1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,120 What are you looking at me for? You always get nervous when I 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,280 look at. You, I don't know what you're 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,480 going to say, Yeah, but it. It's OK to not know what I'm 4 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:09,840 going to say. I don't know what I'm going to 5 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,120 say most times that we get started with these shows. 6 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:13,720 Is this the first time you've worn that shirt? 7 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,040 It is honestly, I don't think that we would have been doing an 8 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:19,680 epic universe or universal show if it wasn't for the fact that I 9 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,960 had this shirt and I wanted an excuse to wear it. 10 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,360 It's got toothless on it. You you called these what goats, 11 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:27,240 but they're. Actually, they're not. 12 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:29,280 They're pretty sure, yeah. Dragons. 13 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,760 But yeah, I mean why? Why not have a show for a reason 14 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,840 to use? And then Derek's got his. 15 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:38,360 I guess it's. Fantastic. 16 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:41,840 Fantastic beast, Yeah, from Harry Potter. 17 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,360 And Eric's got a universal jacket on. 18 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:52,800 And I busted out the best. Part And then there's Jeff. 19 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:59,480 Hey, I'm I just got a Roosevelt's delivery today, but 20 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:01,280 I don't have any universal things so. 21 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,400 Everybody and welcome to this week's episode of The DVC Show. 22 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,360 I am your host, Paul Krieger, joined as always by my lovely 23 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,800 wife Amy Krieger, Sales Executive for the DVC Resale 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:27,120 Market, Derek de Boer. Hey now, happy Monday everybody. 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,760 The Honorable Jeff Haslam. Hey, dudes. 26 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,040 And we've got special guest Eric Hersey with us tonight. 27 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,000 Hello everyone, thanks for having me. 28 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,080 I say tonight, but we put the podcast up in the morning. 29 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,600 I never know how to address people and Derek's infamously 30 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,280 just addressing everyone for every time of day. 31 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,760 So, but yeah, thank you for joining us tonight, Eric. 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,200 I'm really happy to have you on the show. 33 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,720 Eric and I's history go back a long way, back to my time in 34 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,320 Wheeling, WV, because guess what? 35 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:06,120 That's where Eric is right now. And I truly feel there's some 36 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,800 weird epicenter of Disney and theme park magic that is in 37 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,000 Wheeling. I mean, it's just. 38 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,760 They call it Little Disney, right? 39 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:15,800 That's what we're all calling it. 40 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,520 I think. There's nothing about Wheeling 41 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,680 that reflects Disney, but we have this Nice river. 42 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,480 We'll just pretend that there's a a Mark Twain on it or 43 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,000 something. Yeah, most people say, oh, I've 44 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:29,960 been to Virginia. Three people from West Virginia. 45 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:36,560 It is, yeah. Eric also redesigned our DVC fan 46 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,160 website last year. He did, though. 47 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,120 Yeah, I've worked on a couple of different website projects with 48 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,600 Eric over the years, and also he's on multiple other podcasts 49 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:47,720 as part of the Jim Hill Media Network. 50 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,800 So I'm gonna, I'm gonna probably not name them all, but I know 51 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,480 there's the epic Universal podcast, which is really 52 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,840 relevant to tonight's discussion, and then recently 53 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:04,800 new podcast Diz and Hers, which Eric and his and his wife do. 54 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,400 I just subscribed 5 minutes ago. Oh, thank you, thank you. 55 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,160 It's brand new. We just, we just created that 56 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,360 one not so long ago. I think that's the newest one. 57 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,920 But yeah, I help with all of the Jim Hill podcast. 58 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:20,000 So he's producing like 1 every 15 minutes it seems like. 59 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,680 So it's just a sausage factory. But the the Disney dish is the 60 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,080 one most people know about. That's Len Test and Jim. 61 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,840 So I've helped them for the last several years just getting some 62 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,920 of those shows off the ground and, and out to the feeds. 63 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:38,040 And it's funny that I was not a Universal fan whatsoever a 64 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,320 couple years ago and Jim did not have a Universal podcast. 65 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,520 And we were pretty much saying, hey, Jim, you know, there's just 66 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:46,680 going to be this big surge of people that are going to be 67 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,400 thinking and wanting to know about Universal. 68 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:49,760 Maybe we should put one out there. 69 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,960 And at the end of the day, we said, well, I'll help Co host 70 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:56,480 it. Although at that time, I've 71 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,680 never been to Universal Park at all. 72 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,640 I'm a die hard Disney. I was very tribal. 73 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,600 I was very much like, no, Universal is not my thing. 74 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,160 Disney is my thing. And over the last year and a 75 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:09,920 half or so, we're almost, we're about at episode 100. 76 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,640 Now we've done, I've converted, I realized that there doesn't 77 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,279 need to be a lot of tribalism. If you like Disney, you probably 78 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:18,519 are going to like Universal. So that's where we're at. 79 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:23,320 And I've absorbed ton of information from Jim and now 80 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,160 I've gone to all of the Universal parks stateside, just 81 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,560 just came back from Hollywood a couple weeks ago. 82 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:31,440 Oh wow. That's so cool. 83 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,320 We've not gotten out there yet. Not yet yet, although it sounds 84 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,200 like we're not going to the Olympics now, so we should go 85 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,880 there instead because Olympics ticket prices are bonkers. 86 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,240 In case you are are thinking about going to the LA 2028 87 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,280 games, but that's a whole other show and a whole other topic. 88 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:51,600 But yeah, check out Eric and all the other podcasts here on he's 89 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,800 on if you enjoy him tonight. If you don't, you never have to 90 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:56,600 hear from him again. You just don't don't watch any 91 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:58,800 other, you know, except I'm. The Wheeling. 92 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,200 Yeah, except the. Yeah, except the next two shows 93 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,920 in in this because he's going to join us for all the shows 94 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:11,280 tonight and for full relevancy. Eric, you are ADBC member also 95 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:13,240 correct? I'm Polly buddy. 96 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:15,760 I got that Polly contract 10 years ago or so. 97 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,000 Yeah, All right. Good work. 98 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,240 And you, you have such amazing credentials doing such amazing 99 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:25,360 shows. Can I ask why are you on this 100 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:30,360 show? Listen you, no, we, I've 101 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,160 listened and I like what you guys do. 102 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,840 And, and and truth be told, I always want to talk DVC too. 103 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:39,120 So like the epic DVC, all this coming together is a good combo 104 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,080 for all of us. We were asking that to ourselves 105 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,560 about 5 minutes ago when we were dealing with some audio issues 106 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,960 and some other stuff. And, and you know, here's Eric 107 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,320 with the giant headphones and the full podcast mic and 108 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:50,840 everything. And it's just like amateur hour 109 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:53,600 for the rest of us here. We're just, I mean, Derek's on a 110 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,360 flip phone with a keyboard on top of it, I'm pretty sure so. 111 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,760 He is so incredibly knowledgeable about everything, 112 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,880 not just Disney, but Disney Vacation Club and Universal and 113 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:05,400 all this. So I just wasn't sure if this 114 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,960 was part of like a community release program that you. 115 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:09,840 Know. Community. 116 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,120 Service project Community service. 117 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:13,800 I'm not going to show you my ankles. 118 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,480 But no, we are. We are really, really glad to 119 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:19,600 have you here. I can't wait. 120 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,440 It's been a long time since I think we've talked anything 121 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,720 epic, so I'm super excited to hear what you and everyone else, 122 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:30,440 including Jeff, has to say. No comment, Jeff. 123 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,640 I'll save my comments for now, I'm trying to be measured today. 124 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,440 Well, it we were right before we got started, we were discussing 125 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:44,320 the fact that it has been essentially a year since we 126 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,080 actually stepped foot in Epic Universe for the first. 127 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,800 Time, yeah. So right around now was when the 128 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:53,280 previews were beginning in April of 2025. 129 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:58,080 And so at that time, if you were an annual pass holder, you could 130 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:00,560 buy a ticket and do the previews. 131 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,000 Those were some of the best times because they were some 132 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,240 very low crowd, but with that in mind, there were definitely some 133 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,040 they were still working out some of the kinks of the rides and 134 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:12,920 you know, there were things that were down, but it was a really 135 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,520 good like it's just being you ever have that like where you 136 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,840 have like a core memory and then the weather starts changing and 137 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,320 it brings you back to that that place. 138 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,400 And so this right now in April, I'm starting to think about like 139 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:30,680 our first time at Epic and how much I loved it and getting into 140 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,280 the How to Train Your Dragon, you know, franchise and all 141 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:34,600 that. So a couple weeks. 142 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,760 So I think it was our cycle or two shows ago, Jeff, you 143 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,600 actually suggested this as a potential topic of let's revisit 144 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,840 Epic Universe one year later. Talk about what we've learned, 145 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,280 how wrong we might have been when we talked about it a year 146 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,120 ago, or how right we might have been on certain different 147 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:56,760 aspects of Epic, and see how the park has adjusted to being open 148 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,720 for almost a year now. And so, yeah, that'll be the 149 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,280 next hour. If you enjoy this content, as 150 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,160 always, please show some love for our sponsors over at Key 151 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,000 Holder Vacations. DVC Resale Market where you can 152 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,200 buy or sell a Disney Vacation Club resale contract. 153 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,760 Monera Financial who will assist in financing that DVC resale 154 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,160 contract. Purchase the DVC Rental Store 155 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:19,640 where you can try before you buy. 156 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,240 Rent some points or rent out your points for cash or swap 157 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:28,440 them for a trip to Universal and be our guest Vacations who will 158 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,120 help you with getting to Universal Parks and Resorts. 159 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,919 The travel agents over there are awesome and I also forgot 160 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:41,039 unlocked magic.com/DVC fan for Epic Universe tickets, Universal 161 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:43,360 tickets, Disney tickets, all that kind of fun stuff. 162 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:45,320 I feel like I have to add something to our plugs. 163 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,840 Yeah, and don't forget we launched the DVC fan forums, 164 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,440 Yeah, like Monday a couple days ago. 165 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:59,160 So forums.dvcfan.com if you want to join that conversation. 166 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:00,840 A lot of cool things happening over there. 167 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,280 Almost 2000 people have joined us already in three days since 168 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:08,160 this and we're excited to continue to see that take off. 169 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,200 And yes, there is a universal forum so you can go over there 170 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,240 and talk about all your universal things. 171 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,680 So kicking things off tonight, I really wanted to kind of just go 172 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:21,320 around the room and kind of get everyone's general thoughts on 173 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,920 epic one year later. You know, it's it some time to 174 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,240 digest our feelings. I think all of us have been to 175 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,080 the parks maybe once, maybe twice, something like that. 176 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:38,360 And overall like how we feeling good, bad, Jeff. 177 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:40,760 Oh, of course you're going to go with me first. 178 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:42,320 What's? Because you've been so quiet 179 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:43,720 over there in your Mickey Mouse shirt. 180 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,440 Oh no. Breaking out the curmudgeon 181 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:53,080 early. I'm, I'm just kidding, I I think 182 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,480 Universal, excuse me, Epic Universe is the best Universal 183 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,000 park. I still think it's not as good 184 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,760 as any of the Disney parks. Man, a few works. 185 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,440 You got a whole lot, got in a whole little bit of. 186 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:07,560 Work I have so. Much to say, but I don't want to 187 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:08,880 like take the. Whole hour here. 188 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:11,520 No, I mean tell. Us some more. 189 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:13,200 Lay in you. Put that curmudgeon on your 190 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:14,840 shoulder. I want you to like continue to 191 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:15,560 lay in here. Right. 192 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:18,320 Well then buckle up Cowboys, because this is going to get 193 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,960 ugly. No, I from a theming standpoint. 194 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:23,560 It is. It is a. 195 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,440 Home run, you know, every single, I'm not going to say 196 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:32,960 every single, every single land except for Harry Potter Land is 197 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:35,680 a home run from a theming point of view. 198 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,600 I think they did just a great job learning from what they did 199 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,200 with Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and just taking that to a, to 200 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:48,360 the complete next level. I think Harry Potter Land is a 201 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:52,160 miss. It's this weird juxtaposition of 202 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:55,040 the new movies. Then you time travel to the old 203 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,160 movies, but that's because nobody watched the new movies, 204 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:58,720 so they had to do something to pivot. 205 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:03,360 There's nothing to do in that land other than the right 206 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,000 itself. I mean, the show is there, it's 207 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:12,240 fine, but it just, you walk into this big open, you know, walkway 208 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:14,600 and then there's nothing to do once you're in there. 209 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,760 The other three home run from a theming point of view where I 210 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,360 struggle with Epic Universe is threefold. 211 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,000 If you have littles. Like if I my family's coming to 212 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,840 see me this summer, I know everybody gives me crap. 213 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,040 You got more house guests coming. 214 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:29,800 Yes, I do. My grandkids are coming. 215 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:33,600 There's literally nothing for them at Epic Universe. 216 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:35,480 Everything at Epic Universe except what? 217 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,760 The carousel has a height requirement of 36 or 38 inches, 218 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:43,120 I can't remember. Like if you have littles. 219 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:47,960 There's no fantasy land rides. There's no, there's nothing for 220 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:49,920 them to do. And so that really makes it hard 221 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:54,400 to be a family destination. The second thing I have a 222 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:58,280 problem with is that the Celestial Park that is the Main 223 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:04,280 Street of Epic is way too big compared to the rest of the 224 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,960 lands because the rest of the lands are so overly crowded. 225 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:12,440 You walk in a Nintendo Land and you can't walk, yeah, anywhere 226 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:13,840 without bumping into somebody else. 227 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:16,720 Same with Dark Universe, especially at night time. 228 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:19,560 The exception to that is Harry Potter. 229 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:21,320 And again, that's because there's nothing to do in there. 230 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:26,600 And then lastly, if the weather comes like, which isn't out of 231 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,680 the realm of possibility in Florida, the whole place just 232 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:33,160 shuts down and suddenly Harry Potter and Dark Universe have 233 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,800 three hour waves. So I love it. 234 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,200 I want to love it. But Universal still hasn't 235 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,040 learned from their prior mistakes in that they don't know 236 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,400 how to deal with big crowds. So I struggle a little bit with 237 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:49,720 it. Having said that, I still think 238 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:52,400 Stardust Racers is the best roller coaster on property. 239 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:57,680 I think Dark Universe is so fun that it's such just a phenomenal 240 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:00,440 area. But again, you walk into the 241 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:03,760 Burning Blade and it is a beautiful restaurant with 242 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,240 actually really good food that holds like 6 people. 243 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:08,320 That's. True, They just don't know what 244 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,360 to do with big numbers when Universal comes where Disney, 245 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:16,440 they build a restaurant and it's made to to seat 300, you know 246 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,040 what I mean? So that's my struggle bus when 247 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,320 it comes to Epic Universe. Eric, you've gone from zero to 248 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,960 100 with Universal in like 1 year's period of time. 249 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,840 So give us give us your thoughts, how you feeling? 250 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,760 Well, I, I think I can agree with Jeff in so many ways. 251 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,200 So funny enough, when we traveled, we actually are kind 252 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,680 of like the perfect touring group because there are two 253 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:42,960 adults, male, female. We have a 19 year old, I have a 254 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,000 15 year old, I have an 8 year old and we travel with a 70 year 255 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,640 old grandma. So when we went to Epic, when we 256 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:51,480 went. So we are the basically the 257 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,640 survey group that you take. It's like, what does everybody 258 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,960 like? So when we went to Epic, it is 259 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,160 exactly that. Grandma did not have much to do 260 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:00,840 because she didn't like motion simulators. 261 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,360 My son had a panic because it's like we're running out of things 262 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:04,880 to do. He doesn't necessarily like 263 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,280 coasters and so forth. All the rest, we all kind of 264 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,880 loved it. We did deal with it once when it 265 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:12,680 rained and it's like, OK, what are you going to do? 266 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:15,080 Well, I think we're going to go to Monster Unchained and that is 267 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,800 about it. So there are a lot, I think from 268 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,520 a theming standpoint and kind of echo that statement theming it 269 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:22,400 is. It is probably one of the best, 270 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,440 if not the best themed parks in terms of detail and immersion, 271 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,960 especially with those portals. You get in there and you forget 272 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,360 there's the rest of the park, with the exception maybe of a 273 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,080 couple of different areas. We're like, well, I shouldn't 274 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:36,400 see a coaster right now. But for the most part, I think 275 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:40,240 it does the best job out of any theme park, but it is not 276 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:42,680 operationally where it probably should be. 277 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,320 I think this is a park that if I was giving recommendations, if 278 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,680 you really want the full shebang and you don't need to be an 279 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:51,400 early adopter and see it as it is right now, that's like a 280 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,520 three, 4-5 year park down the road. 281 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:55,560 I would love to see it then because I think at that point in 282 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,040 time, they had time to correct some of the shortcomings that 283 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,880 maybe they should have opened the park with, which I think 284 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:03,360 we'll probably talk about a little bit later. 285 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,960 Like, what the heck do we need to put in this park to make it 286 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,040 operationally work? Because I don't think we're at 287 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:10,440 capacity and we're not even close. 288 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,120 Yeah, Yeah. I don't, I don't think we've 289 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,560 even seen the number that was on the spreadsheets when they 290 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,640 originally drew it up. And and they were like, we're 291 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:19,840 going to make this much money in the first year with this many 292 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,560 people in the park. And it's like, no, no, scratch 293 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:24,920 that, throw it, throw it in the shredder. 294 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:26,680 We're not going to get there, Amy. 295 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:33,680 You know, I struggle because it's hard to, you know, there, 296 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,960 there are places, there are parks, there are theme parks 297 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,680 that really like hit your emotions. 298 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:44,360 And so I feel that way about like Isle of Burke, Super 299 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,760 Nintendo World. You know, it's like walking in 300 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,080 and being in my childhood when my brother and I used to play 301 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:55,040 Super Mario Brothers and it's, it's hard to like see all those 302 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,160 things and, and be in Celestial Park in the evening and not just 303 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,360 love the park. But that said, I do agree with, 304 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,960 you know, we do still see some operational things. 305 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,920 So I've I've been epic five times since it opened. 306 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,920 I kind of experienced the whole gamut. 307 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:15,160 So our first time was a pass holder preview. 308 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,360 It was in April. It had just opened like what it 309 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,640 had been open for, like previews for like a week maybe when we 310 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:26,400 went, yeah, it wasn't very long and we went on Paul's birthday 311 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:32,000 and great experience, but, you know, really hard to get on 312 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,680 Harry Potter. We it was near impossible to get 313 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,040 on, even though we managed to somehow get on it at the end of 314 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,040 the night but. It's because of your magical 315 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,080 toothless thing. It's because I can't do this 316 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:48,120 around with a sad face. But so then after that, we 317 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,640 actually, we were fortunate to go to the grand opening event. 318 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,800 And so we got to be there, You know, all the like, executives 319 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,760 and stuff are there. And of course everything's at 320 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,320 its best. You know, everything's working 321 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,720 and all the characters are out. And we actually have a really 322 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:06,839 cool reel from that that that I think has hit 1,000,000 views on 323 00:17:06,839 --> 00:17:11,359 Instagram with just the different characters in Burke, 324 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,319 you know, talking to us because I had stripes on. 325 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,319 And so that was just a really, really cool experience. 326 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:19,000 And, and obviously you could walk on anything at that point 327 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:24,440 during that evening. Then I got to experience middle 328 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:29,000 of July or June, it was June, middle of June, no express pass, 329 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,960 you know, big crowds, huge lines. 330 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,040 We even stayed at Helios and the lines were huge, you know, Harry 331 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,640 Potter waiting in line for that through our whole first hour. 332 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,680 It breaking down before we can get on like just experience it 333 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,360 all from from that. And I think, oh, you and I went 334 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,760 another time in July and we did like nothing, didn't we? 335 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,280 We just like walked around and. Just walked around he. 336 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,480 Just walked around and hung out and had dinner at the Atlantic 337 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,840 and then we went with work. So we got the experience taking 338 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,600 a whole lot of people at once and, and getting on rides with 339 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,240 them and, and we have to do some stuff, but not a ton. 340 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,160 Obviously by that time Express Pass was sold out. 341 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,440 And I, and I'm not really one for express pass unless, you 342 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,240 know, it was like a big, big day with maybe family or something 343 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:16,640 because it's just, it's very expensive. 344 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:18,920 So we've kind of experienced all that. 345 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,240 And with that said, you know, there are like, like Jeff has 346 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:28,480 said, and like Eric has said, you know, if it rains you, you 347 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,120 miss out. You know, if it rains for a long 348 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,560 time, a lot of rides are down or if something goes down, it goes 349 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,960 down. So I was just looking at today. 350 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,920 It's a beautiful day. There's not a speck of rain out. 351 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:45,320 It's Wednesday at like 5:30. And there were some really good 352 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,520 wait times. You know, Stardust is only 10 353 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,960 minutes. Harry Potter 75. 354 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,640 It was 65 a little bit ago when I looked, but everything else is 355 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:58,120 like 45 or less. But Super Mario Kart was down. 356 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:00,160 It's now backed up, but it was down when I looked a couple 357 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,640 minutes ago. So, you know, you just, you do 358 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,360 have that those challenges where sometimes things go down. 359 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:08,680 I will say I think Monsters is only 10 minutes. 360 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:14,400 I think that they're getting there, but it is it is going to 361 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,040 take it is going to take a few years. 362 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,000 And I think expanding hopefully sooner rather than later is 363 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,360 going to be a benefit to them, you know, because they're 364 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:25,800 they're still thrown out and we're we're going to talk about 365 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,480 this later, but they're still kicking around the ideas of 366 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,680 annual passes. We know that they're not ready 367 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,560 to unleash that yet. You know, the park just isn't 368 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:37,280 ready to handle that yet. But yeah, I just, I, I, I'm kind 369 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,720 of excited for what the future is going to bring for Epic, but 370 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,320 I can also see us not going for a little while and waiting for 371 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,600 some of those things. Well, and that's exactly what 372 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:48,640 we've done. I mean, we we were sitting here 373 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,560 and we were saying we need to get back over there. 374 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,440 It's, you know, the middle of almost the middle of 2026. 375 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,120 And so it's been, you know, several months since we've 376 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:59,280 actually been in Epic Universe and. 377 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,920 I agree with that, what everyone has said so far. 378 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,360 But I played devil's advocate in one way, which is that I wonder 379 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:10,880 how critical we would probably be if we had set foot in Magic 380 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:15,600 Kingdom or Disneyland on day one as compared to where it was a 381 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,160 year or two years or three years after those parks opened. 382 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,600 I would question whether or not we would have some of the same 383 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,120 criticisms of things breaking. Yeah, or things not working. 384 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:27,480 We. Were just in a Disney park? 385 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:29,040 What? What park are we just in where 386 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,720 two big rides were down? I can't even remember. 387 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,240 I have no idea we. Were with Dan and Jeff. 388 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:36,240 I know it was. It was not that long ago. 389 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,720 Oh, with it, it was when we were at it was we were at Magic 390 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:41,000 Kingdom. Yeah, yeah. 391 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,520 What was down? I can't even remember. 392 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:43,600 It was Tron. Tron. 393 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:45,040 Tron was down. Space Mountain. 394 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:46,280 Space Mountain was down. Yes. 395 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,520 And so big. It's like, OK, big thunders down 396 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,400 for refurbishment. Tron's down, Space Mountain's 397 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,600 down. So, you know, I even said that 398 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,080 like, it still happens here too, you know what I mean? 399 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,960 So it's not like Disney's immune to it either, but. 400 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,360 The struggle becomes where the value for your money is. 401 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,000 And I think that's where I go to kind of what Jeff said, a little 402 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,280 bit of what Eric said is that at the end of the day, am I going 403 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,600 to shell out those ticket prices for a park that I know is not 404 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:21,000 fully operational for what justifies what I believe that 405 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,200 cost warrants? The answer is no. 406 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,400 Like it it, you know, it does take a lot to get us to go back 407 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,040 there because as we've said. Like $200 each day, yeah. 408 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:32,920 There's no annual passes right now. 409 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,240 We'll get into that a little bit more later, but that is a 410 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,200 bearing on whether or not you're making a decision to go there. 411 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,960 All that being said, all that aside, I still think if you're 412 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,840 doing a universal vacation, this is a must do. 413 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,440 Or if you've not experienced this park yet and you've 414 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,200 experienced the other universal parks, you need to experience 415 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:57,920 this because it does it, it it allows you to say, wow, it's 416 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:01,120 crazy where we've come technology wise with the rides. 417 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:04,800 It's crazy what a park in the 21st century really looks like 418 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,880 and what it's capable of. Is it fully doing what we 419 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,640 expected to do just yet? No, but it can get there. 420 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,760 And the man that I know is going to love talking about this park 421 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,760 and, and just runs there constantly is, is Derek. 422 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:27,160 He's looking around the room. Yeah, so, I mean, my little 423 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,800 soliloquy won't be very long, but I think I actually went to 424 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,280 the park before any of you guys last year. 425 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,920 I have a family member that's a team member there at at 426 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,720 Universal. And he sent us this text and it 427 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,200 was probably the most exciting text I had gotten in a long time 428 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,320 saying, hey, we're able to bring you guys. 429 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,160 Do you want to come to Epic Universe? 430 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:50,440 It was probably like a month before it actually opened and 431 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,440 like weeks before they started doing any other previews for any 432 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,760 anybody else. And yeah, I'm just with Jeff. 433 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,560 It's just, I mean, to make a Long story short, Universal just 434 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,240 ain't my jam. I love Horror Nights. 435 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,960 I look forward to my one night a year that I go to a Universal 436 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:10,920 park. I go to Horror Nights, I go all 437 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,120 out, I buy the VIP. We do every single house and 438 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:16,400 maybe a couple of rides at that park. 439 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:20,720 But other than that, I'm good, you know, I mean, if if you told 440 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,640 me, hey, do you want to go to Epcot for the eight thousandth 441 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,720 time or do you want to go to Epic Universe, I will pick 442 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,320 Epcot. That is not to say that epic 443 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,680 universe is a bad park. It's a super pretty park. 444 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,920 I remember going pulling into the parking lot and like Amy 445 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:42,720 said, I remember this feeling was like, Oh my God, we're do 446 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:47,520 you know how rare it is that you get to walk into a brand new 447 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,360 huge theme park for the very first time? 448 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:52,960 The last time that I had done that was when Animal Kingdom 449 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,240 opened. So I remember that feeling of 450 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,440 just being super excited. And then like Jeff said, you 451 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,520 know, you got in and it's like, okay, there's a carousel and 452 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,160 there's some amazing lands. How to train your Dragon was 453 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,640 like, wow, it was awesome. Universal dark ride was super 454 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,360 fun. The lands way too small, way too 455 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:13,960 small. That land is way too small and 456 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,400 there's like a carnival werewolf ride just fine. 457 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:21,000 Mario Land or Atari Land, whatever that it's just not my. 458 00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:24,800 Thing. It's loud and there's like 459 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,800 87,000 stairs and escalators and elevators and you know, it's 460 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:29,520 just. It's just. 461 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,160 Weird like but I know people have attachments to it which is 462 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,880 awesome. My attachment at the end of the 463 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,560 day will always be with Disney and the Disney parks. 464 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,400 And Jeff is 100% correct however that Stardust Racers is hands 465 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,640 down the best roller coaster ever built, a bar none. 466 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,960 That's it. But other than that, I'll see 467 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,160 y'all at Epcot. We try not to point out that 468 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,280 you're the old guy, but you write the jokes themselves 469 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:56,560 sometimes, Derek. It's. 470 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,640 Really Hari land that's that's I I hear that's a rumored 471 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:07,360 expansion option for. Yeah, Dig Dug and and Pac-Man 472 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:09,320 and everything that's in that whole plot, that's really what 473 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:13,040 they're building and. And I know we're going to have a 474 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,200 discussion about the hotels and all that. 475 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,640 And I got a lot to say, however, on that Helio Hotel. 476 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,480 Has anyone used express pass at epic universe have? 477 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,360 I did once. Jeff, you've done it once. 478 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,520 Yeah I I've been to the park 4 times and the last time we did 479 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,800 use it with some friends. Did you feel that it like, I 480 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,240 guess my question is, did it help with, you know all of these 481 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,920 things that we're complaining about or are some of these 482 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,200 things still issues because of just the park in general? 483 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:53,680 Well, I'm going to compare it to to a, a Lightning lane at 484 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,080 Disney, right. If you're willing to spend the 485 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,160 money, it doesn't matter if you're willing to spend the 486 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,760 money for AVIP Tour, that's going to significantly different 487 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,480 than just buying your three to three Lightning lanes at Epcot, 488 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,040 you know what I mean? So your mileage is going to vary 489 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,440 based on how much you're willing to spend. 490 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,560 Having said that, I think our express pass for that day in 491 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,600 September was, I want to say $169 a person. 492 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,360 Well, that's on top of our park ticket. 493 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,960 Then I. It can get as high as I saw 250 494 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,320 thinking upwards of 300. We went like midweek in the 495 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,480 offseason, so it wasn't horribly expensive. 496 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:32,480 It definitely made it easier to go on every ride. 497 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,000 Like if that's what you want to do. 498 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,280 If you're a a box checker and like you have your list and you 499 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,640 want to, you know, make sure that you do everything, I really 500 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,360 think that's the only way to do it unless you really enjoy 501 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:48,440 waiting in lines. Like that, that's the problem 502 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,640 for me is that, oh, unless you want to do everything, there's 503 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,800 like 5 things like that's it. You know what I mean? 504 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,040 Really, at the end of the day, there's just not enough stuff to 505 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,480 justify that. Jeff had have to buy a $200 506 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,880 ticket, then buy another whatever, almost a $200 thing to 507 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,200 basically ride. You know, what's the longest 508 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,240 wait is always what the the Mario minecart, which can 509 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,880 sometimes be like 2 to 3 hours for that. 510 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,920 Yeah. And so you can walk on, you 511 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,280 know, the best ride there besides the coaster is Monsters 512 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,120 Unchained. It's a phenomenal ride. 513 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,520 But I think even today, Amy, you said the wait is like 10 514 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:29,640 minutes. So it's like it it just. 515 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,640 Seems like. Yeah, extraordinary amount of 516 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,080 money for just too few attractions. 517 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:38,840 Eric, did you go and that's. What I was kind of going to get 518 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,240 at was our problem was is we wanted to ride Stardust, Harry 519 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:48,960 Potter, Monsters Unchained, Mario Kart and Hiccup Flyers 520 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,760 over and over again. Everything else is hot garbage. 521 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:58,600 Like I, I don't know how to put into words how bad the curse of 522 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,000 the werewolf is. We have that same ride at our 523 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:07,800 dinky little Utah Lagoon park. You know Yoshi, it's cute, but. 524 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,120 Don't bash Yoshi. Want it with kids. 525 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,760 I love Yoshi but it has a height requirement of 38 inches which 526 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,760 is bizarre. Really. 527 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,000 Yes. So you couldn't take so. 528 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,840 You can't take they missed the demographic they were going for 529 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,400 with that attraction because the ones that want to write it 530 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,720 can't. And like, don't even get me 531 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,960 started on that fire drill. That stupid ass stupid. 532 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,920 OK, we won't we won't get you started because I I wanna ask 533 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:39,560 Eric. Eric, you went after the park 534 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,800 was officially open, correct? Well, we actually went on the 535 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,280 very first preview day in April. We were just so happened already 536 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,360 had a Disney trip booked and we got in on the very first like 537 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,120 preview, not not team members, but like when everybody could do 538 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:57,000 it Annual pass holder preview. And then we went back in July 2 539 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,520 vastly different experiences, right. 540 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,000 The one in April, the weather was nice. 541 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,040 Everything we managed to do nearly everything we wanted. 542 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,000 We even got we even got the like 1:00 PM drop on ministry of 543 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:09,520 magic. We lucked out there. 544 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,480 Everything was seemed to be operating that we wanted. 545 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,480 It was open from like 11 to maybe like 8. 546 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,480 So we got everything done that we wanted. 547 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:23,800 The July super hot. The the no shade is pretty real 548 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,480 in many aspects. I do think that's a little 549 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:26,600 overrated. But I will tell you what 550 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,760 happened to us going from Isle Burke to Monsters Unchained 551 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:33,400 through the Celestial area. There is no shade. 552 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,880 And just walking through that, we were like, oh, we're done 553 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,360 with like almost passing out. So it is there, but there's 554 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,320 shade in lands. But like if you're out in the 555 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,920 open, that is rough. And we left the first day in 556 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,560 April saying this was fantastic. We felt like we got our money's 557 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,040 worth. We felt like we had a new 558 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:51,840 experience. We got to eat different places. 559 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:54,960 We got to relax a little bit 'cause it wasn't as congested. 560 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:56,920 In July. We were like, I don't, I'm not 561 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,120 going to pay again until it's a part of an annual pass 'cause I 562 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,240 think one of the things that we're really struggling with 563 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:03,320 here is it's all about the value of the money. 564 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:05,160 If you have an annual pass and you can go to Islands of 565 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,560 Adventure, you can go to, you know, Universal, you can go to 566 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,120 any of the Disney parks versus paying extra to go to a brand 567 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,400 new park that is having some capacity problems. 568 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,280 We love what we see. Nobody here is talking anything 569 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,560 bad about detail. Whether we like the IP or not. 570 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,440 It's very immersive and there are, But when you spend that 571 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:25,520 kind of money, you don't feel like you can just waltz around. 572 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,120 And a lot of people were comparing this park to trying to 573 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,280 be kind of like the Animal Kingdom, which is like an 574 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,400 exploratory park where like you're supposed to Mosey around 575 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,840 and explore. You can't do that if you feel 576 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,880 like you're spending $400.00 per person, like you can't get your 577 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,600 money's worth by looking at a tree for an extra 5 seconds, you 578 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,120 know, like you got a move. Yeah. 579 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,480 So we have to. And that is probably the major 580 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,320 problem. If it's, if you get us an annual 581 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,800 pass, it'll be like one or two, you know, that we want to book. 582 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:56,920 And, and I'll give you a weird circumstance that I didn't 583 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:01,760 realize that I was Privy to. So I didn't go to any universal 584 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,400 parks for years. I was a Disney fan for 10-15 585 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,760 years plus, knew all about them, but didn't go right. 586 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,080 The, I will say the first time going to Island's Adventure and 587 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,680 the first time going to Epic were the same level of 588 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,560 excitement for me because I've heard so much and there was all 589 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,160 types of press where everybody has already gone to these parks 590 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,320 for so long that they forget like what it feels like. 591 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,840 And I think the community was hyped up epic because it's the 592 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:31,280 first park in 25 years where me like going to a universal park 593 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:32,920 was the first time. So I don't think there was that 594 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:34,480 much different. But I think as a community, we 595 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:36,840 hyped this sucker up as being like the greatest thing of all 596 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,040 time. And truth be told, it is a new 597 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,840 theme park with great immersion, but it has problems because it's 598 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,400 a great new park. We had the same thing happen 599 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,520 with Animal them like all these opened up and there wasn't 600 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:51,880 enough to do and people left angry. 601 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,200 So we're dealing with that right now and it and it sucks that 602 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,400 we're in the midst of it, but like, you know, in a couple 603 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,240 years we should have some plots of land and new things to do. 604 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:01,640 Yep. So let's go to the elephant in 605 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,520 the room that we've all discussed in some capacity, 606 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,520 which is annual passes. And this is, you know, I was 607 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:10,240 looking around on the Internet like looking for other YouTube 608 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:11,920 videos and other YouTube content. 609 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,880 And the other thing that's very apparent right now is that 610 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,360 everyone went to the previews and everyone went to the media 611 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,040 invites and everyone went to these other things. 612 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,080 But very few vloggers and influencers are really out there 613 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,760 exploring Epic Universe or making Epic Universe content now 614 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,680 for this very reason, which I think everyone is in that 615 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,760 position of. We need an annual pass if if 616 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,160 we're going to go more often because paying 200, three, $100 617 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:42,240 a pop is just not going. To exactly. 618 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,520 Yeah. And my mom wants to go and it's, 619 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:47,480 you know, it's the same issue that that Jeff has with his his 620 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:51,480 grandchildren and and that Eric has with, you know, the the 621 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,480 older generation in his group is that there's not enough for her 622 00:32:54,480 --> 00:33:00,040 to do for us to pay, you know, 200 some dollars a piece to go 623 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,000 and ride Yoshi with her. You know what I mean? 624 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,240 Like if I'm paying $200, I'm writing Stardust, I'm writing 625 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,080 all the codes. You know, I'm writing everything 626 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,120 that's there, which isn't a ton, but it's all things that she 627 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,760 won't go on. So, yeah, without an annual 628 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:16,760 pass, a lot of people are skipping out on going not only 629 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,320 themselves, but bringing family members who would then buy a 630 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,120 ticket. And you can't have an annual 631 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,080 pass if you don't have the capacity to hold. 632 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,040 Both, exactly. Yeah, you've got to be at that 633 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,440 operating capacity to do so. But we must be getting there in 634 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,880 some sense because Jeff, actually when you had suggested 635 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,000 this topic, you had heard of like some surveys that had been 636 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,840 being put into the world suggesting kind of some unique 637 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:44,840 annual pass offerings, correct? Yeah, the, the surveys that I 638 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,800 was Privy to they're, they were really looking at 3 or 4 639 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,280 different options on, on how they, they were, they're 640 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,600 surveying existing or former annual pass holders, trying to 641 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,680 get a sense of what they would be willing to pay for and what 642 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:01,720 would be a win to get them access to Universal. 643 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,680 You know, and some of the things were floated around that I saw 644 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,120 were, you know, we'll add Epic to the annual pass, but your 645 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:13,239 annual pass price will double. There was one that was you don't 646 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:17,239 Get full access to Epic, but you get X number of tickets almost 647 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:20,480 like entitlements per year, You know, So if you're at a 648 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,360 platinum, and I don't know these numbers for sure, but as an 649 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,800 example, if you're like their premier pass holder, their top 650 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:29,400 of the line pass holder, you got like 10 Epic visits a year. 651 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,040 And then the next one down, you got a few less and so on. 652 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,480 But you had to book them in in advance and you had to make, and 653 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,719 they were kind of subject to park reservations, which we're 654 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,159 all used to. Another one was a Monday through 655 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:47,000 Friday add on to Epic or for Epic to your existing annual 656 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,960 pass. There's one more I can't 657 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,360 remember. It was something like after two 658 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,719 or something like that. And for me, none of them, if I'm 659 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:57,440 being honest, really moved the needle. 660 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,600 I don't want to pay double for my annual pass for one park. 661 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:02,920 You know what I mean? That that's just, that's too 662 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,200 much. I guess the one where you got X 663 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:11,880 number per year maybe, Maybe I would consider that, but I don't 664 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,520 know. It just seems like, and Disney 665 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:18,080 doesn't have an annual pass for everything but Epcot, you know 666 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,320 what I mean? Like an annual pass is an annual 667 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,760 pass. If I'm a local, or if I come to 668 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:26,480 Disney and to Universal frequently enough, it feels a 669 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:27,920 little bit shaded to be shut out. 670 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:31,560 Yeah, well, I I threw this question to the room, but every 671 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,280 single thing that you threw out there screams, we realize we 672 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,920 have a capacity problem and we can't open this up the way that 673 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,160 that that, that you want to. I found some of the survey 674 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,760 questions so most of what you said was right. 675 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,760 One of them was a discounted one day epic ticket if you are an 676 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,760 annual pass holder. So purchase one day, one, one 677 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,840 ticket per day per pass, which wasn't that wasn't exciting at 678 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,040 all. Yeah, upgrading. 679 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:02,640 Significant discount. Yeah, it would be a really good 680 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,240 discount We're. Talking 80%. 681 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,160 Upgrade your existing annual pass to include Epic. 682 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,640 And then you talked about what that was. 683 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,920 Let me see if I can find any other ones. 684 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,520 I will say one of the interesting things on on the 685 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:22,360 survey was that they asked if you were interested in things 686 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:25,120 like a Disney status match, which I don't. 687 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:25,960 Oh, I saw that one. I. 688 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:30,200 Don't know exactly what that meant, but basically if you were 689 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:33,640 a Disney pass holder you could purchase a universal pass at a 690 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,920 discounted rate. So yeah. 691 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:38,880 Yeah, that's that's circulating right now. 692 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,640 There is surveys going around that they're currently asking 693 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:43,400 that for a lot of Universal, which is odd. 694 00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:45,760 And I don't know if it was this survey, but there was some of 695 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:49,880 them that were honestly talking about would you do a 2A3A4 year 696 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:51,920 pass, annual pass? They're trying to get people in, 697 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,400 which was very interesting. I don't know if it's Epic 698 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,320 related or I think it's more based off of let's get you 699 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,640 locked in before Disney opens up some of their new offerings 700 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:03,280 where you're going to have to make a choice. 701 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:05,960 Very apparent that it's capacity issues. 702 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,240 Like you can't open up the annual pass world as much as we 703 00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:12,080 want coverage and stuff. If you can't handle the people 704 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,920 that are still making Universal trips because if you looked at 705 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,560 their marketing this year, they're going all in. 706 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,680 And I got AI, an anonymous person got a survey because 707 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,000 we're not allowed to talk about surveys we get from Universal 708 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:24,480 via the first little Clipper thing. 709 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:29,000 So somebody said to me a survey that was really talking about 710 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,640 their branding and pushing towards week long vacation 711 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,120 family like a book longer. So they're really trying to get 712 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,040 that, hey, we're not going for Disney and adding on Universal. 713 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,360 We're going for Universal and we'll add on Disney. 714 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,600 And I think this park is what they're trying to help for. 715 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,560 But that's difficult to do if we can't get in or when we're 716 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:51,680 there, we're we feel like we didn't get everything done. 717 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,880 Well, and to, to, to play off of that, one of the things that if, 718 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,120 if you're in the travel agent world at all, that Universal has 719 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,360 kind of been floating, but they haven't really like hard target 720 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:07,160 marketed, but it's available through their, their booking is 721 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,680 to your point, a Universal vacation with an ad on at 722 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,240 Disney. They're also pushing a Universal 723 00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:15,960 vacation with an ad on cruise, a landed sea option with Royal 724 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:20,480 Caribbean. Wow, that Disney's had locked up 725 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,320 for decades. You know what I mean, that if 726 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,400 they can now turn this into an actual week's vacation and to be 727 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,320 fair, a week vacation at Universal is still significantly 728 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:31,920 cheaper than a week vacation at Disney. 729 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:37,040 So I mean there, there is some market share to be gotten. 730 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:39,280 Yeah. And especially if you can sail 731 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:41,840 out of Burke, I mean, if you get on right on a Viking ship and 732 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,840 you had right out, that would be amazing. 733 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,600 I think that would really help the numbers. 734 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,040 That that would be the universal cruise line concept that I would 735 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:55,320 that I would buy into with with like the package concept. 736 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,240 The other thing that I've struggled with, and obviously 737 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:00,360 they, they, they're, they're, they're trying to solve this 738 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,480 problem is the fact that if you're staying at any of the 739 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:08,560 other non epic Universe hotels, you've got a decent trek through 740 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:13,920 the heart of Orlando to get from Epic Universe over to the other 741 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,640 two parks and back. I mean, that's I, I don't know 742 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,840 if anyone's actually done that trip, but. 743 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,240 I listen, I will. I've done it. 744 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,360 I personally didn't think it was that bad. 745 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,160 I mean, I've gone both ways. I stayed at Epic and then we 746 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,960 travelled over and we did also the the alternate route of it. 747 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,160 I think it, I mean, I guess it could also come down to a lot of 748 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,320 traffic, right? It's not ideal. 749 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,880 I mean, it's it's not necessarily being on a monorail 750 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,600 and and popping over, but there are, I would say getting to and 751 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,120 as an out of towner or just anyone getting the magic Kingdom 752 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:47,600 is the biggest pain in the butt ever, you know, So I would say 753 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:50,280 if you, you know, and that is the greatest theme park in many 754 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:54,360 eyes, right to to get there. So it's not over it. 755 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:58,800 It's a thing, but I think it's slightly a little bit more 756 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,800 overrated to to say, well, that was a horrible inconvenience. 757 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,920 As long as you got the bus go in, I think you're OK. 758 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:11,160 I do want to say the the hotels that we've seen, so Selenova, 759 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,760 Terra Luna, I think the Doles were an absolute home run. 760 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:22,800 So we stayed in Selenova under $200 a night for a hotel that is 761 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:25,400 walking distance to Epic Universe. 762 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,200 So we were able to walk there in the morning. 763 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:32,400 Helios for me when we did the night there July of last year 764 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,440 was very, very expensive. So value wise you know you're 765 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:39,280 not getting Express 8 or. $900. Yeah, it was like 8 or $900 a 766 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,240 night, but we're seeing. So it must not be selling at 767 00:40:42,240 --> 00:40:45,720 those prices anymore because we are seeing some really deep 768 00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:50,320 discounts at Helios. I've seen people with like 769 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:55,120 annual pass discounts that were in the 200 or less range per 770 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,080 night depending on the the night. 771 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,680 So, so that's significant because when that first opened 772 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,800 up, that hotel was bonker price. Well, and you're rivaling at 773 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:08,000 that price point, you're rivaling like Animal Kingdom 774 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,880 Lodge at Disney. And there's no comparison 775 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:12,920 between the two at at all really. 776 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:17,000 Like, it's really cool to be a hotel that overlooks a theme 777 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,600 park and have a direct entrance into a theme park, but there's 778 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,880 really no benefits other than that and the hotel itself, in my 779 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:25,640 opinion. I didn't stay there for the 780 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,480 night, but it did not scream deluxe. 781 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,880 It did not, you know, scream like DVC level accommodations. 782 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:36,600 The the park entrance is cool, but if you're doing it first 783 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,480 thing in the morning, you're in this giant line. 784 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,320 Yeah, the room, we did have a room overlooking the park, 785 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:44,680 Beautiful. But then it rained. 786 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,320 And because there's no balcony and it's just windows, you can 787 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:50,160 see anything out out of the raindrops through the raindrop. 788 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:51,800 Water drops all. Over yeah. 789 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:54,720 So it was like kind of over to me. 790 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:58,240 I was like, oh, I I would go to Stella Nova every day over that 791 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:01,280 because the value is there versus what you're getting when 792 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,080 you stay Helios. The only thing other about 793 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:06,280 Helios that I do love is Flora Taverna. 794 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:07,880 I do think is an amazing restaurant. 795 00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:10,520 The restaurants and bars there I think are are the only home run 796 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,440 that it really has going for it, but they are pricey too so but I 797 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:17,400 I still stand that Flora is probably one of the best 798 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:20,280 restaurants. Yeah, Eric, have you stayed at 799 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,720 any of the epic hotels? Yeah, we stayed at either the 800 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:26,960 Terror or the Stella. I, I, you know, they all, they 801 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,000 kind of look the same Patata. They look very much yeah. 802 00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:33,240 Yeah, no, but I thought it was, they were clean. 803 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:37,480 They they were nice. I mean their value esque and the 804 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:42,480 price point was worth it to me. You know, we're also sleeping 805 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,400 family of five or six. So you almost had to get 2 rooms 806 00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:47,680 and so forth. We found ourselves really, you 807 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,360 know, if we're going to do it, the Endless Summer is just a 808 00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:53,680 it's 6 sleep 6. It's not the greatest in the 809 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,000 world, but it also is clean and it was fine enough. 810 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,760 And we that's how we travelled over in a couple. 811 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,800 But yeah, I don't know if I could do a Helios like that. 812 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,040 To me, that's just a lot of money to for access. 813 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,120 I'm like, I'll just wake up 30 minutes earlier. 814 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,920 Yeah, but I mean, you do get the express pass, right? 815 00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:11,720 Like that could be valued in if you. 816 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:16,080 You do not get express pass at. My goodness, no. 817 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,760 Well then like, I mean, I always wanted to stay at the Hard Rock 818 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:20,480 'cause I'm like, well, I would like to stay there to see what 819 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:21,840 it's like and get the express pass. 820 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:24,000 But you know, I'm a, I'm a frugal guy. 821 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:25,960 I haven't done express pass at any of these yet. 822 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:29,160 I'm just, and it seems to me like with Epic, that is a thing 823 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,160 that you really should consider. Yeah. 824 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,440 And that was what we kept going back to when we compared the two 825 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,720 hotels side by side was it was like you could get another, you 826 00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:41,920 could get another day at Stella or Terra Luna, you could get 827 00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:45,520 park tickets and you could get an express pass for the same 828 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:49,440 cost that you're paying for this elevated hotel experience, which 829 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:53,120 really again, like. It was actually a smaller room 830 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:54,920 than at What's That's Stella Nova. 831 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:58,040 Smaller room, we've heard thin walls, we've heard all that kind 832 00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:01,440 of stuff just related to it. Derek's going to explode if we 833 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,280 don't let him talk. I think about the hotels because 834 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:05,240 he said you. You've got some strong opinions 835 00:44:05,240 --> 00:44:07,480 here. No, I, I don't, I have never 836 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,520 stayed there. I visited twice and I was really 837 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:14,560 excited to see it because as we all know, you know, wow, there's 838 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,120 a part, you know, a hotel that's kind of like their version of 839 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,400 the quote UN quote, you know, Grand Floridian or whatever, 840 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:21,320 man. Is it unimpressive? 841 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:25,160 It is just unimpressive. The lobby is unimpressive. 842 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:27,600 Everything about it feels generic. 843 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:31,920 It feels small. The pool area is weird and 844 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,320 again, they'll always advertise the rooms that overlook the 845 00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:38,160 park, but again, you got what like a 5050 shot of you're going 846 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,160 to get the other ones that overlook like I4 and like, you 847 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:45,760 know, these industrial areas. It's just completely 848 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:48,800 unimpressive. And I just think that yes, while 849 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:52,400 Bart Helios is super cool, as long as you're fine with like, 850 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:55,000 you know, $18.00 high lies, whatever, the prices are 851 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,080 ridiculous up there. It's a very cool bar. 852 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:02,880 It's just not worth it for me because as we're talking and 853 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,880 Eric is so eloquent and does such a great job talking about 854 00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,640 it, it just I just kept thinking, you know, Universal's 855 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,720 biggest problem isn't the parks. It's for me and I think for a 856 00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:17,240 lot of people is you don't want to go on vacation for a week to 857 00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:19,600 Universal because you don't have a bubble. 858 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,800 And Universal to me is biggest problem is, OK, I've got some 859 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,720 parks here, some resorts. Then you got to leave and go to 860 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:29,960 the real world and fight traffic on I-4 or Sand Lake Rd. 861 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:31,760 And then there's a few hotels over here. 862 00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,320 Then there's another park that's like 20 minutes down the road, 863 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,600 but you got to go through, you know, weird vape shops on either 864 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,400 side. And it's just horrible. 865 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:43,640 Whereas when you're at Disney, that's the whole point of Disney 866 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:46,040 is that feeling. And I've said it, you know, 867 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:49,440 anytime, and I live here, anytime I enter those arches, 868 00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:53,600 you, you blow out your troubles and you're you're in the Disney 869 00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:56,280 bubble. Universal does not have that. 870 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,680 And because of their land issues that they have, they will never, 871 00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:03,560 ever have that feeling. So I think that for me is 872 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,320 Universal's biggest problem. And as nice as they're trying to 873 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:10,160 do by spreading out all over Central Florida, it's just not 874 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,800 the same when you don't have a bubble. 875 00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:16,120 Yeah, it's, it's a little bit different I and just going back 876 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:18,600 to the transportation real quick. 877 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,000 The the, the new plan that they're looking into, which I 878 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:25,360 think will be done by 2050, but perhaps is they're looking at 879 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:28,640 the, the Boring Company is going to bore a tunnel from Epic 880 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:32,600 Universe over to the other parks, which I, I mean, it's 881 00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:34,440 cool. I've seen people use it in 882 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,720 Vegas. What about that whole thing in 883 00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:40,400 Florida? Water levels that that could be. 884 00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:42,880 No, not an issue, Eric. No, I mean you don't. 885 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:44,440 Think it's just going to be a water ride. 886 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,880 It's going to be their new Drafted World ride. 887 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:50,600 It'll be better than that other water ride that Jeff was ragging 888 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,280 on earlier. The fire drill, spray the fire, 889 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:55,800 whatever that. Was the worst ride ever created. 890 00:46:56,040 --> 00:46:58,640 I just, I kind of want to just play devil's advocate to what 891 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,680 Derek was just saying though, because I do think we need to 892 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:03,720 give credit where credit is due with them. 893 00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:10,120 Disney, Disney World specifically is in a kind of a 894 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:12,320 class of its own when it comes to the bubble. 895 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:14,360 Disneyland doesn't even have that. 896 00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:16,280 You know what I mean? Most people don't stay at a 897 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,600 Disney hotel. When you go, there are weird 898 00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:22,040 vape shops and sandwich shops and stop and Rob's and all those 899 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,200 kinds of things. But that doesn't ruin the 900 00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:27,520 Disneyland experience. And so I don't know. 901 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:32,360 And like Eric was saying earlier, going from City Walk to 902 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:36,400 Epic on a universal bus is really no different than going 903 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:38,920 from Animal Kingdom Lodge to Hollywood Studios. 904 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:41,080 It's not that big a deal. It really isn't. 905 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,160 They they run those buses pretty frequently. 906 00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:46,520 So I don't know that that's what's keeping people away. 907 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,720 And I don't think people should not go because of those two 908 00:47:49,720 --> 00:47:54,520 reasons. Where I struggle is as shiny and 909 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:57,480 clean and as Epic is now with, you know, these bright new 910 00:47:57,480 --> 00:47:59,840 things. And it really shines a light on 911 00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:03,840 how not good the original Universal Parks are and how 912 00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:08,120 dated and dilapidated and technology technologically 913 00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,880 absent some of those older. You walk into Simpsons Land, and 914 00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:14,160 I know why they're not putting any money Simpsons because 915 00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:15,400 they're going to lose it here next year. 916 00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,880 But there are some places at Universal Studios Florida. 917 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,200 That are Marvel, the whole Marvel area and the comic. 918 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:25,560 Betty Boop. No, no, it that's not her. 919 00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:29,760 You're thinking of Cathy. Oh, that, that comics area. 920 00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:32,640 It's just that it, it makes you smile walking through it, 921 00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:34,720 really. I mean it, it makes it, it's 922 00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:35,760 rough. I'll give you that. 923 00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:37,920 Puts a laugh on your face and and no matter what they're 924 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,680 trying to do over there right now, I feel like nothing is 925 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:45,400 nothing sticking at the moment like the the last home run was 926 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:48,120 Velocicoaster really, but I'm sorry. 927 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:50,280 Hagrid's was a home run. Yeah. 928 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:54,840 And yeah, but Hagrid's was at was after or before. 929 00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:58,240 That was before. 2019, right? Yeah, it's been a while. 930 00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:02,280 It's been a hot minute, yeah. But the they're they're still 931 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:06,600 trying with the fast and furious concept and I'm still not sold 932 00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:11,000 like we keep trying, but like the Internet. 933 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,840 The Internet invented 12 different variations of that 934 00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:15,560 coaster that were 10 times better. 935 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:18,160 And when someone is that a Ghostbusters coaster, I would 936 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,600 write it every day. Yeah, now I I will tell you what 937 00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:25,480 I always thought was one thing that Disney always had a leg up 938 00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:29,040 on with Universal was nostalgia. They always that you just you 939 00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:32,960 just have like the the history and you remember going as a kid 940 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:36,280 and Universal didn't have that until probably now. 941 00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,440 So I think one thing they could start and I don't think they've 942 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:40,480 learned it yet because like you said, fast and furious. 943 00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:43,000 If you made that Ghostbusters back to the future, any of 944 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:45,000 those. I mean, I'm wearing a nostalgic 945 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,240 90s. You know, we have Nickelodeon 946 00:49:47,240 --> 00:49:51,480 like the kids that grew up with this in those properties will 947 00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:55,280 start feeling nostalgic for universal, which brings you a 948 00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:58,080 bunch of families that now have kids of their own and they can 949 00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:00,440 start making their memories. I don't think they've leaned 950 00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:02,560 into it yet. I I really you don't see that 951 00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:04,680 happening. But once they realize that they 952 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:06,800 finally only get the one thing that they've always wished 953 00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:08,600 Disney, you know, that they had over Disney. 954 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:12,360 And I haven't seen it yet, but I'm with you in many aspects of 955 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:14,840 like we're putting in franchises. 956 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:18,320 I know Fast and Furious has made billions of dollars for them. 957 00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:20,480 And it's easy just to take one from another one. 958 00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:24,480 But boy, I think leaning into some of what made them, you 959 00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:26,960 know, like the Jaws, the earthquake, all that stuff right 960 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:30,360 now actually resonates it with with people of our age. 961 00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:33,000 And I think they could probably profit off that. 962 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,560 But yeah, the, the other parks going to him for the first time, 963 00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:42,440 Universal Studios proper is a bit like it the, the, the 964 00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,320 coherency of like where you go for something like, all right, 965 00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:46,840 we were just on Hollywood, now I'm over. 966 00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:50,120 It's just different where Epic gets it right there. 967 00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:53,440 You're in that themed area and you're there and you feel like 968 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:54,720 you're there. So they got that right. 969 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,000 But I I feel like that's gonna cause some problems here shortly 970 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:00,320 'cause there's a lot of rumors going on with these portal 971 00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:02,840 things. So many rumors with the portals. 972 00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:06,360 Yeah, so actually, just this week they have erected these 973 00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:09,680 facial recognition scanners at the entrance of every single 974 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,720 portal. And the rumors are running 975 00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:14,520 rampant. But the biggest one that's kind 976 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:17,920 of taking off is the fact that Universal's considering some 977 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:22,520 sort of concept in which after a certain time of day, Celestial 978 00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:26,040 Park becomes open. It is open for. 979 00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,280 People. Come into like Citywalk really 980 00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:31,560 which? It's a rumor, like it's 981 00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:35,680 speculation, but. But we do know that part of the 982 00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:39,360 Epic Universe plan from day one has always been the portals are 983 00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:45,680 designed so that if X company wants to buy out said, you know, 984 00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:49,160 Super Mario World for the night, close off the portal that's 985 00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:50,520 theirs for the night. Perfect. 986 00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:53,000 So they can do that. And I think that we're going to 987 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:55,440 see that sooner rather than later because these are all 988 00:51:55,720 --> 00:51:58,560 these are the same moves that Disney has made over the years 989 00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:02,360 with having after hours events and everything that allow them 990 00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:06,320 to increase the amount of money that they're making per day in 991 00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:08,240 these parks. So we're going to see not only 992 00:52:08,240 --> 00:52:12,560 those type of things happen, but I, I still can't wrap my head 993 00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:16,840 around like the rumor being true of like you're just going to be 994 00:52:16,840 --> 00:52:20,240 able to wander around Celestial Park like and then you you 995 00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:23,320 immediately go, does that mean I can get on Stardust racers? 996 00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:26,400 Like I can just go on It's. Probably a facial recognition 997 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:29,320 there too, but it's worth dreaming. 998 00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:33,960 To to me, it's interesting. Time letting annual pass holders 999 00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:38,360 in then which are willing to pay extra, maybe not double, but 1000 00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:40,040 we're willing. But you're going to open it up 1001 00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:43,640 to just anyone to just walk in and I and I get it. 1002 00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:46,720 I, I understand at 6:00 PM if you go to the like the Atlantic 1003 00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:49,640 restaurant or Blue dragon, there's nobody there right. 1004 00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:52,240 That that's the big problem is like they're they they're trying 1005 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:54,960 to do do that. But I mean like you're just only 1006 00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:57,280 going to pack a bunch of people in and maybe it's to get them to 1007 00:52:57,280 --> 00:52:58,760 try it. Like are you going to do this as 1008 00:52:58,760 --> 00:53:01,080 a trial maybe and then shut it back down. 1009 00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:03,040 You can't keep this open like that forever. 1010 00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:07,120 I just it's, it's a weird, weird flex that they're making, but 1011 00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:11,800 they are doing things like they've already copyrighted or 1012 00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:13,720 trademarked the name for their nighttime show. 1013 00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:15,280 They're hiring firework technicians. 1014 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:17,080 They're doing all this stuff and that's going to be free. 1015 00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:19,160 Like you, you're going to have everybody. 1016 00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:21,040 Here's our nighttime show. You can get all for free. 1017 00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,400 I just, I just don't understand it. 1018 00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:26,040 But I do understand the aspect of like they need to get the 1019 00:53:26,040 --> 00:53:27,600 return on investment on this park. 1020 00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:31,000 And if we can't hit our capacity and get the money off of every 1021 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,160 single day guest all right, let's double the admission. 1022 00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,840 You know, and imagine if you paid a full day and it's like, 1023 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:37,560 well, Mario's closed at 6:00 today. 1024 00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:40,920 I just that is not going to be cool with people that want to 1025 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,080 pay that kind of money. Or like you and me, we're 1026 00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:45,360 standing next to each other watching the fireworks at the 1027 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,000 end of the night. I'm standing in front of you 1028 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:50,240 blocking your view a little bit. And I paid 0 and I'm eating my 1029 00:53:50,240 --> 00:53:52,040 peanut butter and Jelly that I packed from home. 1030 00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:56,840 And you paid like, you know, $900.00 with, you know, Helios 1031 00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,480 and, you know, Express Pass and all this other stuff, so. 1032 00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:02,360 Someone's already thought this through, Paul. 1033 00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:06,160 Oh, I will be having already packed. 1034 00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:09,000 Peanut butter and Jelly, huh? Yeah, I mean, I'll be on a bench 1035 00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:12,000 there, you know, writing work emails and stuff like that. 1036 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:16,360 We'll get, we'll get Derek salad resale contracts from the middle 1037 00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:19,160 of Universal. So I mean it's a done deal. 1038 00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:23,240 Well, wrapping up this entire discussion, I, I guess my 1039 00:54:23,240 --> 00:54:25,880 biggest question for each of you, and we'll go back around 1040 00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:29,560 the room just like we did at first, is what is next and what 1041 00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:34,240 should Epic Universe be prioritizing for the future for 1042 00:54:34,240 --> 00:54:36,600 the expansion? We know that there are expansion 1043 00:54:36,600 --> 00:54:40,000 plots for every single land. We know that there are potential 1044 00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:45,040 additional portal, you know, opportunities for franchises 1045 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:49,120 that don't exist right now. They have essentially soft 1046 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:52,840 confirmed that they are expanding already in the 1047 00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:57,280 Ministry of Magic area, probably giving us the ride that was 1048 00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:00,400 always planned for that area, which was kind of a Harry Potter 1049 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:06,000 broomstick, you know, Flight of Passage esque experience. 1050 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:09,040 So that seems to be a go. There's been rumors of 1051 00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:12,400 expansion. I know at Super Mario there's 1052 00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:14,840 been rumors of expansion of Dark Universe. 1053 00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:18,360 Haven't heard too any anything really for Burke that's been too 1054 00:55:18,360 --> 00:55:21,720 concrete. But of of all the opportunities 1055 00:55:21,720 --> 00:55:25,600 that they have at the present time, you know, what should they 1056 00:55:25,600 --> 00:55:28,400 be prioritizing and what's going to, you know, what's going to 1057 00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:32,320 personally get you to step foot back in there, You know, sooner 1058 00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:37,160 rather than later, Amy. I mean, I think they need to 1059 00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:39,800 just like, I feel like, yeah, they need to get their return on 1060 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:43,160 investment, but, but didn't they not, I mean, everybody cares 1061 00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:45,400 about money, but didn't they care a little less about money 1062 00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:47,480 than Disney because they had Comcast behind them? 1063 00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:51,840 And so they had a lot more, you know, kind of to throw around 1064 00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:58,480 like do it all like start, start now, start expanding because you 1065 00:55:58,480 --> 00:56:01,200 want to grow this park and you're kind of at a stagnant 1066 00:56:01,280 --> 00:56:04,160 place, I think, where it's like, oh, well, we can't let the we 1067 00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:06,600 can't land pass holders in. We can't, you know what I mean? 1068 00:56:06,600 --> 00:56:09,440 So like, you need, you need another portal. 1069 00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:12,120 You need to start expanding the lands that are there. 1070 00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:17,400 Mario unit land is expanded. The I I'm so sad. 1071 00:56:17,400 --> 00:56:20,760 It, it makes me sad to hear about like Derry called it like 1072 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:22,880 a carnival ride, The curse of the werewolf. 1073 00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:26,000 I, I heard several times that that was supposed to be a lot 1074 00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:28,280 longer of a ride and got cut back. 1075 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:31,720 You know what I mean? To like fix, fix those things, 1076 00:56:31,720 --> 00:56:36,200 either make that ride longer or, or just like continue every 1077 00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:39,840 single portal, whether there's plans for it or not, needs more, 1078 00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:42,040 needs to be bigger, needs more space. 1079 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:47,600 Mario needs another, you know, do the Zelda section or whatever 1080 00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:52,440 because it should not be shoulder to shoulder people. 1081 00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:55,360 Like, that's not the experience you want, especially in Florida 1082 00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:58,240 where it's hot, you know, 75% of the year. 1083 00:56:58,680 --> 00:57:03,800 So Yep, and and to your point of Comcast, that is exactly the was 1084 00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:06,600 their motto and it everything, everything goes in that 1085 00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,800 direction until the budget sheet says something different. 1086 00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:13,600 And I can only tell you from experience, you know, my, my, my 1087 00:57:13,600 --> 00:57:17,240 grandmother, my mother, multiple people I know have dropped 1088 00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:21,000 Comcast over the past few years. Like they're, it's, it's kind of 1089 00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:24,400 a dated that, that that mindset is a little bit dated. 1090 00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:26,320 So those revenue numbers start to dip. 1091 00:57:26,320 --> 00:57:28,920 And then the money that they could easily funnel into theme 1092 00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:29,440 parks. Yeah. 1093 00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:31,320 Well. If you weren't charging people 1094 00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:36,080 like $400.00 a month for cable maybe you would have more shots. 1095 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:39,640 Fired Derek, What's going to get you to step foot back in Epic? 1096 00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:43,400 I think if they move Horror Nights to Epic Universe, that's 1097 00:57:43,400 --> 00:57:46,600 it, that's all I need 'cause I'm not going to go back. 1098 00:57:46,720 --> 00:57:50,040 Like, I don't care what extra land you build. 1099 00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:52,040 I don't care what extra ride you build. 1100 00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:55,720 It's just not for me, you know? Which is fine. 1101 00:57:55,720 --> 00:58:00,200 But I think their biggest issue, which my take away on this, that 1102 00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:03,400 is when you're talking about the annual passes and all that for 1103 00:58:03,400 --> 00:58:07,200 people that love that, you guys know, like I'm a YouTube person 1104 00:58:07,200 --> 00:58:09,880 when it comes to vlogs of theme parks and all that stuff. 1105 00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:13,600 I love them. You're never going to have the 1106 00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:17,040 amount of content until you open it up to annual pass holders. 1107 00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:22,080 Meaning you could see every day these Disney vloggers will have 1108 00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:24,040 a new one. And they went over to Animal 1109 00:58:24,040 --> 00:58:28,080 Kingdom just because they have a new, you know, a cookie. 1110 00:58:28,360 --> 00:58:31,600 And here's the vlog about Animal Kingdom and it's a whole 30 1111 00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:34,800 minute, 40 minute blog because they can get in there with their 1112 00:58:34,800 --> 00:58:39,240 AP that until you do this for people to be able to go to Epic, 1113 00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:42,000 you know, that's what you need. And and I think there's a lot of 1114 00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:45,720 people that just don't see the content, you know, because it's 1115 00:58:45,720 --> 00:58:48,640 just not available because these vloggers went, they covered the 1116 00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:52,720 park, maybe they went back again, but after that, what are 1117 00:58:52,720 --> 00:58:54,560 they going to do? Because they don't want to pay 1118 00:58:54,560 --> 00:58:56,800 to have to go back into the park again. 1119 00:58:56,800 --> 00:58:59,720 So I think if they could find a way to open it up to get more 1120 00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:02,200 content for me, you know, show me something else. 1121 00:59:02,200 --> 00:59:05,480 I haven't seen anything Epic in like a year. 1122 00:59:05,760 --> 00:59:09,360 So maybe be more exciting if I could be more content, but. 1123 00:59:09,760 --> 00:59:12,320 It's, and it's such a crazy statement because it's such an 1124 00:59:12,320 --> 00:59:17,840 easy fix to like get, give, give the Tim trackers and the mammoth 1125 00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:22,520 club people annual passes. Like obviously you can push some 1126 00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:25,760 some button in the system that allows those people to have some 1127 00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:29,360 sort of all access pass with the agreement that they're in there 1128 00:59:29,360 --> 00:59:31,240 making content. And you better believe these 1129 00:59:31,240 --> 00:59:34,040 people will be in there all the time if they if they're handed 1130 00:59:34,040 --> 00:59:36,240 that. And yes, it's sponsored content, 1131 00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:38,760 but again, that's what you want. That's going to be what 1132 00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:42,760 continues to bring people in for their family vacations and sell 1133 00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:46,040 that narrative to to, you know, Eric, what you spoke to earlier 1134 00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:49,160 of you know, it's a, it's a multi day destination and you 1135 00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:51,240 got to come here for four days and all that kind of stuff. 1136 00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:54,720 And and that's my final thought too, is I want to watch 1137 00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:57,880 something on TV to get me the warm and fuzzies that I had when 1138 00:59:57,880 --> 01:00:00,920 I went during the team member preview before the park opened. 1139 01:00:00,920 --> 01:00:04,640 Because like Eric said so perfectly, I swear to God, if I 1140 01:00:04,640 --> 01:00:06,680 went in July, I would badmouth that. 1141 01:00:06,760 --> 01:00:10,120 Park nonstop. I'm sure I would hate every inch 1142 01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:12,680 of that park if I went. I went in April. 1143 01:00:12,720 --> 01:00:15,880 There was nobody where the longest wait we had was like 10 1144 01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:17,400 minutes. The food was great. 1145 01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:21,280 It was wide open but I know if I went in the summer as like an 1146 01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:25,000 actual paying guest man I'd probably hate that park so. 1147 01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:26,560 Well, and that's, and that's the problem. 1148 01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:29,760 We have to erase those expectations from our memory 1149 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:32,760 because there were 10 people in the park those days. 1150 01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:35,640 You could fire a cannonball down the middle of it and there was 1151 01:00:35,640 --> 01:00:38,880 no one that it was going to hit. And it was glorious. 1152 01:00:38,880 --> 01:00:42,520 And it was the best experience. And I am so grateful that in my 1153 01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:45,840 life I got to experience a park like that because I've always 1154 01:00:45,840 --> 01:00:48,640 said, like I want to be the only one in Magic Kingdom. 1155 01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:52,200 I want to sit dead center in on Main Street and watch the 1156 01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:54,000 fireworks by myself itself like that. 1157 01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:55,800 That's that mindset that you put in your head. 1158 01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:58,840 And it's just like you don't that it's not just not the 1159 01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:02,480 reality unless, unless you got billions upon billions of 1160 01:01:02,480 --> 01:01:04,120 dollars to buy out the whole park. 1161 01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:08,400 But Eric, you're the you're the resident universal expert. 1162 01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:11,040 I I assume that you might already have plans to head back 1163 01:01:11,040 --> 01:01:13,240 there in some capacity. But what's what? 1164 01:01:13,240 --> 01:01:15,680 What do you think that next big move that they need to do? 1165 01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:20,200 I don't think this is, here's The thing is it's not sexy by 1166 01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:22,320 any means. They just need more dark rides 1167 01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:25,240 and flat rides. They literally need more things. 1168 01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:27,680 And that will help because we're complaining because we're not 1169 01:01:27,680 --> 01:01:30,880 getting our value right. We, we just feel like if we go 1170 01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:33,720 there and we can only do 4 things during the day or my you 1171 01:01:33,720 --> 01:01:36,040 know, the grandma or my son can't do anything. 1172 01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:38,760 I know it doesn't sound great, but the carousel is really it's 1173 01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:42,160 a really nice little carousel and the shows are really nice. 1174 01:01:42,160 --> 01:01:43,800 The How to Train Your Dragon show is. 1175 01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:45,920 Amazing. Build a couple more theaters, 1176 01:01:46,200 --> 01:01:48,400 get some shows. That is the biggest thing. 1177 01:01:48,400 --> 01:01:51,080 You you look at Animal Kingdom and there's not, they have less 1178 01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:53,560 rides and there's not as much to do, but they have some shows or 1179 01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:55,720 did you know there's things you can do? 1180 01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:58,200 You can walk around and see gorillas and all this other 1181 01:01:58,200 --> 01:01:59,840 stuff. You need to be able to fill that 1182 01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:03,280 day with some type of value that is not just standing in line and 1183 01:02:03,280 --> 01:02:05,240 you might not. They don't really need any more 1184 01:02:05,240 --> 01:02:07,320 E tickets like I would. I love a broom ride. 1185 01:02:07,320 --> 01:02:09,640 I would love but like the creature of the Black Lagoon 1186 01:02:09,840 --> 01:02:13,440 dark boat ride, whatever may I'm not making on the cheap, but 1187 01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:15,080 make it easy. Just make it to the point where 1188 01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:17,160 it's a people guzzler. It's like a pirates and it's 1189 01:02:17,160 --> 01:02:19,720 nice. And I think if they do that and 1190 01:02:19,720 --> 01:02:22,920 we can get some additional attractions in that park, then 1191 01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:26,000 we don't feel like we're chasing that next ride and we have to 1192 01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:27,640 get our value, even if we had to pay for it. 1193 01:02:27,640 --> 01:02:30,760 You're like, well, you know that we there's 15 things to do and 1194 01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:33,600 we got to do nine of them. That is enough for most people 1195 01:02:33,600 --> 01:02:36,000 to feel like it's a value. Plus you get to eat and there's 1196 01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:37,200 still some, you know, characters. 1197 01:02:37,200 --> 01:02:40,680 You get Super Mario Land. There's a lot for kids to do in 1198 01:02:40,680 --> 01:02:43,400 terms of you get your magic band and or your power up band and do 1199 01:02:43,400 --> 01:02:44,800 all this stuff. But people don't know about 1200 01:02:44,800 --> 01:02:47,320 because we're not able to slow down because we have to get that 1201 01:02:47,320 --> 01:02:50,200 money. So I think that take some of 1202 01:02:50,200 --> 01:02:53,160 these plots and set it out there to make the grandmas and the 1203 01:02:53,160 --> 01:02:55,560 kids happy. If you do that, there is enough 1204 01:02:55,560 --> 01:02:59,080 there to challenge as an IP, the Isle Burke and Nintendo. 1205 01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:02,040 That's enough to challenge some of the Disney parks that usually 1206 01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:04,560 get that younger demographic. If you just wanted to be thrill 1207 01:03:04,560 --> 01:03:07,560 rides like what Universal has done, then build another roller 1208 01:03:07,560 --> 01:03:09,800 coaster and E ticket. But I really do think they have 1209 01:03:09,800 --> 01:03:13,680 to do the smart move here logistically and open up some of 1210 01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:16,640 these flat rides. Easy creation, even if they're 1211 01:03:16,640 --> 01:03:19,320 carnival but themed really well in a immersion. 1212 01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:22,280 And I think a couple more shows would really help it because 1213 01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:26,080 that really helped Disney, you know, Hollywood Studios forever 1214 01:03:26,080 --> 01:03:28,160 having different shows. I mean, there's not a lot of 1215 01:03:28,160 --> 01:03:29,960 attractions there. There's a couple good E tickets 1216 01:03:29,960 --> 01:03:31,600 and then there's shows you have stuff to do. 1217 01:03:31,600 --> 01:03:33,040 So I think that's what they should do. 1218 01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:36,480 I'm sure the the next coaster head though is going to be like 1219 01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:41,320 we need 12 more velocicoasters. But Yep, no, no, what they what 1220 01:03:41,320 --> 01:03:45,200 they need is coming soon. Epic Universe grandparent 1221 01:03:45,200 --> 01:03:51,560 portal. Like a nursing home, Jeff, bring 1222 01:03:51,560 --> 01:03:55,720 us home. Yeah, and and so let's talk 1223 01:03:55,720 --> 01:03:58,400 about what they've done well, right, Let's give them credit 1224 01:03:58,400 --> 01:04:01,320 where credit's due. The food at Epic Universe is 1225 01:04:01,320 --> 01:04:03,600 probably the best at any theme park I've ever been to. 1226 01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:08,520 The theming out of the park, their E tickets, the few that 1227 01:04:08,520 --> 01:04:12,360 they have are better than most of the E tickets that Disney 1228 01:04:12,360 --> 01:04:14,320 has. They've done some things really 1229 01:04:14,320 --> 01:04:15,840 well. But to Eric's point, and that 1230 01:04:15,840 --> 01:04:19,840 was the number one thing on my list here, is they spent so much 1231 01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:23,400 money on these awesome E ticket rides that they forgot the rest. 1232 01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:27,000 They forgot about what else makes a theme park and I don't 1233 01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:29,600 want them to do it like they did Islands of Adventure, which is 1234 01:04:29,960 --> 01:04:32,400 all of the kiddie rides are in one land. 1235 01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:35,160 Doctor Seuss land or whatever we call it. 1236 01:04:36,080 --> 01:04:39,240 When Grandma can't ride Velocicoaster with little Timmy. 1237 01:04:39,960 --> 01:04:42,680 Grandma has to traipse her jazzy all the way across the park to 1238 01:04:42,760 --> 01:04:48,600 go ride Cat in the Hat. They need this to be a theme 1239 01:04:48,600 --> 01:04:50,880 park that everybody can take advantage of. 1240 01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:55,800 So when Mom and Dad are on, you know, Hiccup Flyers, now that's 1241 01:04:55,800 --> 01:04:57,600 a bad excuse because they're just going to take them on that 1242 01:04:57,600 --> 01:05:00,880 stupid fire drill. If they're on Monsters Dark 1243 01:05:00,880 --> 01:05:06,800 Universe, they need something. A simple dark ride, a carousel, 1244 01:05:07,080 --> 01:05:10,920 a Dumbo, you know, a, a, a Winnie the Pooh type. 1245 01:05:11,480 --> 01:05:13,920 Very basic, right? But it's something you could do 1246 01:05:13,920 --> 01:05:15,000 it. It would be so simple. 1247 01:05:15,000 --> 01:05:16,560 Preferably, but I don't want a whole. 1248 01:05:16,560 --> 01:05:20,920 Land that I never go into because I don't have kids on 1249 01:05:20,920 --> 01:05:22,560 that particular trip, you know what I mean? 1250 01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:26,120 I want, it needs to be throughout every land, a little 1251 01:05:26,120 --> 01:05:28,960 bit of something. Another thing they could do if 1252 01:05:28,960 --> 01:05:31,440 they wanted, instead of opening the front gates to everybody 1253 01:05:31,440 --> 01:05:34,240 that wants to, is they just need to do some Orlando Informer 1254 01:05:34,240 --> 01:05:38,120 events at Epic Universe and get some people in the door to 1255 01:05:38,120 --> 01:05:40,160 experience it and want want to go. 1256 01:05:40,160 --> 01:05:43,240 Back that would be, yeah, I think it's going to be a while 1257 01:05:43,240 --> 01:05:47,040 before we see it, but that would be an event I would pay for. 1258 01:05:47,600 --> 01:05:50,680 Yep. Well, we're curious, have you 1259 01:05:50,680 --> 01:05:52,720 been to Epic Universe in its first year? 1260 01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:54,880 If so, let us know in the comments kind of what you 1261 01:05:54,880 --> 01:05:57,960 thought of the park, what what it did well, what they need to 1262 01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:01,840 change and kind of these rumors for the future, you know, do 1263 01:06:01,840 --> 01:06:04,200 they need annual passes? Is that the next big thing? 1264 01:06:05,160 --> 01:06:08,960 But yeah, that's going to do it for this week's episode of the 1265 01:06:08,960 --> 01:06:10,880 DVC Show. Eric, thanks for joining us. 1266 01:06:10,880 --> 01:06:13,960 If you're interested in more universal contact, check out the 1267 01:06:14,040 --> 01:06:17,880 Epic Universe podcast on the Jim Hill Media Network, where I'm 1268 01:06:17,880 --> 01:06:20,760 sure that I'm sure you guys are a lot more positive than we are 1269 01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:22,960 about it, or at least more positive than Derek is about it. 1270 01:06:23,160 --> 01:06:26,240 He's never going back to the parking I was going. 1271 01:06:26,240 --> 01:06:28,640 To say we're a little bit more positive, we're critical, we're 1272 01:06:28,640 --> 01:06:30,080 critical. I've never been in a room where 1273 01:06:30,080 --> 01:06:32,600 I'm like, I have to this is I have to defend Universal here. 1274 01:06:32,600 --> 01:06:34,360 My I mean, my basement is theme Disney. 1275 01:06:34,360 --> 01:06:35,960 This is based off the utilidor here. 1276 01:06:36,120 --> 01:06:39,320 I got the darn purple wall from Tomorrowland painted on my wall 1277 01:06:39,320 --> 01:06:40,680 and. I guess you and. 1278 01:06:40,680 --> 01:06:43,560 Universal here. I'm like, but this I guess this 1279 01:06:43,560 --> 01:06:46,320 is my territory. But no, we, we are very critical 1280 01:06:46,320 --> 01:06:47,560 on what happens just like you guys. 1281 01:06:47,760 --> 01:06:50,960 I don't think anything was said today that was so blasphemous, 1282 01:06:50,960 --> 01:06:54,200 like criticizing Universals for not being Disney. 1283 01:06:54,200 --> 01:06:56,360 We're criticizing Universal because it's a theme park and we 1284 01:06:56,360 --> 01:06:58,000 pay and we have the right to criticize. 1285 01:06:58,200 --> 01:07:01,560 So I think this is Universal has helped us get a lot of stuff at 1286 01:07:01,560 --> 01:07:04,480 Disney and Disney is going to help Universal up their game. 1287 01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:06,720 So it is one of those things where I got out of my tribalism 1288 01:07:06,720 --> 01:07:09,880 and I'm like, it only helps all of us as theme park fans and all 1289 01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:12,400 that benefit from the community. So thank you for having me. 1290 01:07:12,400 --> 01:07:15,880 I enjoyed thoroughly talking about Universal and everything 1291 01:07:15,880 --> 01:07:18,120 in between. Totally, we'll stick around 1292 01:07:18,120 --> 01:07:20,160 because we're going to film two more episodes and you're 1293 01:07:20,160 --> 01:07:22,800 sticking around with us, so buckle up folks. 1294 01:07:23,360 --> 01:07:24,840 But that's going to do it for this weeks episode. 1295 01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:27,600 We hope you enjoyed it and we will see you next Monday. 1296 01:07:28,040 --> 01:07:28,960 Have a good week everybody.