Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 46 “Greasing the Lines at Disney”

Audio
Video

Subscribe to Audio
Subscribe to Video

Transcription

Speaker 1: 00:02 Insightful insights, a podcast network.

Speaker 3: 00:28 Welcome to insights into entertainment, a podcast series, taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Your hosts, Joseph and Michelle, Waylon, a husband and wife, team of pop culture fanatics are exploring all things from music and movies to television and fandom.

Speaker 4: 00:51 Welcome to insights into entertainment. This is episode 46 greasing the lines at Disney. I’m your host, Joseph Waylon and my festive and vibrant cohost Michelle. When I didn’t even write that one down off the top of your head, I was impressed. That’s pretty good cause I can’t make these up anymore and I don’t want to keep reusing them. So anyway, as you can tell from our elaborately decorated set here, thanks to the child Madison are not baby Yoda now, but thanks to our cohost on insights into teens and yourself. We have a beautifully festive set to work with today in the studio. Just before we get started, it is worth noting and I’ll mention again at the end of the show that this is the last podcast that we’ll be recording before the holiday. We are taking a bit of a hiatus.

Speaker 4: 02:01 We will be back after the new year with more podcasts. So enjoy this and we have a special presentation at the end of the podcast that all of the networks hosts have put together for our audience. So today in Disney detective and today in the show itself, I think we’ve got a fairly late show that we’re going to have a little bit of fun with here. And Disney detective, we have some news from Disney that they’re doing away to a certain extent with queuing lines with the new system they’re working with on the new rise of the resistance fried in Florida. Then Bob Iger reign is arranging a meeting with our favorite mafia. I mean our favorite director Martin Scorsese to discuss his difference of opinion on Marvel movies. I’m not really sure what the of the outcome of this is here, but I still don’t like Bob here.

Speaker 4: 03:03 Then we’ll move onto our entertainment news where we have kind of a nice story about Olivia Newton. John who is in the news again, although I think last time that I think I saw her on the news who was a health issues that she was running. So we’ll talk about that as we get into it. And then thankfully the expanse season four has finally dropped. Strangely enough, we haven’t watched any of it yet. I’m sure we’ll rectify that this weekend. And then we’ll finish with our insightful picks of the week and then we will lead everyone out into the holiday season with our special project. Shall we get started my dear? All righty. You go for Disney detectors.

Speaker 5: 04:00 So as most people know, the second ride in the star Wars Galaxy’s edge area of Hollywood studios has now opened and that’s rise of the resistance. That was the, the big ride that basically everybody was, was waiting for. The original plan was supposed to be that it was gonna open first in California and then in Florida. But because of the way the timing went, they kept all of the engineers in Florida to basically finish that area. I don’t know, whatever. But one of the things was, now for anybody that’s been to a Disney park, they ha, you know, you know about the fast passes. So if you’ve never been to a Disney park, they basically offer this quote unquote reservation system. And so many days out from your trip, either 60 days out, if you’re going to stay in the resort or 30 days out, if your staying off property, you can go online and you can make these quote unquote reservations.

Speaker 5: 05:07 And basically what it’s doing is it gives you an hour timeframe to get onto one of these rides. And the idea is that you’re supposed to have a shorter wait time. But if you don’t get a fast pass for that ride, then you go on what they call their standby line. And depending on the ride, it could still have, you know, a five minute wait or it could have a couple of hour wait. And you know, as we’ve seen with slinky dog and some of the, the other bigger rides, you know, people are basically standing in line all day, you know, it’s four or five hours. Doesn’t it. But when Harry Potter over in universal, when they opened up their newest ride just a couple of months ago, it actually had an 11 hour wait. Who waits that? I don’t know. Some people obviously were doing it because the wait was exactly that long.

Speaker 5: 06:07 Well Disney I guess decided to kinda change things up and they didn’t announce this until basically the day that the ride opened, they weren’t going to be doing any fast passes. But what they’re doing is a virtual queue. So what happens is the day that you’re visiting the park, your whole party has to have already been in the park. And what you do is you head over to Galaxy’s edge and Disney has an app called my ex, my Disney experience, which will give you wait times. You can order food, you can, you know, get directions on how to, you know, get to wherever you need to go. And it keeps track of your other fast passes or dining reservations that you might have. Well this is the same app that lets you skip the line at the quick serve two, isn’t it? Right when you can order at the, the quick Serbs, right?

Speaker 5: 06:57 So same app. So now what happens is as soon as you check in and as soon as everybody that’s in your party, that’s going to be going on the ride checks. And what you do is you go to the app and you check in and then you’re assigned a boarding pass. And what then what they’ll do is they’ll give you a grouping number. So if you go on the app, it’ll say now boarding such and such groups. And then what happens is two hours, you get a two hour window to actually get onto the ride. And what’ll happen is they’ll also send you push notifications to let you know, Hey, you know, it’s about time to get ready. So what’s nice about it is there’s never, you’re never going to see a wait time for the ride because you’re not going to know how long the wait is.

Speaker 5: 07:47 Because basically the idea is that when it’s your turn to board, you’re going to go and you’re going to go through the queue and you’re going to walk, right? You basically just walk right in. Maybe you might have like a 10 minute wait or depending on how many people you know, or waiting for the group or, you know, cause you know how, how it’s gonna, how it’s gonna work. But the nice thing is that you’re free to go anywhere else, you know, within the park. So if you have other fast passes, you can go and do them. If, you know, if you, you know, so you can kind of maximize your time. Two hour window, taking over count other fast no, that it doesn’t. Because I had a friend of mine from work who was actually just down there last week because that was my concern because we’re actually going to be down there in nine days.

Speaker 5: 08:41 Not that I’m counting or anything. And we have fast passes for other rides. We also have a dining reservation. We also have a reservation to make. Lightsabers. So the question then becomes, okay, we’re, you know, we, we have our boarding time. Are we gonna, you know, lose out on other things because we have to get on the ride now hoping like the lightsabers. I don’t think it’s going to take us two hours to make lightsabers, but I don’t know. I don’t know what, what all of this entails. So it’ll be interesting to see. Now when you get your time, you don’t get to pick. It’s basically, you know, but if I get my, my boarding pass reservation, am I guaranteed to get on the ride? Yeah. Once you, once you get your boarding pass, you will be getting on the ride. Now the other thing too is that obviously they’re only doing, you know, they can only get so many people on the ride per day.

Speaker 5: 09:42 That’s just a given. They can’t, you know. So couple of things that they’re doing is that one, unofficially the park is opening up at 6:00 AM from now until the first week of January, I think a couple of days after new year’s to help with all of these, you know, people, you know, going to the park. Right. The other thing is that even though the park doesn’t open til nine, I’ve seen various reports that by like eight 39 o’clock, all of the boarding passes have been given out already. So if you’re not there at rope drop or even, you know, park opening, you’re probably not, you know, going to get on the ride. The other thing too is that everybody from your party has to be there. So it’s not like, okay, you know, dad is sleeping with the kids. Mom’s going to run to the park to make the reservations.

Speaker 5: 10:38 No, because it’s going to go based off of your magic band or your pass in the resort at the resort already. So like with fast passes, we can book fast passes, right. Months in advance, right. Because we’re going to be a resort guest. Physically have to have your sleep in the park. Right. Which is in a way is kind of nice because I’m sure there are tons of people who make FastPass reservations and then something happens in, you know, and they don’t cancel them. They just kind of, Oh well we’ll just let it be like for instance, in our case here, the three of us can get into the park, right. Then you can just take the, the, the bands, the, the fast, the right magic bands and go back and get it. You don’t have to have everyone, because at least your magic band will have shown you’re physically in the park.

Speaker 5: 11:28 You might not be physically wearing it, but you’re physically in the park. So then when you get these reservations, how do you get the reservation to get the run to a kiosk or something? I don’t know. Because there were different things that said you had to actually be in Galaxy’s edge to do it. Others had said you just had to be in the park, go on the app in the park, click that you want your boarding pass. So again, it’s one of, it’s really kind of new, so I’m not 100% sure, but obviously before, before we go down there. So there it’s possible that the boarding passes can be done through the app and run your, your magic band is notified, right? So you can’t do it while you’re standing outside of the park. Obviously you have to do it. Once you’re physically in the gate, your bands, you know that you, you’ve gotten in and that your tickets, you know, your ticket’s been punched right, then you can do it.

Speaker 5: 12:22 So again, have to do a little bit more reading so that we’re familiar with it because we’re only going to be in Hollywood studios the one day. Well I like the concept of it. It’s totally a good concept. I like the fact that Disney recognizes the issues that they have, trying to find new and innovative ways to work around. And the other thing to think about, if you’re stuck in line for 11 hours, you’re not buying food. You’re not buying snacks or drinks, right. Right. You’re sending somebody, well, remember they were having the, the one where, you know, it was like if you got offline to go to the bathroom, you had to basically wait to come back, you know, because the, the lines were going to be so long. Now if you’re, you know, waiting, okay, if we have to wait a half hour before getting on the ride, that’s pretty good for a brand new, you know, ride and everything.

Speaker 5: 13:23 So perfectly honest with you. My expectations are we’re going to get there and not get on any of the rides. And I’m not really upset about that, right. Because I’m pretty sure I can just immerse myself in the Oh, absolutely. For the duration at a time. And just, and again, seeing all the pictures from various friends that have been there, you know, I think it’s one of those things that once you’re physically there and seeing it with your own eyes, it’s going to be, you know, a hundred times better. And I’m not, and I’ll say this now and you can quote me on it later. Okay. I’m not going to get upset if we don’t get on the ride. Okay. So, okay. Just being there. Right? Let’s face it. We’re going on Christmas Eve. Oh I know. And, and, and, and you know, if our viewers didn’t already know this, we actually, for the longest time we weren’t doing any parks where, you know, it was like we, we knew we were going to, you know, go to Florida for this time of year.

Speaker 5: 14:28 It was a last minute decision. I personally was totally okay not doing any park at all. And then we watched the special on galaxies and you’re like, who can I go? And I’m like, alright. But the thing is, okay, if we don’t get any on any rides, we have our fast passes. So you know, we’re getting on something. We have a reservation, we’re going to eat. You know, we’re lightsabers. We were definitely getting our lightsabers so everything else is kind of like icing on the cake. This certainly isn’t going to be the last time we go to Disney. It’s probably not going to the last time we go this year. Well no, we’re, we’re the end of the year. We’ll probably go again before knowing the Hans, we won’t have any time. We’ll drive up from Vera beach and do another day in the park when we do have to drive North to come home.

Speaker 5: 15:25 Right. We do have to kind of pass it on the way. Yeah. More than likely we’re, we’re not going to get back there. This is kind of, this is kind of our preview of it, you know, to see, you know, a really expensive preview. But you know, it’s Christmas. It’s, you know, it’s the Christmas miracle, right. So again, obviously, you know, we’re not going to be doing a podcast until, you know, after the holidays and everything. But obviously we’ll, we’ll have more to report. We’ll probably do a podcast just on a recap. It’s probably a good thing we’re not doing a podcast until after the first of the year. Cause then we can talk about the movie too. Right. Cause we’ll have the movie to talk about really hard not to talk about the movie if we did podcasts. Right. Right, right. So we’ll, we’ll obviously we’ll give you our reactions to the movie and our reactions to, to Galaxy’s edge.

Speaker 5: 16:20 That’ll probably just be our little star Wars recap. You know, happy new year a thing. So star Wars yeah. So again, my friends that have already been on the ride said it was amazing. The best, you know. And, and again, the whole fact that the whole ride itself is almost a half hour. It’s the longest, you know, different acts, three different acts to it and you know, and it should be awesome. It shouldn’t be awesome. So you know when it’s worked, cause they’ve had some, they’ve had some mechanical issues and it’s been phenomenal. Yeah. So fingers crossed. Now the other thing too is, you know, since you, you have to, for the app on a smartphone, if you don’t have a smart phone, you have to go to guest relations and they’re supposedly doing something for people. So, you know, or just, you know, spring for a smartphone, even get a cheap burner phone, get a burner phone just for your Disney trip, you know.

Speaker 5: 17:20 But anyway, so again, it should be interesting to see how, how that goes. So, so tell us about Bob Iger trying to make me not hate Bob Iger with this one. So Jess, when you thought that the whole Martin Scorsese and Marvel debate was quieting down after months of seemingly everyone in Holloway Halloween, Hollywood, you know, weighing in on it now, Disney chairman and chief executive officer, officer and your best friend Bob the Disney boss has re was recently named times businessmen of the year and told the magazine that his team and Scorsese’s team are arranging a meeting between the two to discuss the topics presented by Scorsese. So obviously back in October, that’s when everything kind of came to light where, you know, he basically said, you know, he referred to Marvel movies as theme parks. He said the closest I can think of them as well made as they are the actors doing the best that they can under the circumstances is it’s a theme park.

Speaker 5: 18:26 It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to other human beings. He obviously didn’t see end game just saying, ah, mafia, are you conveying in mafia movies you make over and over again? Yeah. So then he obviously, you know, expanded on this later in an op ed piece. And basically, you know, said that they were, you know, overpowering with exhibition, leaving no room, you know, for any other cinema, blah, blah, blah. So then in his interview with time magazine, Uyghur called Scorsese’s comments, kind of nasty and not fair to the people who make, who are making the movies. So, you know, basically, you know, one of the films that, that, you know, Bob Iger has obviously been very proud of was actually black Panther and that, you know, that that’s kind of what he considers, you know, talking about not taking, you know, like that he took a risk and that it’s one of his, you know, crowning achievements, you know, with various movies that he’s you know, help to kind of bring, you know, to, to lie.

Speaker 5: 19:45 So it’ll be interesting to see, you know, what happens. You know, obviously there were various people that were in support of, you know, Marvel, there were people that were so, you know, in support, supportive Scorsese and, you know, people that were kind of both like, okay, everybody’s allowed to have their opinion. But of course with award season, you know, being around and as we’ve, you know, mentioned currently, you know, the Irishman is, you know, dominating various, you know, honors of being nominated and it won the, you know, the best film for the national board of review. And it’s up for golden Globes and you know, all this other stuff, you know, but also Marvel’s Oscar contender is also end game, which, you know, it’ll be interesting to see, you know, how many, you know, come up for that. Cause usually the golden Globes, you know, are the more, I don’t want to say artsier films. Not always the know mafia, but anyway, so, so it’ll be, you know, obviously it’s not going to die.

Speaker 4: 20:56 You know, I don’t physically have new year’s resolutions. Okay. My Lao year’s resolution this year, which I never have, is that we don’t talk about this damn movie or Morton’s Chris EEZ in the next year at all. Because frankly, I’m tired of the story. I’m tired of him. I’m tired of him desperately trying to grab headlines. It’s to me, this is yesterday’s news. Okay. And then we can move on. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And I think that’s it for Disney detective. All right, let’s move on to entertainment news. So we have a story about Alivia Newton, John and her grease jacket. Now I saw this in the news. I and I didn’t actually go in and take a look at it until you had posted the show notes here. And this was kind of cute.

Speaker 5: 21:59 This was, this was a very sweet story. Actually the sh she and John Travolta actually were also in another new story cause it seems that, I don’t remember where it was, but they were doing a Greece sing-a-long and the two actors who haven’t, you know, seen each other in awhile actually came to the singalong dressed as their characters. So Olivia Newton, John was in the, the yellow skirt and jacket and Travolta was in the leather T Burj jacket and stuff. So it was really kinda too cute to see them. But what ended up happening was last month, Olivia Newton, John had an auction where she was auctioning off more than 500 items of personal memorabilia to benefit her foundation, the Olivia Newton, John cancer wellness and research center in her hometown of Melbourne. So the jacket which went for 243,000, $200 was worn by Newton John in the closing scene of the 1978 classic movie.

Speaker 5: 23:10 The singer had it on just moments before she and John Travolta broke into the song. You’re the one that I want. So a month after the auction, the buyer had the jacket wrapped up in a pink gift box and surprised her according to the footage of the meeting greet, which was recorded on December 8th and posted it earlier this week on the Facebook page of the auction house that, that ran the auction. And she said, are you serious? Said the stun Newton, John her hands in her face, you know, giving the man a huge hug. She says that’s the sweetest thing. Man, who didn’t want to be identified. He had his face blurred in the video basically said, this jacket belongs to you. And the collection, the collective soul of those who love you. Those who for those whom sorry, those for whom you are the soundcheck of their lives, it should not just sit in a billionaire’s closet for country club bragging rights.

Speaker 5: 24:07 The anonymous buyer said, for that reason, I’m humbly and respected, respectfully returning it to its rightful owner, which is you. The man identified himself as a Southern California doctor and wished Newton John the best in her third battle with breast cancer. He said, God, speed for a quick recovery. Should you ever need medical advice or support from a trusted doctor in LA? I’ll be here for you. The singer is obviously best known for 1970 hits. Like let me be there. If you love me. Obviously physical from the 80s. And you know, she honestly loved the gift. You’re the best. You are the best. And I’m so grateful. This is the most beautiful present, but mainly it’s your heart that I’m grateful for. So that was, that was just really sweet, you know,

Speaker 4: 25:00 And it’s, it’s, it’s nice to see that you still have even, not even on a fan level, but just on a decent human being, especially this time of year to see this type of thing coming.

Speaker 5: 25:12 You know? And, and it probably had nothing to do with the jacket. You know, she, she raised two point $4 million for her, her foundation, you know, so that was great. And you know, so here it was more here I’m making the donation, I don’t need the jacket. You can have the jacket, you know, so that,

Speaker 4: 25:31 Well, and I liked the, I know the down to earth idea of this is yours. It should be yours. Like even if she puts it on display for hours, you know, it shouldn’t take the guys pointed. It shouldn’t sit in some billionaire’s private collection. The Smithsonian,

Speaker 5: 25:47 You know, on loan from, you know, whatever. You know. And that’s the thing is a lot of times, a lot of the movie props never go to, you know, the, the actors who, who use them, they’re part of, you know, the, you know, the production company or the studio and then the studio does, you know, whatever with them. So this was kind of cool that, you know, she had a bunch of stuff and you know, was, you know, auctioning them off to, to raise money and that, you know, it managed to define its way back. So very cool. Tell us about the expanse. So not really a whole lot to talk about, but what was kind of cool was that a couple of hours before it was supposed to drop, it actually showed up available. So fans, you know, got to watch it a couple of hours before the official launch time.

Speaker 5: 26:39 So it was a little, you know, a bit of a early Christmas present, I guess, as you could say. You know, so then, you know, there were a couple of people that were like, Oh damn, there goes my weekend. You know, cause now I’ve got to sit in and watch everything. So the, the article the person that wrote it said in our review of the first six episodes, we call it very much the same show and it feels like it’s the beginning of a grand second act. So it may start a little slow though. You’ll pick up right where you left off after the third season, a finale. And obviously Amazon has already renewed it for a fifth season, so, which we already knew. So, no, no worries. Obviously when that’ll be, but you know, who knows. But you know, obviously it was last may that Amazon came in and said, Hey, we’re going to make more of these, you know, when, you know, it was kind of up in the air, you know, cause scifi had dropped it didn’t know where it was going, you know, so I don’t know how they drop it.

Speaker 5: 27:42 It was literally the, the, the highest rated show on their network. I, I could think it’s really expensive and maybe that’s, that’s what it is. And it’ll be interesting to see the difference because I think we’ve talked about this too and even when we went to to comic con earlier this year and we met and we listened to the panel and they said it’s going to be a little bit of a different show because now we’re on a streaming service, you know we can curse, there can be nudity, there can be, you know, all these things that we couldn’t do from a network standpoint, time constraints. So that was going to be my other thing, hour and 15 it can be an hour, it doesn’t have to fit into that 42 minute because of the commercials and whatever. It can be a full hour in 10 seconds if it needs to be. So again, very excited. We haven’t had a chance yet with things that go on. So I’m sure maybe tonight we’ll probably dive in so you know, definitely looking forward to it. So so that is all we had for entertainment news. We’ll come back with our insightful picks of the week. Holiday themes, right? Yeah. Actually they are.

Speaker 5: 29:06 Go with your insightful. Okay. So this is an insightful pick that I did before, but when I did it before, it was for the Halloween season. Now this time it’s for the Christmas season, double dipping. So it’s one of our favorite locations to, to hit during the holidays. And it is shady Brook farms, which is in Yardley, Pennsylvania. So any of you that are kind of local to the area this is a great place to go. This is actually their 25th annual, a light show, holiday show. This is their 25th year. It’s open nightly. It actually opened right before Thanksgiving, so it was November 23rd and actually goes until January 5th. So even after the holidays, if you’re looking for something to do before we’ve done, yeah, we’ve actually done it after the holiday, you know, to which it’s still, you know, still works out. The only thing that’s a little different is Santa is not there.

Speaker 5: 30:06 Oh. And they’re not selling Christmas trees. So basically you get to experience the magic for a real good discount. I dunno, you might five bucks. Oh, Russians don’t celebrate Christmas until that’s true. Yeah, that is true. So you get to experience the magic of more than 3 million lights, illuminating acres of farmland and the shady Brook farms a holiday light show. Whimsical displays, some featuring familiar characters as you drive through in the comfort of your own car, which is very nice because there’s another farm in our area that does, that has a light display, but you have to go in their wagon. So if it’s really cold, you have to really bundle up. But the other thing too is for shady Brook, you can do it in your own car or they also do have open air wagon rides, weather permitting as well.

Speaker 5: 31:03 It’s a two mile trail that takes about 20 minutes to drive through. You basically driving, you know, at your, at your own pace. But obviously you have cars you know, in front of you and back of you. So everybody kinda, you know, takes their time you know, enjoying the sites. Then what’s nice is that afterwards, they have a whole bunch of areas set up with bonfires. They sell hot chocolate, they sell smores kits. So they have the fires and then you can buy the smores kit. So they sell like a little tiny one, and then you can actually buy a big giant bag of marshmallows and you get a stick. And everybody’s sitting there playing with fire. What was it possibly, what could possibly go wrong? But it was actually really cool was when we went a couple of weeks ago, we weren’t gonna get marshmallows cause we were like, ah, we’re going to be going home and having dinner. And there was a very nice older woman, Cigna and cross from us with her grandchild. And she had gotten the big giant bag and knew they weren’t gonna eat them all. And there’s Maddie, you know, sitting there just, you know, she wasn’t looking pitiful. She wasn’t, you know, and it was like,

Speaker 6: 32:11 Oh, do you want to go in a about some marshmallows here? Here’s an extra stick,

Speaker 5: 32:14 You know? And she ended up and ended up giving us the rest of her bag. So, and then, you know, we ended up, yay, spirit of Christmas. They have music playing. There’s a little playground area for the kids to run around. Then they have obviously their store that you can go into. They also have a a little bar area too. Now they’re starting to sell S I don’t know what brand of wine it is, but obviously something local. And then they have like a little Christmas shop where you can actually go and see Santa and get your picture taken with him. So the cost is $30 per carload, $50. If you have a mini bus limo or an RV and 125 for an actual bus to go, go through. I’ve never seen a bus. I’ve never seen a bus go through.

Speaker 5: 33:05 But then, I don’t know the, I’m sure some pretty tight turns to have to navigate. Yeah. Yeah. They do run their own a radio station so you can turn your, your car radio to a certain station to listen to Christmas music. The one year we actually were playing our own soundtrack, so we were playing a mix of Hanukkah and Christmas music since we’re an interfaith family. So again, they’re open daily from the 20. They, you know, obviously until the 5th of January Sunday through Thursday, it’s from five to 10:00 PM Fridays and Saturday from five to 11 the wagon rides are $15 a per person. And those only go until 8:00 PM during the week and 9:00 PM on the weekend, obviously weather permitting. Now they are open during Christmas Eve, Christmas day, new year’s even new year’s day, but the market and the fire pits are actually closed on those days. So if you go no fire on Christmas, so obviously you can and no wagon rides either. So basically you can just drive through if you’re doing Christmas Eve, Christmas day, new year’s Eve or new year’s day, but any other time the shop is open the fire pits and and whatnot are available as well. So it’s fun time for them. Yeah. Good pick. Thank you.

Speaker 4: 34:37 So I am not surprisingly going to go with a documentary.

Speaker 5: 34:44 Whew.

Speaker 4: 34:44 So this one was actually one I had. They had a, a previous documentary that wasn’t Christmas scene that I had watched a couple of years back that I enjoyed and I came across this one. It’s called proper English Christmas. It’s a 2013 documentary that’s streaming on Amazon prime. Proper English Christmas is a reality television style documentary following three people as they work a classic English estate in the style of Victorian England. Preparing to celebrate a traditional Victorian Christmas, working on a 1200 acre English estate with only the tools and resources that would have been available to tenant farmers in the 18 hundreds. Your host, Alex, Peter and Ruth give a detailed account of just how labor intensive. Even the most things that we take for granted today are labor intensive activities like making soap, churning butter grinding wheat to make bread and even the difficulties in harvesting hay to feed the farmer.

Speaker 4: 35:53 Animals over the long winter are demonstrated in incredible detail. Faced with a need to restore a blacksmith’s forge. The hosts have to mold thousands of bricks from clay. The process themselves then spend five long and cold nights tending a kiln to fire them. In order to prepare these everyday implements of construction for proper use. We learned various recipes for things like traditional English meals like mince, meat and sweet treats. We even see recipes for homemade remedies for colds and other ailments that hardworking farmers of the day would face even gift-giving proves to be complicated and labor intensive as our host must make their own wrapping paper and dye their own ribbon to properly present their handmade gifts to each of the each other and to the Lord and the tenant of the Lord of the estate. The months of work and toil culminate in a Dickensian style Christmas complete with Christmas pudding, Christmas pie N all accompanied by singing of traditional Christmas carols.

Speaker 4: 37:12 After seeing all of the effort required to put together what today would be a relatively simple event, it gives me a whole new appreciation for the luxuries that we enjoy today. And makes me thankful for the relative prosperity we enjoy and the technology that makes it all possible. Proper English. Christmas is a fantastic holiday themed educational experience and it’s available for streaming now on Amazon prime. Very cool. I think that is what we have for the show today. Let’s run down our contact information real quick. You can reach out to us via email at comments, at insights into things.com on Twitter, at insights underscore things on YouTube. You can catch our videos@youtubedotcomslashinsightsintothingsonthewebatwwwdotinsightsintothingsdotcomandtheaudioversionofourpodcastatpodcastdotinsightsinentertainmentdotcomandonfacebookatfacebook.com backslash insights into things podcast. So just to reiterate a couple of the programming notes we mentioned earlier, this is our last podcast before the holiday break. So what we’re going to take a couple of weeks off, we will be traveling a portion of that. I’m probably going to have some replays going on our Twitch channel just to keep things going. We’ll be back after the new year and we will be trying to adhere to our new Showtime today. We couldn’t because we had a Christmas concert for our daughter we had to go to. So we will be recording live Thursdays at 8:00 PM Eastern time when we return into the new year. And I think that’s it. We have a little gift to give to you folks and wish you all happy holidays and a safe and happy new year. Absolutely.

Speaker 7: 39:31 The night before Christmas by Clement Seymour introduction in 1822, a New York clergyman, Clement Clarke Moore spun together Christmas memories for his children. The poem he wrote featured a red suit at Santa and a reindeer drawn sleigh and never empty sack of toys and stockings hung expectedly above the fireplace. You call it a visit from Saint Nicholas and it was then published anonymously in a newspaper in Troy, New York. It captured the public’s imagination, the poem’s opening line. It was the night before Christmas, soon replaced the original title. One reason Moore’s poem has endured is that it is a joy to read aloud beginning and hush suspense. The poem builds to a traumatic crescendo as the rollicking versus ushered the mysterious midnight visitor. A tale of anticipation and wonder the night before Christmas has become a holiday tradition in itself for many families. So as you listen to this recounting of the poem, we’re there for the first Christmas or to recall those past, celebrate and share the timeless joys of this enchanting holiday.

Speaker 4: 41:09 It was the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature, was stirring, not even a mouse.

Speaker 8: 41:18 The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads and mama

Speaker 9: 41:34 And her kerchief and I in my cap had just settled down for a long winter’s nap.

Speaker 10: 41:40 When out on the lawn they arose such a clatter. I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter

Speaker 8: 41:48 A way to the window. I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

Speaker 9: 41:56 The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of midday to objects below

Speaker 10: 42:03 What to my wandering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer

Speaker 8: 42:11 With a little old driver so lively and quick. I knew in a moment it must be st Nick,

Speaker 9: 42:19 More rapid than Eagles. His coursers. They came and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

Speaker 10: 42:26 Now, Dasher, now dancer, now Prancer and Vixen on comment on Cupid on Dondre and Blitzen

Speaker 8: 42:35 To the top of the porch to the top of the wall. Now dash away, dash away, dash away, all

Speaker 9: 42:42 As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly when they meet with an obstacle mountain to the sky.

Speaker 8: 42:49 So up to the house, top the courses, they flew with the sleigh full of toys and Satan Nicholas too.

Speaker 10: 42:57 And then in a twinkle I heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each tiny Hough. I said true in my head and I was turning around

Speaker 9: 43:07 Down the chimney. Saint Nicholas came with a bound.

Speaker 8: 43:10 He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

Speaker 10: 43:20 A bundle of toys he had flung on his back and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack,

Speaker 9: 43:28 His eyes, how they twinkled his dimples, how Merry his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry.

Speaker 8: 43:35 His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow and the beard on his CIM was as white as the snow. The stump

Speaker 10: 43:45 Above a pipe help tighten his teeth and the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.

Speaker 8: 43:54 He had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.

Speaker 9: 44:02 He was chubby and plump and a rate jolly old elf. And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself

Speaker 10: 44:09 In a wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

Speaker 8: 44:17 He spoke, not a word, but when straight to his work and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk

Speaker 9: 44:25 And laying his finger aside of his nose and giving a nod up the chimney. He Rose,

Speaker 10: 44:32 He sprang to his sleigh, to his team, gave a whistle and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Show Notes

Introduction

• Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 46: “Greasing the Lines at Disney”
• My co-host Michelle Whalen

Disney Detective

• https://thepointsguy.com/news/disney-virtual-queueing/?fbclid=IwAR1qcNpks_ocj3JdkAdShTRTOccMX9XRUjmSPlf6f9-wyLnOySpaHippdzg
• http://bit.ly/36y0mEL 
• Goodbye lines: Disney World introduces virtual queueing at its newest attraction
  • When the Harry Potter-themed Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ride opened at Universal Orlando over the summer, lines topped 11 hours. The ride is (reportedly) fantastic, but nothing is likely that fantastic with those sorts of lines and waits out in the summer heat. After getting a preview of Disney World’s newest ride, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, there was real concern that the 30-minute immersive and technologically advanced ride may easily lead to extremely long lines that snaked around the park.
  • However, overnight, Disney World surprised guests by releasing a new way to wait for its newest attraction: virtual queueing.
  • Unlike with Harry Potter’s Hagrid ride that opened at Universal, you won’t likely see pictures of extremely long lines for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, because those who want to ride are first assigned a “boarding group” before they can join the physical line. While you wait for your boarding group, you are free to get FastPasses for other attractions, ride other rides, go to lunch, etc. When your boarding group is called in the app, you’ll have two hours to join the actual line.
  • This boarding group concept was initially utilized at the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in order to enter the land itself, but this is the first time Disney has relied on a virtual wait system for an actual attraction. This differs from FastPass+ as you must physically be in the park to get a boarding position, you aren’t assigned a specific return time,  and unlike with FastPass+ attractions, there is not also a standard queue offered.
  • Early reports from those at Disney are that the new waiting system is fantastic since you can spend your time doing things instead of just standing in a slow-moving line. TPG’s Julian Kheel was at Hollywood Studios expecting to spend most of the day in line for Rise of the Resistance, but while waiting for his boarding group to be called, he was able to ride Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania and more.
  • To use the virtual queue, make sure you have the My Disney Experience app downloaded and set up on your phone before heading to the parks. Once inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios, open the app and enter the virtual queue for the attraction, if it is open.
  • The downside of the virtual line for Rise of the Resistance is that it will almost certainly fill for the day for the foreseeable future. Today, on the opening day for the ride, the virtual queue filled for the day by around 9 a.m. Because of this, getting to the park early is still an important part of your overall strategy. Also note that having a boarding position does not guarantee a turn. On opening day, up to around boarding position 124 got to ride by closing time. According to reports in some Disney Facebook fan groups, those with higher numbers who weren’t able to ride, were reportedly given a pass to come back another day.
  • Unfortunately, for those looking to maximize sleep for the little ones, it seems that your entire party needs to physically be in the park in order to enter the virtual queue. Sending one person into the park early to sign the whole family up for a boarding group likely won’t work as Disney’s system will know the other people haven’t yet scanned into the park with their tickets.
  • If you don’t have a smartphone with the Disney app installed, you can also join the virtual line by going to guest services.
  • For now, Disney is only utilizing a virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Disney has not announced how long this process will be in place for this new attraction. However, with the technology now in place and working, fingers are crossed that this is the beginning of a new way to enjoy major theme park attractions, and the end of hours upon hours spent waiting in a physical line.
• https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/disney-ceo-bob-iger-meeting-scorsese-mcu-diss-1202196911/?fbclid=IwAR1StiSkCFLp1YzxsRuDBSMnSU4iyjtpgZQoqCOqfy598HIrKuBP7zwWrLU
• http://bit.ly/38AlADX 
• Disney CEO Bob Iger Arranging Meeting With Scorsese After ‘Nasty’ Marvel Comments
  • Just when you thought the Martin Scorsese vs. Marvel debate was quieting down after months of seemingly everyone in Hollywood weighing in on the matter, here comes Disney chairman and chief executive officer Bob Iger. The Disney boss was recently named Time’s businessperson of the year and told the magazine that his team and Scorsese’s team are arranging a meeting between the two to discuss the topics presented by Scorsese.
  • The Scorsese vs. Marvel debate went viral at the beginning of October after “The Irishman” filmmaker was quoted in an interview with Empire magazine comparing Marvel movies to theme parks. “The closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks,” Scorsese said. “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
  • Scorsese expanded on his critical Marvel views a month later in an op-ed for The New York Times published on November 4. The director explained in the essay that his issue with comic book films is they are overpowering the exhibition space and leaving no room for the type of cinema he values to exist. Scorsese said that comic book franchise films were creating a space in Hollywood that is “brutal and inhospitable to art.”
  • In his interview with Time magazine, Iger called Scorsese’s comments “nasty” and “not fair to the people who are making the movies.” Time reporter Belinda Luscombe notes that Iger mostly “brushes [the comments] off.” The one Marvel film which has been continually used as a rebuttal to Scorsese’s opinion has been “Black Panther,” the Ryan Coogler-directed tentpole that earned Marvel its first Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Luscombe writes for Time, “Whenever [Bob Iger is] accused of taking no risks, Iger points to ‘Black Panther,’ which he considers one of his top five career achievements.”
  • Scorsese is currently dominating awards season with “The Irishman,” which won best film honors from the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Scorsese earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director this week. Marvel’s big Oscar contender this year is “Avengers: Endgame,” although it will have to settle for crafts contention.

Entertainment News

• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/olivia-newton-john-gets-back-grease-jacket-anonymous-bidder-who-n1100661?fbclid=IwAR2KWTs6g9HbZdKOw4BvY-Ea2QJhHHPikYQZUynPsOzxzPtnwyVLykLjtmU
• https://nbcnews.to/2ssQDAG 
• Olivia Newton-John given ‘Grease’ jacket by anonymous bidder who spent $243K on it
  • A fan, hopelessly devoted to Olivia Newton-John, purchased the black leather jacket she wore on “Grease” — and then returned that famous wardrobe piece to her.
  • The Australian sweetheart raised $2.4 million last month by auctioning off more than 500 items of personal memorabilia to benefit her Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in her hometown of Melbourne.
  • That jacket, which went for $243,200, was worn by Newton-John in closing scenes of the 1978 musical classic. The singer had it on moments before she and co-star John Travolta broke into “You’re the One That I Want.”
  • A month after the auction, the buyer had the jacket wrapped in a pink gift box and surprised Newton-John, 71, according to footage of the meet-and-greet recorded on Dec. 8 and posted earlier this week on the Facebook page of Julien’s Auctions.
  • “Are you serious?” said the stunned Newton-John hands to her face and then giving the man a huge hug. “That is the sweetest thing.”
  • The man did not want to be identified and Julien’s blurred his face in video it posted.
  • “This jacket belongs to you and the collective soul of those who love you, those for whom you are the soundtrack of their lives. It should not sit in a billionaire’s closet for country club bragging rights,” the anonymous buyer said.
  • “For this reason I humbly and respectfully return it to its rightful owner, which is you.”
  • The man appeared to identify himself as a Southern California doctor and wished Newton-John the best in her third battle with breast cancer.
  • “Godspeed for a quick recovery. Should you ever need medical advice or support from a trusted doctor in L.A. I will be there,” he said.
  • The singer, best known for 1970s hits like “Let Me Be There,” “If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” and “Physical,” said she honestly loved this gift.
  • “You’re the best, you’re the best! I’m so grateful,” Newton-John said. “This is the most beautiful present, but mainly it’s your heart that I’m grateful for.”
• https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/12/21019840/the-expanse-season-4-just-arrived-on-amazon-prime-hours-ahead-of-schedule?fbclid=IwAR2du82X3najliG8p2CcAeHJg1q9kGGnND0Ut33X5NpWyRf7iCAB_qsh8sc
• http://bit.ly/38HbIYP 
• The Expanse season 4 just arrived on Amazon Prime hours ahead of schedule
  • For a while there, it seemed like beloved sci-fi show The Expanse might have been coming to an end, when Syfy decided not to renew it for a fourth season. But last May, Amazon stepped in — and right now, you can judge for yourself how well that decision panned out, because the ten-episode fourth season of The Expanse is now available to stream in its entirety on Amazon Prime.
  • “damn there goes my weekend,” one Verge editor exclaimed in Slack chat, when I mentioned the news. (I’m not free this weekend, so maybe I’ll start today.)
  • In our review of the first six episodes, we called it “very much the same show,” and said it “feels like the beginning of a grand second act.” So it may start a little slow — though it’ll pick up right where we left off after the third season’s finale (recap/spoilers!).
  • Amazon’s already renewed it for a fifth season, in case you’re wondering.

Insightful Picks

• Michelle
  • Shady Brook Farms – 931 Stony Hill Rd., Yardley, PA 19067
  • 25th Annual Holiday Light Show
  • Open Nightly From November 23, 2019 to January 5, 2020
  • Experience the magic of more than 3 million lights illuminating acres of farmland at Shady Brook Farm’s Holiday Light Show! Encounter whimsical displays and familiar characters as you drive through in the comfort of your own car or enjoy the show on an open air wagon ride (weather permitting). The two mile trail takes about 20 min. to drive through if you’re taking your time to enjoy the sights (on a non-busy night).
  • Warm up with a cup of hot cocoa and cook up s’mores at a toasty bonfire (cocoa, s’mores kits, and more treats available for purchase in the Farm Market.)
  • Visit and have your photo taken with Santa (at the Farm Market) and pick out the perfect Christmas tree while you’re here!
  • $30/carload
  • $50/mini-bus, limo or RV
  • $125/bus (seating capacity over 25)
  • Credit cards accepted at Ticket Booth
  • Open Nightly from 11/23/19 – 1/5/20
  • Sunday – Thursday from 5 to 10 pm
  • Friday & Saturday from 5 to 11 pm
  • Wagon Rides – $15/person*
  • Sunday – Thursday from 5 to 8 pm
  • Friday & Saturday from 5 to 9 pm
  • All wagon rides are weather permitting
  • The Farm Market and fire pits are CLOSED on December 24, 25, 31 & January 1
• Joe
• Proper English Christmas
• 2013 Documentary on Amazon Prime
• Proper English Christmas is a reality television style documentary following three people as they work a classic English estate in the style of Victorian England preparing to celebrate a traditional Victorian Christmas.
• Working a 1200 acre English estate with only the tools and resources that would have been available to tennant farmers in the 1800’s Alex, Peter and Ruth give a detailed account of just how labor intensive even the most simple things were that we take for granted today.
• Labor intensive activities like making soap, churning butter, grinding wheat to make bread and even the difficulties in harvesting hay to feed to farm animals over the long winter are demonstrated in incredible detail.
• Faced with a need to restore a blacksmiths forge the hosts have to mold thousands of bricks from clay they process themselves then spend five long and cold nights tending a kiln to fire them in order to prepare these every day implements of construction for proper use.
• We learn various recipes for things like traditional English feats from Mincemeat to sweet treats and even home made remedies for colds and other ailments facing the hard working farmers of the day.
• Even gift giving proves to be a complicated and labor intensive chore as our hosts must make their own wrapping paper and ribbon to properly present their handmade gifts to each other and the lord of the estate.
• The months of work and toil culminate in a Dickensian style Chrismas complete with Christmas pudding and Chrismas pie all accompanied by the singing of traditional Christmas carols.
• After seeing all the effort require to put together what today would be a relatively simple event it gives me a whole new appreciation for the luxuries that we enjoy today and makes me thankful for the relative prosperity we enjoy and the technology that makes it all possible.
• Proper English Christmas is a fantastic holiday themed educational experience
• It’s available for streaming now on Amazon Prime
  
  

Contact Info

• Email: Comments@insightsintothings.com
• Twitter: @insights_things
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/insightsintothings
• Web: https://www.insightsintothings.com
• RSS: http://podcast.insightsintoentertainment.com/#
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsightsIntoThingsPodcast/
  
  

Programming Notes

• This is our last episode before our holiday break
• We will be back after the new year and recording live on Thursday’s at 8pm Eastern time
• Now we leave you with a special holiday project from all of the podcast networks hosts.
• Happy Holidays and a Safe and Happy New Year to everyone!