Speaker 2: 0:15

So, pete, yeah, what are we talking about this next season?

Speaker 3: 0:19

Well, I mean for those of us who are, for those of us, for those of you who are loyal listeners I mean, I listen to the show, but I hope you do too. Yeah, I can't be bothered. Yeah, we notice this about you. We are now wrapping up what we consider to be our first season. That's right. We made it through a little over a year of doing this. It started off as a grand experiment and a way for our respective partners to get rid of us for a couple of hours every week has turned into something that we believe is actually really, really special, and we've been enjoying. I've enjoyed the hell out of it.

Speaker 2: 0:52

I've really enjoyed the hell out of it.

Speaker 3: 0:54

Yeah, and we. For those of you who tune in on a regular basis, we just had our season finale at the Howard Johnson.

Speaker 2: 1:01

Yeah, and the Howard Johnson suite of the retro future, inspired by Monsanto's House of the Future, asterisk, asterisk, yeah, well, I hear. Now the suite is called the New Avengers.

Speaker 3: 1:19

David Harbour was certainly in there, yeah, but yeah, the Red Guardian loves talk about Disneyland. So we're wrapping up season one and for this little miniature episode, we're going to kind of wrap up season one, fill you in on a few things that have come up in the news lately, and then we're going to give you a little preview about what we're planning for season two, so that we can keep your eyes and ears open. And if you run out of episodes that you haven't listened to yet, may I highly recommend that you listen to our episodes about the Disneyland Hotel and about the Golden Horseshoe. Trust us on this one. They're actually good guys, I promise you. The subject sounds boring, but it's actually really cool. So we promise you we do not do boring episodes. The subjects may suck, but we actually find ways that make it interesting. So give it a listen to.

Speaker 2: 2:14

And speaking of sucking, we cannot stop talking about Evermore. Yeah. Speaking of in the news yeah, so have you kept up with this at all? Pete with what's going on.

Speaker 3: 2:29

The last I had heard is that there was another entity, a group of loyal people, who had it was originally going to be like, oh, there's a tavern. And then it was just a shop with a tavern, and now it's just going to be a shop, and now it's going to be this, and now it's going to be this, and now it's going to be that. Taylor Swift threw a granola bar at our head or something, and I just lost track because I got tired of the drama.

Speaker 2: 2:52

I guess a company decided to buy it and we talked about this a little bit before. They had some sort of weird contest where they got people to come up with new names for what it was going to be and it became the majestic sounding Realm Town and so this company was coming in to renovate it. But, as with everything having to do with Evermore, there were lawsuits. What they purchased turned out to not be what they thought they had purchased. They believed they had purchased the land and perhaps the train that circled the land and some of the buildings, and after they made the purchase and signed the contract, the former owners of Evermore just went oh no, you don't get any of that stuff. And started packing it up. There was lawsuits and the deal has now fallen through. Evermore is again nothing. The deal has now fallen through. Evermore is again nothing.

Speaker 3: 3:45

So go to your local Renaissance Fair, support your local Renaissance Fair. It's the closest you got. Bring a train set and a Taylor Swift CD and I think you'll be fine. It's probably better, it's probably a lot better.

Speaker 3: 4:00

No offense to all the devoted actors and so forth who worked Evermore you guys from what I have seen of the footage, I never got to go, sadly, but from what I had seen of all the hard work you guys put into it, you did a great job. Yeah, speaking of interactive, also, galactic Star Cruiser at Disney World has now been officially announced. It's just going to be offices.

Speaker 2: 4:23

Yeah, that's right. World has now been officially announced. It's just going to be offices yeah, that's right. Which is at least better than taking valuable theme park real estate and turning it into offices, which is kind of what they were doing with the old Christmas shop in the Muppets courtyard for years and years.

Speaker 3: 4:39

Yeah, and as a recording, we say goodbye to Muppet Vision 3D at Disney World.

Speaker 2: 4:47

Yeah, it finally had its final show. You know I'm willing to enjoy change in the theme parks. This one stings. This is Jim Henson's final work, not only the final thing, he directed the final time he played Kermit. Yeah, it is a masterpiece. I saw it again about a year ago. It is still just as funny as you remembered it being, and it is just a real shame. It is Not to say that I don't think the Monsters Inc roller coaster will be cool. I do, but the Monsters Inc roller coaster is not going in the same building that Muppet Vision 3D was in. So I, the Monsters Inc roller coaster, is not going in the same building that Muppet Vision 3D was in.

Speaker 3: 5:27

So I'm a little irked, yeah, yeah, let's see what else is in the news lately.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Well, the Rivers of America are going to close right after the 4th of July, Just in time.

Speaker 2: 5:51

I don't want to be too dour about this. But yeah, the Magic Kingdoms, and specifically so don't freak out anybody the Magic Kingdom in Florida, its Rivers of America, will be closing just after the 4th to make way for a new Cars attraction. Enough said, but I do, you know, just so we're not totally dour, I think that over in California Adventure, this new Coco ride looks pretty terrific. I'm kind of into it. Oh, Pete's looking at me. He has not heard about this, so there's going to be— this isn't Coco's pants.

Speaker 3: 6:14

Is it Not Coco the Clown? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that Coco the pigs are Coco. Okay, god, no, I really was perplexed, folks.

Speaker 2: 6:23

Coco's pants.

Speaker 3: 6:24

Kelly Coco, okay, god, no, I really was perplexed. Folks, coco's pants, kelly's like, give me this. Look like Pete, you've fallen behind. Yeah, what's happened? Oh right, okay, going into the day of the dead Coco, not Coco, the clown from our what If episode, correct.

Speaker 2: 6:38

Okay, yeah, and it's going. I'll pat myself on the back a little bit. I wrote an article about where a lot of these changes were going to happen. I nailed this one. It's going right in the Paradise Gardens area, right on the edge of Pixar Pier. It will wind behind the Incredicoaster. It's going to be mostly an indoor attraction traction. As I understand it, it's a boat ride. It looks neat.

Speaker 3: 7:05

I like it. Are they going to use the same layout as the Three Caballeros boat ride? I hope so, because I love that ride.

Speaker 2: 7:11

I love that ride too.

Speaker 3: 7:12

I've got a soft spot. A lot of people don't like it because it's a series of just video screens of like here's Mexico and it's like no it totally follows the. Three Caballeros and it's really. I enjoy the heck out of it, also because I'm a massive Donald Duck fan. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:29

I mean, at the end you get the three caballeros, like in audio-animatronic form, singing the song. What's wrong with that?

Speaker 3: 7:37

Yeah, I want the little Brazilian bird running around, you know, all over the place. It'd be really, really fun. So Epic Universe and Universal Studios has opened. That was a thing this year. Indeed, it was a thing. It was a thing. But you'll probably go back to our Bob Gurr episode in which we had visited Garner Holt. Yeah, and we cannot 100% substantiate this, but we're pretty suspicious. Yeah, we were walking through it. We were given explicit orders not to photograph anything, but we thought we actually saw some of the animatronics for Epic Universe in there. Yeah, and if we're wrong, we will totally own it. Like, if somebody from Garner Holt goes Pete Kelly, you were wrong, that was not us. Yeah, if somebody from Gardner-Holt goes Pete Kelly, you were wrong, that was not us, we'll totally own it. But that made us do a lot of talking on the way back home. It certainly did.

Speaker 3: 8:30

They're really good animatronics manufacturers and they're very enthusiastic. And plus we were just so punch drunk from meeting Bob Gurr, so how could you go wrong with that?

Speaker 2: 8:40

And everything I'm hearing is that that particular attraction, the Monsters Unleashed attraction, is the highlight of the park.

Speaker 3: 8:49

Since this is a mini-sode about our wrapping up of season one, a little reminder for everybody Give a listen to our episode about Dracula as a subject of theme park attractions. Yes, that was a fun one to do.

Speaker 2: 9:06

Totally. And and hey, remind me, pete, didn't you tell me something about Rick Baker and the um and Epic universe? Creator Rick.

Speaker 3: 9:15

Baker. Rick Baker, monster maker yes, the great Rick Baker, and again, little Pete name drop. I actually got to work with him on a little independent film called Keep the Gaslight Burning. That was a lot of fun, but because of that, we had hooked up through Facebook and social media. I do not know him well, but his name will.

Speaker 3: 9:39

He will pop up on my feed and he does apparently pay attention to his Instagram feed because during the pandemic, I dressed up my kid as a werewolf and we were both posing for the thing and the first person to comment on it was Rick Baker going parenting done, right, you can look me up, it's all in there, but anyhow, yeah, apparently Rick Baker went there as a special guest, as like a tour for all these great, you know, monster makers and so forth. He walked around, he was taking photographs of the place and I guess on Instagram he posted one picture of the square which is basically a replica of the Square of Wonders, whatever that's called, yeah, right, and he basically just said I want to live here, yeah, which is awesome.

Speaker 2: 10:22

So what have we got coming up next year?

Speaker 3: 10:29

So here's a little sneak preview of some of the things that Kelly and I have been talking about, and I would like to take a moment to reach out to our friends out there, including the one of you who is from Russia, yeah we've got someone from Abu Dhabi now.

Speaker 2: 10:43

Oh we have an Abu Dhabi listener, yeah, and someone from Ukraine, so we could be the perestroika that makes change, wouldn't that be?

Speaker 3: 10:50

great, yeah. So for those of you who are international listeners, who might be listening to this Minnesota if you have a—we're not afraid to take on just about anything. We agreed when we first started doing this podcast we would not just be doing Disney, we were not going to be a Disney only podcast. Disneyland and Disney World tend to be a forefront because it is a dominant force in the market. However, as you'll find out in season 2, we're going to be attacking a lot more independent and a lot more diverse theme park attractions, but don't worry, the Disney will still be in there. Oh yeah, we're going to throw Disney all over the place. We can't avoid it.

Speaker 2: 11:30

It'll be like Lucha Libre with Donald.

Speaker 3: 11:34

So that's a different three caballeros. Some of the shows that we're talking about, I know here are some of the ones, those who remember our what If episode. We have another one coming up, that's right. I won't spoil what it is, but we are going to be doing another what If episode in which we basically build a theme park right before your very ears and get nostalgic about it and yet be pretty fairly factually accurate. Just like we did with our.

Speaker 3: 12:01

Fleischer Studios theme park attraction. So if you've not heard that episode from this last season, give it a shout.

Speaker 2: 12:09

I've been delighted. A few people have told me that they listened to it and did not know until fairly long, fairly deep into the episode, that it was not real.

Speaker 3: 12:22

That's pretty, and I wonder what hint? Was it Coco's pants, yes, or was it some other? It was Coco's pants. It was Coco's pants. It was Coco's pants. You know, there's some great clip of me going what you should have seen my face, folks. I mean, I literally was like Coco's Pants. What are you doing? Okay, it's improv.

Speaker 2: 12:43

Yes, ask.

Speaker 3: 12:44

Coco's Pants, let's roll with it. But we're going to do another what If? Episode? Yep, fairly soon we are going to be going down the nostalgia rabbit hole of Disney merchandise that no longer is being sold at the park Yep, famous and infamous. Yep, let's see. Here we're going to dive into the world of Six Flags. Yep, we sure are, and we'll probably also tackle some more. For those of you who are into the macabre, we'll be tackling some more macabre attractions, yep, like the London Dungeon, attractions over in Europe. And Kelly, I'm sure, has a list of his own subjects.

Speaker 2: 13:23

Yeah, I've got I'm still trying to work this out a little bit but potentially a guest around Halloween time, around the spooky time of the year.

Speaker 3: 13:33

Definitely. Well, one thing we are definitely going to cover around that time is the Winchester Mystery House. For sure that is definitely going to cover around that time. Is the Winchester Mystery House For sure that is definitely going to come up, having worked there myself. But also Knott's Berry Farm. And of course it's Sister's Show that invades every September and October. Knott's Scary Farm yeah, the Haunt itself.

Speaker 2: 13:54

We are going to make a real attempt to get down there this year because we're a little concerned about the Six Flags Cedar Fair merger. We want to make sure we get to visit the scary farm this year before it maybe changes. We have no insider knowledge, we're just concerned.

Speaker 3: 14:13

Yeah, just in case, because you never know in this industry, you never know. Yeah, just in case, because you never know in this industry, you never know. We're probably going to go a little bit into the actual history of Universal Studios as a theme park itself.

Speaker 3: 14:23

We've covered separate attractions like Back to the Future and, of course, castle, dracula and Conan the Barbarian's show Spectacular. But we haven't really talked about the park itself and its development and how it has gone from. Hey, everybody, let's take a look at, let's watch people make movies and it's silent. So who cares to this juggernaut that's about to, you know, devour Disney whole if they're not careful.

Speaker 2: 14:49

Well, yeah, and you know I'm reading a book right now about silent film stuntwoman Helen Gibson, and you know it goes to the origins of the Universal Tour, which is 1916, people, wow.

Speaker 3: 15:04

So that'll be a big history day. So that might be a two-parter. We'll have to see and I'm sure we'll cover a lot more. But for those of you who are out there, who've been devout listeners, thank you. Yes, I mean Kelly and I started doing this just for giggles, right, and it turned into like hey, we actually have people listening to this thing. Yeah, please spread the word, please put the word out there and tell people. If you like this, please leave a review. If you're on Spotify, leave a review. If you're on YouTube, please share. We don't care. We just want to see people and listen and enjoy our show, and if you have any requests or have any memories that you'd like us to cover, we'd love to hear from you.

Speaker 2: 15:46

Yeah, and just as we kind of wrap up this mini-sode, I just want to say again thank you to Paul Berry for inviting us to the Hojo to do that episode. With all of these great podcasters and new friends of ours, I've been starting to listen to some of their podcasts Me too, really enjoying them. Yeah, they're great. I heard us get shouted out on Disney Indiana, like two episodes ago, which I really appreciate it, guys, yay, and I wanted you to know that I had been listening and I'm really enjoying your show. Mm-hmm. And I wanted you to know that I had been listening and I'm really enjoying your show, and that's pretty much it. We're getting ready for season two. I think we're going to start season two within seconds of us turning the microphones off for this.

Speaker 3: 16:31

Oh yes, and don't worry folks, the prospector will be back this year, so don't Maybe I'll have to learn some Russian or Ukrainian in order to.

Speaker 2: 16:43

I've told you my one Russian phrase that I know right, no, okay, it means I am a big duck.

Speaker 3: 16:54

Well, on that note, I'm Peter Overstreet.

Speaker 2: 16:57

I'm Kelly McGovern.

Speaker 3: 16:59

And you've been listening to the Lowdown on the Plus Zone.