!