The Battle of Theme Parks: Disney's Response to Universal's Epic Universe

Tony Desiri: 00:00:04

We've got all the big D 23 news to go over, the ones that are really exciting people and the others that are just a bit on the controversial side.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:11

Plus, we're going to talk about the new lightning lane procedures at Disney World so you're not confused or overwhelmed on your next vacation.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:17

This is the wands and Wishes podcast, and it's the first one out of the gate.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:21

I'm Tony Desiri, along with Lauren Mallard of All the Magic Travel, a podcast that discusses all the things around Disney World and Universal Studios.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:29

Before we get started, if you like this episode and want more, please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:35

Also leave us a five star review.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:37

Now, this is the first episode out of the gate, so maybe it'll take you a few episodes to see if you like it, but we still hope you will do that and continue the journey with us.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:47

Also, if you're thinking about a Disney or universal vacation, you can email Lauren and myself.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:51

Lauren at all themagictravel.com or travelwithtonydmail.com, and we can definitely get you started.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:57

Hi, Lauren.

Lauren Mallard: 00:00:58

Hi, Tony.

Tony Desiri: 00:00:59

Huge, huge, huge week of news for.

Lauren Mallard: 00:01:02

The Walt Disney World community has been incredible.

Lauren Mallard: 00:01:06

I'll be honest with you.

Lauren Mallard: 00:01:07

amount of news to come out of: 2015

Tony Desiri: 00:01:11

Huge amount of news.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:12

It was over a three hour presentation of everything, not only from Disney World, Disneyland, Disney, Paris, Shanghai, Disney, Disney cruise lines with new ships.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:21

So a just a bunch of things to digest.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:24

Now, a lot of this hit people very, very well.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:28

Some of it with more time has sort of made people go, okay, I don't know where this is going and whatnot.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:34

So let's start with Disney World, and I'm gonna go with the big one right off the bat, because some people are like, save the best for last.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:41

But villains land was something that erupted the auditorium.

Tony Desiri: 00:01:45

When Josh D'Amaro announced it, it was.

Lauren Mallard: 00:01:46

Like they were gonna be done with all the announcements, and then it was like, but wait a second, we've got this.

Lauren Mallard: 00:01:51

And so I think that everybody kind of got, you know, caught off guard with it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:01:55

But it is something that people have begged for for years.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:00

There has been talk about possibly a third, a fifth park that's based on the villains concept.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:06

This.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:07

I know that there was a thought process before the new fantasy land that they would go in that direction years and years ago.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:13

This has always been on the drawing board.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:15

This has always been in the imagineers minds to put something like this together.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:19

And that's the thing that at the end, when they announced it, it was almost like, oh, of course, we've been waiting for this for a very long time.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:27

Some of this was a surprise.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:29

Some of the lands were a surprise.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:31

This wasn't necessarily a surprise, but it was a surprise.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:33

Like, finally they're telling us it's getting done.

Lauren Mallard: 00:02:36

And I think with this one, more so than any of the other announcements, I think they're keeping us guessing on it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:02:41

I don't know if you've seen anything else on it, but I saw one concept art that kind of looked like there was a little bit of like a roller coaster track back there, but, you know, we don't know the details of it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:02:51

And I think they're kind of keeping that one in their pocket a little bit more than the rest of these announcements.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:55

And one other thing there.

Tony Desiri: 00:02:56

This was, I mean, Demaro said this maybe two or three times in the presentation, which is, this is not blue sky.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:02

We have been working on it.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:04

This is not going to be like Mary Poppins ride at Epcot that never came to fruition or a bunch of other ones that we said we were doing.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:11

And then certain circumstances popped up and we had to pull the budget off of this or pull the budget off that.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:17

He said, earth is being moved.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:18

These have been planned.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:20

These have been well thought out and organized, and we're going to get started on some of these earlier and some of these later.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:26

But I think that's always been sort of the dance that Disney has played with its fans, which is, we're going to tell you how great this is.

Tony Desiri: 00:03:34

You're all going to cheer and be excited, and then down the road, oops, yeah, we couldn't make this happen.

Lauren Mallard: 00:03:39

You know, I was pleasantly surprised because I think Disney realized that they had to come up with something big after the announcement of Epic universe and everything with Universal and what's coming sooner than later, that Disney's gotta do something to match it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:03:55

There were some things that I was hoping for that I didn't see, but I think with the announcement of Villains land, I think we are well on the right track.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:02

It is so funny.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:03

It's almost parallel, like in politics, where one candidate gets all the news and attention, another one feels like it has to one up the game.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:09

Epic Universe has been dominating the news cycle in the theme park industry.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:14

Everything that it's done.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:15

Universal is putting out videos for this land, that land, dark universe, Harry Potter, all of that stuff.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:20

Train your dragon, showing drones in the sky of what they're doing.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:23

And Disney needed to have their big splash of D 23 to say, we are still in this game and this is what we're doing.

Lauren Mallard: 00:04:30

And I think they actually hit it this year.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:31

Yeah, I do, too.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:32

I do, too.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:32

Because again, from the standpoint of not just the lands, but new attractions, it does come with a little bit of fans are saying, look, you are adding this and you're adding that.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:44

Where exactly are they going to be?

Tony Desiri: 00:04:46

This next one came as a big, exciting, but then after a few days, people started realizing, where exactly is it going to be?

Tony Desiri: 00:04:54

And that's the new cars land in frontierland now.

Tony Desiri: 00:04:58

I'm glad cars is going to be at the Disney World resort.

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:00

Oh, me too.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:01

It's such a big hit over at Disneyland, California adventure.

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:04

But at what expense?

Tony Desiri: 00:05:05

What expense?

Tony Desiri: 00:05:06

We're losing the river.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:07

We're losing the river of the Americas.

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:09

A little bit of that nostalgia is going to be gone.

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:11

But, you know, you could also argue I was there with my son Graham last week, and he's like, mom, what's over there?

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:17

What?

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:17

What's over at Tom Sawyer's island?

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:19

We've been countless times with my kids and we've never gone over there.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:24

I agree with you, too.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:25

I've been going to Disney World since 82, when I was ten years old.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:28

I don't think I've ever ridden the Liberty Bell.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:30

I don't think I've been to Tom Sawyer's island.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:32

And if I did, I don't remember it.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:34

I certainly have not gone on either one of those attractions as an adulthood.

Tony Desiri: 00:05:38

Yeah, I don't, you know, I think.

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:40

That having the cars attractions will be one that people will quickly not forget about Tom Sawyer's island, but, like, it will be a welcomed thing.

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:50

Now, there's another one that we're going to talk about when we get to Disney's Hollywood studios that I think might hit a few more chords with, you know, well, where's this one going?

Lauren Mallard: 00:05:59

But I think overall, having cars and having these two new attractions, one that's going to be a thrill ride, one that's going to be a family friendly ride, is going to far surpassed what we have right now with Tom Sawyer's island and the riverboat.

Tony Desiri: 00:06:12

And this is some, this is a fine dance again, that Disney plays because there's an idea behind Walt Disney's dream of the parks are never finished.

Tony Desiri: 00:06:20

Right.

Tony Desiri: 00:06:21

There's always going to be different things changing things that are supposed to be occurring in the park.

Tony Desiri: 00:06:26

However, this one, the cars land and the removal of the rivers and the removal of Tom Saw island comes at the expense of a vision that Walt had for the story of the way his park is designed, going from a New England sort of haunted mansion to the frontierland, and how that sort of continuity is going to get massively disrupted by that.

Lauren Mallard: 00:06:51

We're moving into more ip based attractions and less of what Walt kind of had originally envisioned with the classic things.

Lauren Mallard: 00:07:01

And some of that might obviously go to the wayside with some of this.

Lauren Mallard: 00:07:06

But overall, I think I'm excited about cars, land.

Tony Desiri: 00:07:10

I am, too, because, again, I don't get to go to California as much.

Tony Desiri: 00:07:14

It's nice to have it sort of down the highway from where I live right now.

Lauren Mallard: 00:07:18

Same.

Lauren Mallard: 00:07:19

Speaking of Magic Kingdom, with the announcement of what's coming sooner than later is the pirates of the caribbean lounge, which I think will be such a good thing for Magic Kingdom because you've got adult travelers that are looking for a little more nightlife, a little more adult themed things that they can go, just like the nomad lounge at Animal Kingdom, things like that that are going to be a draw for your adult travelers, your travelers with kids that are a little older, that want to go off and do things on their own.

Lauren Mallard: 00:07:54

And then I think, from what I read, kids are welcome in there, too, at least until a certain time of the day, I'm sure.

Lauren Mallard: 00:08:01

But I think that one will be good and something that we can look forward to sooner than later.

Lauren Mallard: 00:08:05

While the rest of these are way off down the road.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:08

There is such.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:09

Listen again, I've been going to the parks for 40 years, since I was a young kid, and I get nostalgia.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:16

Nostalgia is the thing that sells most adults on a lot of things, but this is a very competitive industry, and it really is about what is new and what can you do new and what can you do to up the other.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:30

There was a time where when Walt Disney world, when that existed without Epcot center, you could have a seaworld down there.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:37

You could have other attractions down there in Disney World, said, fine, no problem.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:40

Because if you're coming down anyway, we know you're coming here for us.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:44

Go do all those other things, but we know this is the reason you're here.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:46

The first time I went in with my family, it was two days.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:50

Like, you would get a two day ticket to do that.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:52

And then you could do seaWorld, circus world, all these other side attractions.

Tony Desiri: 00:08:57

Now they're in a competitive stay at one place.

Lauren Mallard: 00:09:02

Absolutely.

Lauren Mallard: 00:09:02

With every destination.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:04

Every destination.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:05

So you are trying to say, stay here with us, but we have all this old stuff that your parents loved.

Lauren Mallard: 00:09:11

Right, right.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:12

And then universal is going, we know you love Harry Potter.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:15

Here's more Harry Potter.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:16

And you like train your dragon.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:17

Here's train your dragon.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:18

We know you love Donkey Kong and Mario World.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:20

Here we go with this.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:21

And if you're not at least advancing your park, or at least coming up, not just refurbishing a ride, but yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:09:27

You'Re going to fall behind.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:28

You're falling behind.

Lauren Mallard: 00:09:29

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:30

So I get the anger on some of the people's part.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:32

It takes away a little bit of what you remember the park about.

Tony Desiri: 00:09:35

But if you are trying to sit down and come up with ways to, how do we, how are we competing against what is coming down the road?

Lauren Mallard: 00:09:43

And while there are Disney fans like you and me and the, you know, the one that's going to go every year, there are a lot more casual travelers that are going down once or maybe twice during their childhood or even those that are going once every three years.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:02

They want the new, they want the exciting.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:05

They are less concerned with the nostalgia that you and I are seeing.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:09

Absolutely.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:09

And we're going to continue to go regardless.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:12

So, so before we get to Hollywood studios and what you had teased earlier, what's going on there, let's mention that animal kingdom, tropical Americas, is coming where Dinoland is.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:23

There's going to be an Acanto ride, an attraction there.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:26

There's going to be a new Indiana Jones ride.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:28

Yes.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:28

I love Indiana Jones and Disneyland.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:31

I had been wanting it for a long time.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:33

And I know it's the same ride vehicle as dinosaur.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:36

Oh, and it's going to be so perfect.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:37

That ride vehicle is the perfect one for Indiana Jones.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:41

And to be honest, I've never enjoyed dinosaurs.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:45

Right.

Tony Desiri: 00:10:45

I've never enjoyed dinosaur.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:46

And so for me, I'm so excited about Indiana Jones.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:50

I heard that it's going to be different than the one in California, which is exciting.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:55

Yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:10:56

I think this is the perfect solution for Dinoland.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:00

They're theming the ride around Indiana Jones, finding a new animal.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:04

And so they're keeping it within the animal kingdom realm.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:07

And idea behind that park and canto has been, been very popular.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:12

The idea of moving furniture on an attraction and what.

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:15

Oh, and can you imagine how pretty that one's gonna be?

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:17

I mean, it's gonna be such a pretty ride.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:19

So, yeah, so Hollywood studios is getting some new stuff as well.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:22

The new Zootopia show is gonna be at the tree of life.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:24

So that's something that they had announced earlier.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:26

But you're gonna see Tropical America.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:28

in a couple of years, I think: 2027

Tony Desiri: 00:11:34

So again, some changes there.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:36

But now here comes Hollywood studio.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:37

Yes.

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:38

My most excited one.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:40

And this one.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:42

Okay, let me just go back 20.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:45

I don't know when Monsters Inc.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:46

Came out 20 years ago.

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:47

That sounds 20 plus years ago.

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:48

This is my favorite Disney movie of all time.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:51

You watch this movie and you get the scene of the doors.

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:55

Everybody's thinking the same.

Tony Desiri: 00:11:56

Everyone's thinking the same thing.

Lauren Mallard: 00:11:58

Why did it take 20 years?

Tony Desiri: 00:12:00

I thought they put it in the movie.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:02

I know.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:03

To make a ride.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:04

Same.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:04

I thought when they were.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:06

One day we'll be doing this, so let's just tease it in this movie.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:09

We're quarter of a century later, and.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:12

Now we have it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:14

It's coming to life.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:16

I cannot wait.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:17

So they do have a Monsters Inc.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:18

Ride at Disneyland.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:19

It's sort of a dark ride, but this is going to be a full fledged door coaster.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:24

Suspended coaster.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:25

Suspended coaster at Disney.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:28

It's going to be incredible.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:29

I think now there's talks about where it's going to be.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:33

Yeah.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:33

And this is going to make the big one sad.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:35

Where it's going to be where the Muppets are.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:37

That's what I mean.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:38

That's the only spot that makes sense.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:41

It does make sense.

Tony Desiri: 00:12:42

Totally.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:43

I've also heard a little bit of over where launch Bay has been and over by where the Little Mermaid is, but they've just reimagined the Little Mermaid show, so I can't imagine unless we can put it beyond launch Bay, that it could go over there.

Lauren Mallard: 00:12:57

And, yes, Disney owns all of that land.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:02

I think that they have plenty of land to build on.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:05

I've also seen some concept art that show it where Muppets vision is currently.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:12

Again, I am not a big one for nostalgia for that ride.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:16

It's not one that I take my kids on, but for the big Disney fans, that's going to be an issue.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:23

I agree.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:24

I agree.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:25

Star Wars Galaxy Edge is getting a revamp on smugglers run.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:28

There's going to some different missions.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:31

You can go on with that.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:32

So those are a couple of things that they're going to be doing over there.

Tony Desiri: 00:13:35

The only thing that I got out of the epcot washing is there's going to be a spaceship Earth lounge.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:40

Yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:40

So they're going to put a lounge there, similar to what they're doing over at Magic Kingdom to give another adult space.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:47

also reopening test track in: 2025

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:52

It just closed for this really lengthy refurb.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:56

This is the third time they've done that.

Lauren Mallard: 00:13:58

So this is kind of the test track 3.0.

Lauren Mallard: 00:14:00

at, but that one will open in: 2025

Tony Desiri: 00:14:03

I got to go next month, and I'm bummed.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:05

Test track is going to be closed.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:06

It's one of the main reasons I like that part.

Lauren Mallard: 00:14:09

That's unfortunate for Epcot, because when we get to the talking about the new lightning lanes, we're really lacking on attractions at Epcot right now.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:16

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:18

Over at Disneyland, a couple of things I did want to.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:20

I saw this, and I'll tell you why.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:22

I almost freaked out in a second.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:25

So Coco is.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:26

There's going to be a Coco ride.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:28

Now, when I saw the concept art for this, I saw it was a boat ride.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:32

Now, this makes me very worried, but I know I've got some years because I love grand fiesta tours.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:37

It's my favorite ride.

Lauren Mallard: 00:14:38

That concept art looked just like the Mexico pavilion.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:42

Exactly.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:43

Exactly.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:43

So I'm afraid that maybe ten years, when all the, you know, everything sort of settles down eventually.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:50

Coco, which I like.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:51

Which I like.

Lauren Mallard: 00:14:51

Oh, absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:52

But the three caballeros is one of my favorite attractions.

Lauren Mallard: 00:14:55

Yes.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:56

A lot of it is because my family teases me about it.

Tony Desiri: 00:14:58

They don't necessarily like it.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:00

I love it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:15:01

It's so fun.

Lauren Mallard: 00:15:02

I love that ride.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:03

I love it.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:03

So I'm very nervous that I'm going to be losing something iconic for me, but that is least going to Disneyland, and it'll probably be years down the road for that.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:14

But they've also got.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:15

Finally going to have Tiana's bayou adventure.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:18

They're going to change the critters corner land at Disneyland to Bayou country.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:22

Winnie the Pooh is going to stay there.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:24

There's going to be some new things at Marvel campus.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:27

There's going to be some new attractions at Marvel campus, including what they think is iron man attraction.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:32

That's going to be pretty cool on one of those coasters that sort of spinshe like the Harry Potter ride at universal.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:38

So, I mean, this is a boatload of stuff that's just coming within the continental United States to the Disney parks, not to mention what's going on in Paris and Shanghai and what they're doing there.

Lauren Mallard: 00:15:48

Absolutely.

Lauren Mallard: 00:15:48

And I always tend to think that when they're putting something new in these international parks, they're thinking ahead to our domestic parks also, which makes me excited.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:57

Yeah.

Tony Desiri: 00:15:57

So this, again, it'll be years when it's finally all done again, they're doing these in phases in going back to what we had talked about before.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:06

Again, this is a park that has changed.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:09

The one thing that I will say that was a little disappointing is there was no tomorrowland News, and this is a land that needs something else.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:19

I'd had Tron, I get.

Lauren Mallard: 00:16:20

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:21

But there's a couple of things.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:22

Nothing has been done with the stitch building.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:24

It's empty, still empty.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:25

And it's been years now since they closed that thing down.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:29

I don't care what you put in there.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:31

There's nothing there.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:32

Also, are we.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:33

Are we going to do something with the Tomorrowland speedway?

Lauren Mallard: 00:16:36

Yeah, something needs to be done because it's no longer tomorrowland when we're still running diesel cars.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:41

That's right.

Lauren Mallard: 00:16:41

So, yeah, if we could see an improvement there, because that is still something that my youngest wants to ride.

Lauren Mallard: 00:16:48

But it is a struggle.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:50

It is.

Lauren Mallard: 00:16:50

If it's 90 degrees outside and you're standing in that line and then you're riding the car and, I mean, you need a break afterwards.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:57

You do.

Tony Desiri: 00:16:57

It's gas and fumes and it's old technology.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:01

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:03

Tron has been fantastic.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:04

It's a great upgrade in that park area.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:06

hey, look, maybe not now, but: 2027

Tony Desiri: 00:17:14

We're going to do this for tomorrow.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:15

Yeah, let's see that next year.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:16

Let's see that.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:17

I had said, listen, listen to me.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:19

Spending Disney's money.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:20

I always thought a wreck it Ralph Racer was great.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:24

Absolutely.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:24

That'd be great.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:25

Electric cars, all different designs.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:28

Throw out the.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:29

Throw out some character out there and just make it like that.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:31

So I thought that would have been.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:32

Imagineers for a day.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:33

That's what they should just let us do, right?

Tony Desiri: 00:17:36

Exactly, exactly.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:38

So those are the upgrades and those are the things that are coming from.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:41

From D 23.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:44

The energy in that room was pretty crazy.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:46

Oh, it was amazing.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:48

They love it.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:49

Anyway.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:49

They're all going to eat that up.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:50

Anyway, what happened with villains?

Tony Desiri: 00:17:53

Land was intense, and he knew it.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:55

He knew what he was going to get out of it.

Tony Desiri: 00:17:57

As soon as he said it really.

Lauren Mallard: 00:17:58

Landed, for sure, he definitely landed.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:00

So again, D 23, the big announcements and a lot of different things that are coming to the Walt Disney World resort as it is competing with Epic universe, which is coming next year for Universal Studios.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:10

And the excitement for that, especially Harry Potter, especially Mario land, which they got the concept people got from Japan, who have seen it, love it.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:19

They can't wait for that.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:20

Slam dunk.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:20

Slam dunk.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:21

Can't wait for that.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:22

Boy, it's going to be busy next couple years.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:24

Big time.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:26

Big couple years.

Tony Desiri: 00:18:27

All right, so you just returned from a trip last month, right?

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:30

Yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:31

And it was actually coincidental that I arrived on July 24, which happened to be the day that the new lightning lane multi pass and lightning lane single pass went into effect.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:43

And so it actually was the perfect time for me to be there.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:47

A few changes that were coming.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:49

A lot of people were saying, you know, bring back fastpasses, and this is what we got.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:53

But it's similar to the old fastpass system.

Lauren Mallard: 00:18:57

Wherever you get to choose three per day before you go, and then you can add on.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:04

But we're now paying for it, which I think everybody said, that's fine if that's what they want to do, but give us a little bit of leeway instead of giving us that.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:12

07:00 a.m.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:12

everybody's on their phones trying to grab the virtual queue and this and that and the other.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:17

So I think, you know, as a whole, I think it's better than genie plus.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:25

You do?

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:25

I think that there's some room for improvement.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:27

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:28

Yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:28

Yeah.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:29

This is the Fastpass issue at Disney World has been something that's.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:33

They've been trying to find the right method to do this and take advantage of technology.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:40

So when it first was come out, you got to go way, way back where people had to go to the park and go to the ride, grab the ticket, and then go to something else.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:48

And what it caused was people doing the fast pass bounce before they actually began their day.

Lauren Mallard: 00:19:55

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:55

I remember my father doing this.

Tony Desiri: 00:19:56

Like, we're gonna go over here and get a fastpass for this, then we're going over here, then we're going here, then we're gonna here.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:00

Same thing, and then we start.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:02

Okay, now let's ride some rides and have some fun.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:05

Then when the technology was available for people to book the fastpasses, that became a little easier.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:10

Cause you knew when you were gonna go, you knew what parks you wanted to go to.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:13

You saw what was available.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:14

You were up early just to make sure you got it.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:16

So then Covid happens, and then they shut down fastpasses altogether.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:20

And this goes back to a pre fast pass time, which is how Disney World separated itself, not just with its company and its ip, but how it separated itself in the creation or execution of theme parks.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:38

I mean, I can remember as a kid going to every amusement park, whether it was Canobie Lake park in New Hampshire or wherever, you would go onto a ride, you'd wait for the ride to be over, then people would get off, new people would get on.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:50

And so I'm tendin I go to Disney World for the first time, and they're putting me on a moving conveyor belt.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:56

And this was mind blowing to me as a kid.

Tony Desiri: 00:20:59

I'd never been on one before.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:00

I'd never seen a line move fast.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:03

I never saw a continuation like the haunted mansion of a ride where I was going on as it wasn't stopping for me.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:11

Every ride I had ever gone on, it stopped for me.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:14

And this was a totally different concept.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:17

So I remember going during the post Covid before the implementation of Genie, plus going, this is very similar to how I remember this.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:26

The lines were moving, we were cruising along.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:30

But I also knew that, okay, they're eventually going to bring this back.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:33

How are they going to bring this back?

Tony Desiri: 00:21:34

And they brought it back in a paid way that was.

Tony Desiri: 00:21:37

I mean, I follow this stuff pretty seriously, and I was confused by it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:21:41

Yeah, yeah, it was for a long time.

Lauren Mallard: 00:21:43

I would feel almost embarrassed when I was explaining it to a client because the more I talked, the more I realized how ridiculous it sounds.

Lauren Mallard: 00:21:53

But then I found myself.

Lauren Mallard: 00:21:55

I'm a micromanager at heart anyway, and I would find myself micromanaging my clients trips by saying, listen, I'll help you out while you're down there.

Lauren Mallard: 00:22:03

l day long, and they're up at: 07:00

Lauren Mallard: 00:22:18

So it really is a matter of training yourself on the program prior to going or having a planner to help explain it to you so that you can really take advantage of it in the best way.

Lauren Mallard: 00:22:32

Now, what you'll find with the new system, as with the old system, is that the price per day changes based on crowd level, based on season, based on all sorts of different things.

Lauren Mallard: 00:22:45

But what I have been telling people is to plan on an average of $25 per person per day for the lightning lane multipass.

Lauren Mallard: 00:22:55

Now, that is going to get you.

Lauren Mallard: 00:22:57

If you have a park hopper and you buy for animal Kingdom for that day, then you're going to pay animal Kingdom's price for the day, even if you're park hopping, which I think is a good improvement.

Tony Desiri: 00:23:07

That's a good improvement.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:09

So then I can choose rides in magic Kingdom later, when I've paid a smaller price for animal kingdom to start my day, if that makes sense.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:18

Another point is, they have now tiered the rides.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:21

This was how it was with the old fastpass system.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:24

But going back to what we were saying earlier, with Epcot, you've got your three headliners as tier one attractions, and you can only choose one of those, right?

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:34

So you've got Remi's ratatouille adventure frozen ever after, and Soarin all as a tier one attraction.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:40

And you gotta choose one of those, which I always say we choose, Remy.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:44

Right.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:45

Then when you're going to choose your second and third attractions, you're choosing from tier two, which are usually the less popular attractions.

Lauren Mallard: 00:23:53

And then by the time you finish that first attraction and you scan in and you go back, you might not find that tier one attraction.

Lauren Mallard: 00:24:01

So again, it's going back to training yourself, going in, refreshing the screen to see what might come back available.

Lauren Mallard: 00:24:08

Because if something says it's not available at first, doesn't mean it's not going to be available all day.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:14

Now, there has been some conversation about how many people will be using this in the parks.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:22

I said before with Jeannie, plus, if everyone's got a lightning lane, no one has a lightning lane.

Lauren Mallard: 00:24:27

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:28

My wife and I went down for the Christmas party last December, the 3 hours before the party started.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:34

You get to go into the park and hang out.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:36

No need to buy Genie.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:37

Plus, we're only there a couple hours.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:38

I stood in line for haunted mansion.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:40

All I did was stand there and watch people coming down that lightning lane constantly, and we barely moved.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:46

And I remember thinking, this doesn't work, because even, like, for me here, not buying it, standing in here, I saw cast members just waiting for people to catch up.

Tony Desiri: 00:24:56

Like, hold on, we're still waiting for that family way over there, coming down the walkway.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:02

If you've got 100 people going through the lightning lane line at one time, then you're still in a hundred person line.

Tony Desiri: 00:25:09

That's right.

Tony Desiri: 00:25:11

So would this calm that down a little bit?

Tony Desiri: 00:25:13

Because there's going to be an allocation of different fastpasses.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:18

Yes.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:18

And so what I found when I was there is, I think, obviously, for the first couple of days, they were testing it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:24

They were trying to see, okay, what is the pool that we can allow for this 30 minutes period of time that we can have people book this lightning lane and still have it be essentially a lightning lane, meaning they're not having to wait, but we're also nothing, increasing the standby weight just to get these lightning lane guests in.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:47

So I do think.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:48

I think the allocation has kind of leveled out to accommodate that.

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:53

And I think, honestly, I think they've got it down.

Tony Desiri: 00:25:56

They got it down?

Lauren Mallard: 00:25:56

Yeah.

Tony Desiri: 00:25:57

Good.

Tony Desiri: 00:25:57

Cause I'm going maybe next month.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:00

And I do think people ask me all the time, is it necessary?

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:03

Yeah, I do think it is.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:04

And as much as I hate it, I don't make a dime off of it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:09

That doesn't matter to me.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:11

On a business standpoint, it doesn't matter to me whether you buy lightning lane or not.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:14

But I am going to tell you that I think that it is necessary to tour the parks if you're going to have a good day at Magic Kingdom.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:23

Yes.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:24

You need lightning lane.

Tony Desiri: 00:26:25

Do you need it at epcot, where it feels like the crowds are a little bit less and the rides don't have as long of a time?

Tony Desiri: 00:26:32

You can get on spaceship Earth at night.

Tony Desiri: 00:26:34

We can walk on.

Tony Desiri: 00:26:35

I've pretty much done it every time.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:36

So I always tell people, if you're going to buy it for some parks and not the others, I absolutely think that it is necessary at Magic Kingdom, and I think that it is very much needed, not to the same level, but almost to the same level at Hollywood studios.

Tony Desiri: 00:26:52

Yeah, I agree.

Lauren Mallard: 00:26:53

Epcot and Animal Kingdom, you can definitely tour without.

Tony Desiri: 00:26:56

Okay.

Tony Desiri: 00:26:57

Now, would Disney have been better off, again, copying your competition as a form of flattery for your competition, doing what universal does?

Lauren Mallard: 00:27:05

Oh, yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:27:05

Unlimited express pass would have been $100, $110.

Tony Desiri: 00:27:10

Very few people would get that.

Tony Desiri: 00:27:12

It would make the stam.

Tony Desiri: 00:27:13

And I mean, again, I'm not an economist, so I don't know what, you know, how many people would buy it compared to $25 apiece rather than $120 apiece.

Tony Desiri: 00:27:21

But it would say, every time I go to universal, I never feel affected by the people with the passes.

Tony Desiri: 00:27:27

Never.

Tony Desiri: 00:27:28

I never feel like I'm on a line going, when am I getting on?

Lauren Mallard: 00:27:30

So I think where Disney has seen is there their vip tours, which are wildly more expensive than the unlimited express pass at universal, but they come with that level of service that if you have the demographic that is going to purchase a vip tour is going to pay for that level of service.

Lauren Mallard: 00:27:51

And because they have that, I think that they're not going to offer an unlimited breast pass because they're able to offer this as a totally different product, but really very similar to what unlimited express pass does, but guided personally, and they're selling those out every single day.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:11

Every day.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:11

And you see so many private tours that are happening.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:15

And I think as long as they have that market, I think that's where they're gonna go.

Tony Desiri: 00:28:19

Yeah, agree.

Tony Desiri: 00:28:19

So you found it easier?

Tony Desiri: 00:28:20

Yeah, because we've had experience with the old pre genie plus system.

Tony Desiri: 00:28:26

So is that of that not saying skill, but that knowledge helpful in the way they're doing it now?

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:32

No, it is, it's skill, I really do believe so.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:34

It's, the more you use it, the more you learn it, the more you are going to excel at it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:41

Yeah, I think it's very, very similar in that regard to genie plus.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:46

It works very similarly.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:48

So that if you, once you have your times booked, you can modify them just like you did with Genie.

Lauren Mallard: 00:28:55

And I strongly suggest if you get a time that you are not happy with, modify it when you're in line.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:02

Yes.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:03

It's gonna, it's gonna require one person in your party to be on their phone, but just, it's going to be a constant swipe on your phone and you might get a time that is immediate.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:13

And the more you can crank and use, the more you're gonna be able to use it today.

Tony Desiri: 00:29:17

So can you go back to the way it was where you use one, you can get another.

Tony Desiri: 00:29:20

You have to use all three in order to start again.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:22

As soon as you use your, your first one, you can get a fourth one.

Tony Desiri: 00:29:25

That's great.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:26

So you can have three in your pocket at all times, all day long.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:29

And that fourth one that you get can be any tier.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:32

So if you have your tier one attraction that you haven't used yet, you can still book another tier one attraction for that fourth ride if it is available.

Tony Desiri: 00:29:40

All right, so what, what, in your opinion, made genie plus?

Tony Desiri: 00:29:45

Why did they dump this?

Tony Desiri: 00:29:46

What was it just too many complaints?

Tony Desiri: 00:29:48

Did it.

Tony Desiri: 00:29:48

Nothing.

Tony Desiri: 00:29:48

Was it not meaning satisfaction?

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:50

It's not user friendly.

Lauren Mallard: 00:29:52

So you think about when you're on vacation, which, when you're at Walt Disney World, it's very much not like a relaxing vacation.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:00

f you don't want to get up at: 07:00

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:02

u shouldn't have to get up at: 07:00

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:04

ing that guests get up before: 07:00

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:08

be ready for a very stressful situation of buying genie plus selecting your first ride and buying your individual lightning lanes for the day.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:18

any plans prior to, prior to: 07:00

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:21

because you really don't know where you're going as far as that goes, as far as inside the park.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:27

So I think that having this, yes, we are still paying for it.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:32

It is essentially the same price as it was before.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:35

But you are at least being able to plan your vacation if you're on site seven days beforehand.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:42

So, you know, okay, we're going to have Hollywood studios on Monday, and we're going to be able to go to Slinky dog and Toy Story mania and rock and roller coaster.

Lauren Mallard: 00:30:50

And it kind of gives people a sense of, like, being able to, like, breathe that sigh of relief, you know?

Tony Desiri: 00:30:56

Totally.

Tony Desiri: 00:30:57

I am, look, I.

Tony Desiri: 00:30:58

I am not the technology person in the house.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:00

So that usually is in my wife's department.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:02

And she does a very good job of making sure we were all, we were all good.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:06

When I saw this, I had a little anxiety, like, going, oh, gosh, I just learned genie plus.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:11

Now I'm going to learn.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:12

But then the familiarity of, oh, wait a minute, we're kind of going back in time a bit.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:16

Yes, I got that.

Lauren Mallard: 00:31:17

And I get kind of that hybrid of fastpass and genie plus, but they're giving it to us kind of in a similar way.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:24

And so don't forget to check the prices per day of where you're going to be in what park you're going to be.

Lauren Mallard: 00:31:28

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:29

Absolutely.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:30

One other note.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:31

So I'm going to go down next week, and I found a very good ticket option because my wife and I are going to the Halloween party.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:36

And so we are using, we're buying that individually.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:39

And then there's a great three park ticket option that is just epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:45

Magic Kingdom is not part of it.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:47

That's what we're getting because we've already got the Halloween tickets purchased.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:51

So Magic Kingdom is locked in for that day with us with the Halloween party.

Tony Desiri: 00:31:55

And for $89 per ticket per person per day, it came out to be a very affordable way to do three parks outside of the Magic kingdom to add to the weekend that we're going.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:06

Yeah, that deal, in addition to the four park magic deal, which gives you each of the four parks per day, is a great, great thing that we can add on.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:16

And it goes through, I think, the end of September.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:19

And so I've actually found some ways to double dip those discounts.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:22

So if we wanted to find a room discount, then we can book a room only or a ticketless dining package, and then we can go and we can purchase your four park or three park magic ticket separately.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:35

And that way you're double dipping those discounts and you're saving more than you could ever imagine to save just on booking rec rate.

Tony Desiri: 00:32:42

Yeah.

Tony Desiri: 00:32:43

If you've gone, if you haven't gone in a while or you haven't gone at all, this is one of the reasons an agent can really help you with this kind of things, because there's different angles, different strategies and methods that you can to really maximize your savings on these, on these vacations.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:55

Yeah.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:55

And I have people ask me a lot.

Lauren Mallard: 00:32:57

Well, you know, if we book at full price, am I going to be able to take advantage of an offer if it comes out?

Lauren Mallard: 00:33:02

And the answer is absolutely.

Lauren Mallard: 00:33:04

So if you book your trip with a dollar 200 deposit, which is also not, it's refundable up until the final payment date.

Lauren Mallard: 00:33:12

So we can change the dates, we can change the resort, we can cancel your vacation for no charge to you.

Lauren Mallard: 00:33:18

And if a promo comes out, we simply, you and I, go in, modify that reservation, and all it does is just reduce the total cost of the vacation.

Lauren Mallard: 00:33:27

So it's no, it's, it's no risk to the, to the guests to go ahead and book it when the inventory is there rather than waiting.

Lauren Mallard: 00:33:37

Because if you wait, then you might not find that resort available for the one that you're wanting.

Tony Desiri: 00:33:41

All right, so again, the Halloween party, the Christmas party, all coming up in the next couple months.

Tony Desiri: 00:33:45

So again, you can hit Lauren up at Lauren athenae, travelthemagictravel.com dot.

Tony Desiri: 00:33:50

Hit me up@travelwithtonydmail.com.

Tony Desiri: 00:33:52

if you're interested in one vacation and organizing your Walt Disney or universal trip, this has been the first episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:01

We'll be posting one every single week with different topics and different ideas and strategies and tips.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:06

So don't forget to subscribe again, whether it's Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:09

And again, hit us up if you need any sort of advice on your Disney vacation.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:13

So the big enough announcements for D 23, I'm really looking forward to seeing where they go now.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:18

And I've been following the controversy.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:20

I know there's a lot of people ready to sort of pounce on some different ideas of where it's going.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:24

But, man, all in all, it was a very exciting week last week.

Lauren Mallard: 00:34:27

Yes, it was.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:28

All right.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:28

Lauren Mallard, I'm Tony Desiri.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:29

Again, thank you for listening.

Tony Desiri: 00:34:31

This is the wants and Wishes podcast.