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Insights Into Teens: Episode 155 “Ranking Hollywood Studios and Epcot Rides”

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Last week we gave some analysis on the more popular rides in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

This week we’re going to take a deep dive into the popular rides at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT

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Show Notes

[INTRO THEME]

  • [INTRODUCTIONS]
    • Insights Into Teens: Episode 155 “Ranking Hollywood Studios and Epcot Rides”
    • My informed and astute co-host Madison Whalen
    • And joining us again from our Insights Into Entertainment podcast to lend her expertise on all things Disney, Michelle Whalen
    • Summary
      • Last week we gave some analysis on the more popular rides in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.
      • This week we’re going to take a deep dive into the popular rides at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT
  • [SHOW PLUGS]
    • But first I’d like to invite the listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast.
      • You can find audio versions listed under Insights Into Teens, you can also find video and audio versions listed under Insights Into Things.
    • I’d also like to invite you to give us your feedback on what we’re talking about or give us your suggestions for show topics.

[TRANSITION]

[SEGMENT 1]

Epcot

  • World Celebration
  • Spaceship Earth
  • Journey into Imagination with Figment
  • World Discovery
  • Mission Space
  • Test Track
  • World Nature
  • Living with the Land
  • Soarin’ Around the World
  • The Sea with Nemo & Friends
  • World Showcase
  • Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
  • Frozen Ever After
  • Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure 
  • Honorable Mentions
  •  The American Adventure

[AD1: SSE]

[SEGMENT 2]

Hollywood Studios

  • Hollywood Boulevard
  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
  • Echo Lake
  • Star Tours
  • Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
  • Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run
  • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
  • Toy Story Land
  • Toy Story Mania
  • Slinky Dog Dash
  • Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Sunset Boulevard
  • The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

[AD2: ENTERTAINMENT]

[SEGMENT 3]

Shows in Hollywood Studios

  • Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
  • For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
  • Muppet*Vision 3D
  • Star Wars Launch Bay
  • Voyage of the Little Mermaid
  • Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage
  • Fantasmic

[TRANSITION]

  • [CLOSE]
  • Closing thoughts shoutouts

[OUTRO AND CREDITS]

Transcription

00:00:00:24 – 00:00:42:00
Michelle
Those insightful podcasts by informative host Insights into Things. A Podcast Network. Welcome to Insights Into Teens, a podcast series exploring the issues and challenges of today’s youth. Your hosts are Joseph and Madison Whalen, a father and daughter team making their way through the challenges of.

00:00:42:00 – 00:00:51:04
Michelle
The teenage years.

00:00:51:27 – 00:01:06:12
Joseph
Welcome to Insights into Teens. This is Episode 155. Ranking Hollywood Studios and Epcot Rides. I’m your host, Joseph Whalen, and my informed and astute co-host, Madison Whalen.

00:01:06:19 – 00:01:07:13
Madison
Hi, everyone.

00:01:07:20 – 00:01:08:26
Joseph
How you doing today, Maddie?

00:01:09:04 – 00:01:11:12
Madison
I’m doing okay. How about you?

00:01:11:19 – 00:01:22:24
Joseph
I’m doing okay, too. And joining us again this week from our Insights and entertainment podcast to lend her expertize on all things Disney. I give you the illustrious Michelle Whelan.

00:01:23:02 – 00:01:25:19
Michelle
Hi, everyone.

00:01:25:24 – 00:01:27:00
Joseph
How are you doing today, dear?

00:01:27:02 – 00:01:28:24
Michelle
I’m doing okay, thank you.

00:01:29:03 – 00:01:56:17
Joseph
I’m glad to hear that. So last week we had talked about, uh, analysis on popular rides from Magic Kingdom in Disney World. This week, we’re going to take a deep dove into popular rides at both Hollywood studios and Epcot, many of which I can’t comment on because I don’t go on them. But first, before we do that, I’d like to invite our listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast.

00:01:57:08 – 00:02:24:28
Joseph
You can find audio versions of this podcast listed as insights in the teens. You can find video and audio versions of all the network’s podcasts listed as Insights in the Things. And we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Any place you can get a podcast listing these days. I would also invite you to offer your feedback. You can write in to us at comments and insights into things dot com.

00:02:25:12 – 00:02:43:10
Joseph
You can hit us on Twitter and twitter.com, slash insights, underscore things. We can get links to all of our social media on our website at WW that insights into things dot com. Shall we start. Here we go.

00:02:46:24 – 00:03:07:28
Joseph
So we’re going to start out first with that infinitely long walk between ride theme park of Epcot and World Celebration as the first one that we encounter when we walk in the park. And our first ride is spaceship Earth. Michelle, why don’t you give us your thoughts on that?

00:03:08:12 – 00:03:11:05
Michelle
I’ll give it an eight. If we’re going back to our.

00:03:11:12 – 00:03:14:14
Joseph
Our seeing one, the ten systems. Sure. Okay.

00:03:14:22 – 00:03:15:13
Michelle
I’ll go eight.

00:03:15:19 – 00:03:16:28
Joseph
All right. That’s pretty high.

00:03:17:05 – 00:03:17:20
Michelle
Thanks.

00:03:18:11 – 00:03:20:11
Joseph
What’s what’s the draw?

00:03:21:27 – 00:03:52:15
Michelle
I think it’s a nice overall history of communications. I think, you know, they’ve done justice to it to update it throughout the years. I do kind of miss what they had done in when it first opened, where at the end they had kind of a futuristic like, hey, here’s our predictions of where we’re going to be because most of what they predicted is already current right now.

00:03:52:17 – 00:03:53:15
Joseph
So they were accurate?

00:03:53:19 – 00:04:15:16
Michelle
Yeah, pretty much. Okay. So they really haven’t gone beyond to, you know, like they have a cute little video that you interact with at the end. So, you know, so that kind of, you know, if they had kind of kept that aspect, but with the end of the ride, I would have given it higher. So that’s where I kind of.

00:04:15:24 – 00:04:18:14
Michelle
Okay, fair enough. Last points. So.

00:04:19:10 – 00:04:40:04
Joseph
So I’ll give it a six myself. It’s one of the few rollercoasters in Disney World, and it is classified as a roller coaster. Okay. Because of the technology that’s built building, I learned that from our bus driver the one day. Hmm. I give it a six. I like the historical aspect of it. Let’s face it, there’s not too many instances where you get to thank the Phoenicians, right?

00:04:40:05 – 00:04:40:16
Madison
I mean.

00:04:40:16 – 00:04:41:07
Michelle
Yeah, exactly.

00:04:41:12 – 00:04:56:21
Joseph
So I like that. I like the fact that you come all the way up to modern times there. And I think it’s a really efficient use of space, to be honest with you. I just I like the engineering behind the whole thing. MAGNUSSEN, what do you think?

00:04:57:04 – 00:04:58:18
Madison
I’ll give it an 8.5.

00:04:59:02 – 00:04:59:16
Joseph
Okay.

00:05:00:18 – 00:05:11:21
Madison
I feel it’s a very nostalgic ride, even though I don’t really think I was around at the time when it was at the end when they predicted everything.

00:05:11:27 – 00:05:12:15
Michelle
You are right.

00:05:12:23 – 00:05:36:14
Madison
Yeah, I. So I guess I don’t knock it down because I’m not docking it down because of that. Well, it’s certainly not a thrilling ride. Again, I don’t really base rides off if they’re thrilling over just the general experience I get and really the esthetic of it’s really cool. I like seeing the various areas of history. It’s a great history lesson.

00:05:36:14 – 00:06:00:08
Madison
It’s nice how I find it very timeless in a way, even though it like tries to predict the modern future and whatnot. But I really do like that. It’s kind of timeless, really just exploring the history of communication, and I really like how it presented. It’s really a nice, cool ride that you can kind of just go to and just relax for a bit.

00:06:00:08 – 00:06:13:08
Madison
It normally doesn’t have all that long of a wait, so it’s really just one of those rides I kind of chill on, but it is one of the rides that I would still go on, even if like, it’s definitely one of the ones I always want to go on when I’m at Epcot.

00:06:13:15 – 00:06:38:26
Joseph
Okay. I think that’s, uh, that’s certainly fair. Next up is Journey into Imagination with vigor. And I usually get a headache if I’m on this ride. I just. I don’t know why. Is it the music? Is it the the colors? I don’t know. I guess that’s what I’m for. And I know you guys are going to give it much higher than that, but I just have a very difficult time with this ride, especially when you get the the upside down part.

00:06:40:15 – 00:07:02:09
Joseph
So I’m not a big fan of it. What I do like about it is I like the fact that they have all the activities after you get off the ride. It’s a great place. It’s like almost a technology demonstrator. It gives the kid that air conditioned place and the parents an air conditioned place to kind of cool off, have something to do, and then move on your day there.

00:07:02:09 – 00:07:10:15
Joseph
So it’s it ends in a gift shop, but the gift shop has a lot of stuff for the kids to do. Madison What do you think about it?

00:07:10:27 – 00:07:14:03
Madison
Up I’ll give it a seven.

00:07:14:14 – 00:07:15:28
Joseph
Okay. Um.

00:07:16:12 – 00:07:40:10
Madison
I definitely know that the ride itself went through various redos originally. It was supposed to be a very ambitious ride, and it was supposed and it’s very different from when it started than what it is now. I also know that it ended up turning like the ended up changing it and it became really boring to the point that nobody liked it and then they had to change it again to make it a little bit a little more fun.

00:07:40:12 – 00:07:57:27
Madison
While I personally don’t have necessarily nostalgia for it because I don’t know the original intentions for the ride, I do enjoy the ride. It’s definitely fun. The song is and the most annoying one and the part no.

00:07:57:27 – 00:07:59:12
Joseph
Doubt the most. But it’s close.

00:07:59:18 – 00:08:31:16
Madison
It’s like I do, kind of like the different verses of it. I do like that it does play with our senses, which is kind of cool. The ending, while it certainly would give you a headache, is it? It’s definitely very extensive and I kind of like that esthetic. And again the ending when you actually get to have the activities in the what if what if loves I’m pretty sure they call it which I’m pretty sure is where most of Pixar’s stories go.

00:08:31:16 – 00:08:49:07
Madison
So I really do like the ending of it. And I’m really only docking it down because it’s not really a it has a nice esthetic to it, but it’s not the most entertaining ride to me.

00:08:49:26 – 00:08:51:08
Joseph
Michelle, what are your thoughts?

00:08:51:09 – 00:09:13:02
Michelle
Well, I will give it a seven as well, because it went through the iterations where, you know, it was very much a figment ride at one point in time. Then they got rid of figment and that’s when nobody went on the ride at all. And then they realized, you know what, we have this character, we really should bring him back.

00:09:13:12 – 00:09:48:11
Michelle
And they they brought him back. So I think, you know, for that aspect of it, I enjoy the fact, too. And again, if you’re not somebody that went to Disney, you know, way back in the day, all of the upside down stuff is actually recycled from one of the original all other Epcot rides horizons where there was a scene where, you know, you’re there showing everything and, you know, people live upside down because zero gravity.

00:09:48:11 – 00:09:50:28
Joseph
I think, and this is why we have machines.

00:09:52:04 – 00:10:18:26
Michelle
But yeah, so when you know, so for people that saw that, it was like, oh my God, they’re, you know, so they so it’s nice to see Disney recycles things and changes it up and everything. And, you know, they brought the song back. And so it’s it kind of still still there. You know, it would be nice if Dream Finder was was part of it a little bit more because he was part of the original ride.

00:10:18:26 – 00:10:51:14
Michelle
But you kind of have a little homage to him, you know, at the end. The other thing, too, is, yes, you you have the little play area. The other thing, too, was that was also where, honey, I shrunk. The audience used to play also in that same pavilion because they had the movie theater there, too. That was where originally Michael Jackson’s Captain Nemo played, Captain EO played, and then the Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which was like an interactive 4D 3D movie type thing.

00:10:51:14 – 00:11:13:05
Michelle
They had, you know, and the seats actually kind of shook at some point. So unfortunately, when the movie left, that’s when they had changed segment. So like nobody was going to that pavilion at all. So at least when they, they changed it up, then more people started going again.

00:11:13:05 – 00:11:28:08
Joseph
So so that does it for a world celebration role. Now talk about world discovery where we have mission space, which none of us have ever gone on. So we’ll skip missions.

00:11:29:12 – 00:11:30:10
Madison
Unfortunately.

00:11:31:02 – 00:11:42:25
Joseph
And then they go on to what’s probably, I think, our family’s most favorite ride there, which I’ve never been on, and that’s test track. So, Matty, why don’t you tell us about Test Track and how you’d read it?

00:11:43:22 – 00:12:10:00
Madison
Test track is definitely an interesting ride. Basically, if you go with the regular Q, which most of the time is really long, you get to create your own car. And the whole point of the ride is that you test in various scenarios to see how it holds up against everybody you’re riding with. Because we do the single round most of the time we don’t actually have a car, but the single rocket goes way faster than the regulars, so.

00:12:10:12 – 00:12:11:04
Joseph
The line does.

00:12:11:05 – 00:12:12:01
Madison
Nothing. The line.

00:12:12:01 – 00:12:12:29
Michelle
Yeah, right.

00:12:14:15 – 00:12:34:25
Madison
And I’m going to give it a ten. Okay. It’s definitely again, you said it’s basically our favorite ride in the park and for good reason. It’s the closest thing to a roller coaster you’re going to go on there in a way, I don’t even know if it’s really classified as a roller coaster. I don’t think it is.

00:12:34:25 – 00:12:37:03
Michelle
But no, but it is the fastest ride.

00:12:37:12 – 00:12:37:24
Madison
In.

00:12:37:24 – 00:12:38:12
Joseph
Disneyworld.

00:12:38:18 – 00:12:39:04
Madison
In general.

00:12:39:11 – 00:12:45:19
Michelle
So so I go on the fastest ride in Disneyworld and probably the slowest one too.

00:12:45:25 – 00:13:03:21
Madison
Yeah. So I’ll give it a ten because it’s really a fun ride. It’s really not like anything else you like. And probably the best part is the final test when you’re outside and you go as fast as possible and it’s really one of the funnest homes ever.

00:13:04:24 – 00:13:07:28
Joseph
You’ll hit as fast as 59 miles an hour.

00:13:08:04 – 00:13:09:12
Michelle
I thought 64.

00:13:09:25 – 00:13:12:10
Joseph
That’s what it’s supposed to be. But the bus driver said it was 50.

00:13:12:10 – 00:13:15:01
Michelle
Nine oh.

00:13:15:01 – 00:13:23:13
Madison
But yeah, still really fast. And again, the fastest ride in Disney World. So, you know, ten because it’s really fun. And I like the concept.

00:13:23:15 – 00:13:25:07
Joseph
All right, Michelle, your thought?

00:13:25:24 – 00:13:50:11
Michelle
I will give this one a ten as well. So here’s my funny story that I kind of hinted at last week was it took me three years to actually get on to the ride. I am the type of person that I need to see the ride I need. Just see what it does to go on it so I won’t just go on a ride without seeing.

00:13:50:12 – 00:13:55:03
Michelle
Except I did. With Rise of the Resistance.

00:13:55:03 – 00:13:56:13
Joseph
I know you’ve regretted that, and.

00:13:56:13 – 00:14:22:06
Michelle
I regret not knowing. I didn’t read the spoilers, so back then there weren’t really spoilers for, you know, the ride them. There probably were, but I didn’t know and I wouldn’t go on it. So every time that I went to Disney, you know, had the opportunity to go on, it wouldn’t go on it. So one year we had an opportunity.

00:14:22:06 – 00:14:50:26
Michelle
I went with a friend of mine who happened to work for AT&T at the time, and AT&T at that time was sponsoring Spaceship Earth. And if you were an employee, you had to show your badge and you could get into their lounge area. So we were in the lounge for Spaceship Earth and we were talking about Test Track, and they were my friend, my, my friend and the other person that we were with said, Oh, well, she’s never been on it.

00:14:50:26 – 00:15:22:10
Michelle
She won’t go on a delta. And they gave us a pass to go to the GM lounge because GM at the time was sponsoring test track. So we go to test track and when you go to test tracks, lounge, you’re actually on top and you can actually look down and see the whole ride. So after many drinks of Coca Cola because they didn’t go all in their lounge, I decided, okay, I’m going to go on this ride.

00:15:23:00 – 00:15:29:03
Michelle
And the idea behind it at the time and even still now is that you are testing out a car.

00:15:29:03 – 00:15:30:27
Joseph
So you’re on your crash test.

00:15:30:27 – 00:15:37:01
Michelle
You’re kind of a crashed crash test dummy. So they do, you know, regular brakes and.

00:15:40:08 – 00:15:40:29
Joseph
Emergency.

00:15:40:29 – 00:16:08:03
Michelle
Brake. Emergency brake and yeah, so they do that. And then going through hot temperatures and cold temperatures and then these hairpin turns and then finally the speed test is the final thing. So I get on it and as we’re nearing the end, going around these hairpin turns, it stops. So now I’m freaking out because the ride breaks down while I’m on it.

00:16:08:03 – 00:16:25:06
Michelle
And it was maybe only 3 minutes that we were down, and then it started back up and everything was fine. So of course, you know, Oh my God, I’m never going on this again. And that’s the one ride that we will do multiple times, you know, at Disney together. So.

00:16:25:19 – 00:16:47:22
Joseph
Okay, well, I’m glad it worked out for you. So moving on, the world needs here. We have living with the land that they left the fighting in from when you was in that boat ride through the wilderness. Madison, why don’t you tell us about about living with the land.

00:16:47:26 – 00:17:00:07
Madison
Living with the land is basically supposed to be it’s like an actual area where plants are grown and Epcot, they are. And they turn it kind of into a ride. I know. From what.

00:17:00:14 – 00:17:01:13
Joseph
Point out it’s Disney.

00:17:01:13 – 00:17:08:16
Madison
Right? I know from what you’ve told me, they were actually used to be people. They’re like talking about the plants and you could actually ask questions, right?

00:17:08:17 – 00:17:16:20
Michelle
There actually used to be a tour guide on the actual boat that you went through and would tell you about the difference in Disney.

00:17:16:20 – 00:17:19:24
Joseph
Made a right out of watching grass grow. That’s incredible.

00:17:20:02 – 00:17:27:05
Michelle
Basically. And you could actually do a Behind the Seeds tour and do a walking tour of the area.

00:17:28:24 – 00:17:53:04
Madison
I will say it reminds me a lot of the Chocolate World Ride where they talked about like how they make chocolate. But in this case it’s an actual real area where they grow plants and like they actually tried to make it into a ride. I’ll probably give it a five. Like it’s a good educational ride, but it’s really boring and there’s not a lot.

00:17:53:05 – 00:17:53:23
Joseph
That’s a stunning.

00:17:53:23 – 00:17:54:10
Michelle
Endorsement.

00:17:54:10 – 00:17:57:02
Madison
I mean, come on. What do you have to say about it then?

00:17:57:03 – 00:18:21:01
Joseph
Well, I would give it a for it. It’s not even fully air conditioned, which, you know, that’s that’s pretty high among my my rating points on on rides. But it’s a boat ride. You go through the different habitats and you see the different ways that they grow things. What’s interesting about it is they harvest what they grow there and they sell it at the restaurants there.

00:18:21:19 – 00:18:47:05
Joseph
So a good portion of the food that you eat from a vegetable oil and you know, non dairy, non meat standpoint, a lot of it comes from what they grow there. So that’s kind of cool because it’s not just the areas that you see there. They’ve got large greenhouses and stuff like that. So that’s kind of cool where you can it’s almost like growing the Red Lobster and picking your lobster out of the tank type thing, you know, Hey, I want that cucumber over there, you know?

00:18:48:01 – 00:19:00:29
Joseph
But that’s neat. It’s neat seeing the different technologies. But you’re right, it’s educational. It’s not particularly exciting. There’s no drops, there’s nothing thrilling. Do it. It’s a nice, slow ride. Michelle, what do you think about it?

00:19:01:00 – 00:19:31:05
Michelle
Yeah, I would give it a five. It’s you know, it’s really that educational thing, you know, trying to show you the different environments and how to, you know, harvest things. So, you know, in in a desert environment, here’s how you can grow things. And, you know, here’s a simulation of something in space. They even do fish as well, you know, and showing you how how they do that.

00:19:31:05 – 00:19:51:23
Michelle
So not just fruits and vegetables, but even fish, you know. So it’s kind of interesting to to see that, again, most people, when they’re going to an amusement park or a theme park, they’re looking for something big and exciting. And this is part of that whole educational aspect that epcot’s really kind of known for well.

00:19:51:23 – 00:20:17:25
Joseph
And if you’re a prepper or survivalist, it’s a great lesson on how to actually, you know, build, you know, your vertical growing beds and your hydroponics and all that stuff so that even during the zombie apocalypse, you know how to survive. Thank you. Thank you, Disney, for equipping us during the zombie apocalypse that brings us to probably the second favorite ride that we have in that park.

00:20:17:25 – 00:20:24:10
Joseph
And that’s soaring around the we’re used to be soaring over California and soaring around the world. Now, Manny, why don’t you tell us about that?

00:20:24:22 – 00:20:50:09
Madison
So all around the world is basically your put in this hang hanging hang glider, basically, you want this hang glider and pretty much you’re going to take a tour around the world and you’re actually lifted up off the ground. And there’s a big cinema screen and like you’re it’s basically simulating you going around the world when you’re not actually going around the world.

00:20:50:27 – 00:20:57:05
Madison
So it’s basically a movie, but like Europe High and you’re experiencing it and you get like little turned and whatnot.

00:20:57:12 – 00:20:58:08
Joseph
So how do you read it?

00:20:59:03 – 00:21:24:03
Madison
I’ll give it a nine. It’s definitely a very unique ride and it’s it’s really fun. I do like the theming of it, like I like how they call us like aviators and like I do like the whole idea of, Oh, this is your flight. It’s a really it’s really fun concept. While the movie can certainly get well, the movie’s pretty much the same most of the time when you watch it.

00:21:24:11 – 00:21:35:28
Madison
I really do like the idea of being lifted off in the hang glider, and I think that’s a really cool part to it. Even though I’m like afraid of heights, I can actually handle that.

00:21:36:15 – 00:22:02:11
Joseph
Yeah. And I think I’d probably give that a nine to it’s depending on where you wind up because there’s three rows that you can wind up in. And as it comes up it the front row comes all the way up to the top and it’s a three story building that you’re in and there’s no floor. And if you’re on the end of the row, you’re literally dangling, dangling 30 feet in the air there.

00:22:03:21 – 00:22:24:15
Joseph
And the screen itself is sort of like an IMAX screen where it’s a dome that is projected. And so it’s a very immersive feel to it. And it’s motion control. So this thing is moving back and forth and swinging as you’re flying and stuff like that. And there are times that you don’t feel secure because it’s only a lap belt that you have on and there’s literally nothing to hold on to.

00:22:24:20 – 00:22:35:09
Madison
Yeah, I’m like the only two and like four kids. There’s like this one bar that’s like in between your legs that you can strap on, which makes you feel a little safer. And it’s like, maybe you do it for the adults as well.

00:22:35:10 – 00:22:51:06
Joseph
Right? Right. And you know, if you if you’re in the middle, you see people hanging above you and their leg, your legs are just dangling out there. So it’s it’s a real feeling the way that they do it and they blow air at you as you’re flying around.

00:22:51:06 – 00:22:51:28
Madison
There’s certain sense.

00:22:51:29 – 00:23:09:15
Joseph
There’s certain sense that they’ll do. So it gives you that that real feeling of it. So it’s it’s it’s pretty cool. The problem I have is it’s always such a long way to get on the thing. Yeah. And, like, the ride’s over before you blink. So it’s, it’s one of those ones where it’s hard to justify the way Michelle.

00:23:09:23 – 00:23:40:01
Michelle
I would give it a nine as well. It’s very reminiscent and I don’t know if other amusement parks in the world, you know, had anything like this, but growing up and going to great adventure, they used to have a movie and it was basically this Dome theater. But you stood and everybody kind of stood and they would do, you know, like these action shots where you were on the rapids and, you know, so it was like almost like the same kind of thing.

00:23:40:08 – 00:23:52:12
Michelle
But you stood there and you would find yourself swaying and moving, even though there was nothing in the theater that moved, it was just the sensation of it because it wasn’t.

00:23:52:12 – 00:23:53:09
Joseph
It’s just the optical.

00:23:53:09 – 00:24:21:09
Michelle
Illusion, right? Just the optical, you know. And I used to love going to that. So when Soaring opened, it was kind of that to the next level because again, it’s that domed feeling, but because you’re kind of, you know, now you’re on this hanger, you know, this this glider swaying, going back and forth. It helps to, you know, intensify it as well.

00:24:21:09 – 00:24:38:10
Michelle
And then, you know, if you look at the history of how they created the ride, it was really kind of an interesting thing, you know, back story where, you know, the the Imagineer got his little K’NEX set and just kind of, you know, made a little toy prototype of.

00:24:38:22 – 00:24:40:13
Joseph
Polly’s thinker toy out of it.

00:24:40:13 – 00:24:45:23
Michelle
And attic and that became, you know, what, what we have today. So.

00:24:46:08 – 00:24:47:04
Joseph
Yeah, that’s kind of cool.

00:24:47:04 – 00:24:48:10
Michelle
Yeah.

00:24:48:10 – 00:25:11:06
Joseph
So next up, we have a see with a mevo and friends. This one, I mean it’s yeah, I don’t know it’s not a thrill ride by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a story ride. What I like about this one and this one, I would give probably, probably a seven, because it’s not just the ride, it’s the entire experience.

00:25:11:29 – 00:25:37:02
Joseph
It centers around an aquarium and they use digital projection on the side of the aquarium to kind of tell a story as you’re going along and stuff. But you’re literally looking out into a massive tank of water with real fish in there and stuff. So it has a really cool effect. But once you come off of that ride, there’s an entire aquarium there to explore with divers and everything they’ve got.

00:25:37:02 – 00:25:53:11
Joseph
They’ve got one dove simulation where they have the divers actually come into a pressure chamber and they fill it up. You see them go swimming. It’s it’s really pretty neat the way that they do it. The whole experience is really very well done. So Michelle, what are your thoughts on it?

00:25:53:12 – 00:26:23:00
Michelle
I would give the whole pavilion, probably a seven, because the individual ride itself is probably kind of like a five, but just the whole immersive aspect of it of, you know, you’re going on the ride and projecting, you know, videos on to the individual wildlife, see life in there and then being able to actually go and get a deeper look at some of them.

00:26:23:22 – 00:26:26:23
Michelle
And then, of course, there’s turtle talk, you know.

00:26:27:17 – 00:26:28:07
Joseph
Dude.

00:26:28:17 – 00:26:41:28
Michelle
So that’s kind of a cute little side thing, you know, if you want to sit on the floor because there’s no seats for the but then all the other interactive things. So kind of like a day at the aquarium, you know.

00:26:42:05 – 00:26:42:24
Joseph
Condensing.

00:26:43:02 – 00:26:46:01
Michelle
Down to one little area and it’s all air conditioned.

00:26:46:01 – 00:26:48:18
Joseph
So that rides right so high with me.

00:26:48:18 – 00:26:49:12
Michelle
Right, right.

00:26:49:16 – 00:27:15:25
Madison
Madison I’d probably give it a six be in between both of you on the ride at least. It’s definitely it’s definitely an interesting ride considering that it is slightly unique. Well, it’s certainly just a store ride. It is cool that it’s a legitimate aquarium and that the activities afterwards do exist. And I really tried to cool the rotted self, those kind of man.

00:27:15:28 – 00:27:20:05
Madison
And I don’t always and we don’t always go on it, so that’s pretty much it.

00:27:20:06 – 00:27:38:24
Joseph
Okay. So that brings us to the World Showcase now. I think a lot of people probably don’t realize that when you go to the other side of the park where the countries are, some of these countries actually have attractions. And a lot of people might not realize that there’s attractions. Again, they’re not a huge thrill ride or anything.

00:27:39:14 – 00:27:57:02
Joseph
Some of them happen to be movies. You had a couple with 360 degree theaters and they’re telling stories and stuff. But the couple that really stand out one is one that we go on all the time in Mexico. And that’s the Grand Fiesta tour starring the three Cavalier Friends. Tell us about that one.

00:27:57:02 – 00:28:21:24
Madison
Matty It’s pretty much a boat ride and it goes and and basically the story of it is just that the three caballeros are going to perform a show for us. But Donald’s missing, and then you kind of see it. The stories play out through projection signs on like screens. And I do like how in certain areas, like some of the screens are different.

00:28:21:24 – 00:28:50:28
Madison
Like when Donald’s in the water, it’s an actual little puddle. At one point it pulls a little it’s a small world moment where you kind of have like little characters and they’re playing out a scene in Mexico for the ride itself. I’ll give it a seven. Okay. Well, it’s certainly not well, it’s. Well, the story is the same every time I do, kind of like how it’s presented.

00:28:50:28 – 00:29:16:22
Madison
I definitely like the little scene where it is kind of in it’s a small world one and they ended up changing the ending where it’s actual animatronics rather than a projection of the screen. And I really like how they did the animatronics there. Yeah. Also you at the start of it, you kind of get to see this one scene, that of Mexico where like people can like die in and so forth on the inside.

00:29:16:24 – 00:29:20:07
Madison
It’s really a nice view there. Yeah. So yeah.

00:29:21:01 – 00:29:42:09
Joseph
All right. I would give it a for myself again, not a thrill ride. It’s a little story ride, but I like the entire environment. So the restaurant that you’re referring to is actually inside of a pyramid. And the whole thing, when you walk inside it, you feel like you’re in a night scene at a little Mexican village somewhere.

00:29:42:27 – 00:30:00:11
Joseph
There’s shops around, there’s little stalls and stuff like that. And when you ride the first part of the ride, you’re out in the water and there’s a volcano on one side and the restaurants on the other side. So it’s kind of a really neat, a mix of effects that they do there. But it’s, you know, that’s a nostalgic one.

00:30:00:11 – 00:30:09:07
Joseph
We always like to go on that one. It’s a good family ride. It’s again, air conditioned, good chance to cool off and relax a little bit by the time we get over to the countries there.

00:30:10:20 – 00:30:45:10
Michelle
Michelle I would probably give it a seven on when Epcot first opened. A lot of the rides and attractions were very tourist driven, like tourism driven, like they were basically commercials or advertisements to hey, come visit our country. And the the original ride didn’t have the characters involved in it. So it was basically the same ride just without characters.

00:30:45:17 – 00:30:54:18
Michelle
And it was kind of the idea behind it was look at all these different things you can do in Mexico. We have swimming, we have fine dining, we have this.

00:30:54:25 – 00:30:55:23
Joseph
Volcanoes, we.

00:30:55:23 – 00:31:05:05
Michelle
Have volcano, you know, come and visit us. And that was kind of, you know, by the time you got off the ride, it was like, hey, I want to book a trip to Mexico now. And then over the years.

00:31:05:10 – 00:31:07:23
Joseph
You get off to riding, you’re in a travel agency, not a good.

00:31:07:23 – 00:31:37:21
Michelle
Friend of. And that was and that was I think, you know, how a lot of guests saw a lot of the different attractions, you know, at the world showcase area where they were really trying to get tourism and then they added the characters. So then it didn’t feel, you know, as much like that. So that was a nice little, you know, twist to get your kids to go on the ride because other than that, no, they’d probably be.

00:31:37:21 – 00:31:45:09
Michelle
And again, you get a very it’s a small world vibe, you know, from the one, you know, scene towards towards the end.

00:31:46:16 – 00:32:12:04
Joseph
That’s good. So the next one that we’re going to talk about is one that was actually a revamp of one of the tourism rides and that is frozen ever after. And I never went on the original ride. We always sort of skipped the Scandinavian Peninsula there, you know. But from what you had said, it was very similar. The mechanics were very similar to what the original ride was, right?

00:32:12:04 – 00:32:27:02
Michelle
The original ride was basically the same, you know, boat ride, you know, not to spoil it at one point, you know, your your boat stops and then, you know, you kind of go backwards and things like that. So all of that mechanics.

00:32:27:02 – 00:32:27:27
Joseph
Spoil for everyone.

00:32:28:00 – 00:33:02:19
Michelle
Sorry, spoilers were the same. What was funny was there used to be a movie that you saw at the end, so the idea of the ride was like a little more of the mythology of trolls and things like that, because that’s what ends up happening is a troll puts a spell on you and you know, takes you back and then, you know, when you’re back to normal, then you see like the oil rigs and you’re like, this is weird.

00:33:02:25 – 00:33:24:22
Michelle
And then when you would get off the ride, there’d be a movie that was about modern day Norway. And like, everybody would just exit. Like, nobody would stop, you know, you would just keep walking and go to the end. So obviously for the frozen, frozen ride, they took out the movie and, you know, extended the gift shop, basically.

00:33:24:28 – 00:33:29:16
Michelle
And so now it’s all themed, you know, with with Anna and Elsa.

00:33:29:18 – 00:33:30:22
Joseph
So how would you rate it?

00:33:31:06 – 00:33:34:19
Michelle
I would give it I’d give it an eight.

00:33:35:01 – 00:33:35:26
Joseph
Okay.

00:33:35:26 – 00:34:06:23
Michelle
You know, unfortunately, it’s a it’s a long it’s usually always a long wait unless you have a lightning lane or you get there very early or, you know, very late. I’m kind of surprised they don’t have more interactive stuff in the queue. You know, there’s stuff to kind of look at, but nothing really interactive, you know, and that’s kind of surprising since they recently, you know, put that in and that seems to be a thing that they do with so many of their newer attractions.

00:34:07:07 – 00:34:08:13
Joseph
Madison How would you rate it?

00:34:09:04 – 00:34:30:28
Madison
I’d given an 8.5. Well, like you said in the queue, they don’t really have a lot of interactive stuff. They definitely still tried to get the esthetic of it, and I can appreciate that. I also like the version of their animatronics. While they certainly look a little weird at it’s definitely an interesting way to do animatronics where they just light up their face, but you can still move them.

00:34:32:20 – 00:34:57:27
Madison
I do like the ride mechanics, even though that was probably in the original ride, but we never rode the original ride, so can’t really do much for that. But I definitely like that. It Definitely felt like a different ride when we first were on it and it wasn’t like your typical dark ride, which was kind of it’s kind of a mix of a dark ride and a boat ride, but it’s still one of those story progression ones.

00:34:59:03 – 00:35:02:01
Madison
So we had give it an 8.5 because I generally kind of like.

00:35:02:14 – 00:35:17:24
Joseph
Okay, I’m not big fan of it myself. I like kind of the the decor that they use. And I will say it was a much more interesting boat ride than the what was the avatar.

00:35:17:24 – 00:35:18:22
Michelle
When the avatar was.

00:35:19:14 – 00:35:34:09
Joseph
In Animal Kingdom. So it was certainly better than that. I think give it a five just for the for the, you know, overall storytelling of it. I think I’ve only gone at once at this point. I’ve not had a compelling reason to go back to it.

00:35:34:16 – 00:35:34:27
Madison
Yeah.

00:35:35:22 – 00:35:52:05
Joseph
So the last one that we have and then we’ll take a break that is of the brand new one that you guys went on, which I didn’t get to go on. I could have, but it was too hot and I left after that was Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure Money. Why don’t you tell us about that one?

00:35:52:15 – 00:36:17:11
Madison
So that’s definitely an interesting ride a lot. It’s one it’s a 3D ride, but it’s also a ride that kind of has loose mechanics. And like every time you go on it, you can kind of go in different areas or you move differently than everybody else. Basically, most a lot of it is really just your seeing movie screens and in the small ride you’re kind of like moving with the movie screens.

00:36:17:11 – 00:36:37:19
Madison
It’s kind of like soaring, but you’re not like in a hang glider and you’re just in this one little car and you kind of just move in and so forth. A lot of it’s really just in the screen, but there are like different scenes that are there. And again, it’s a 4D ride, so you ended up seeing like 3D stuff.

00:36:37:19 – 00:37:04:00
Madison
You’re squirted with water at certain points and again, you’re kind of moving. I definitely like the esthetic of the queue. While there’s again not many activities to do in the queue, it’s definitely interesting to see the queue. At some point there is like a scene where there’s like gusto and the sign and like he ends up moving in the queue, which I found kind of cool for my overall rating on the ride.

00:37:05:10 – 00:37:07:15
Madison
6.5 Wow.

00:37:08:09 – 00:37:09:25
Joseph
Boy hating on the rat.

00:37:09:25 – 00:37:21:23
Madison
Oh, I don’t know. Like especially justify trying to justify the wait time. While it is a new ride, the wait time is not justified. It’s, I don’t know.

00:37:22:08 – 00:37:29:16
Joseph
Like that’s unjustified. I think. I think that’s a fair rating from what you’ve described. I don’t I wouldn’t question it.

00:37:29:26 – 00:37:46:19
Madison
Yeah, it’s an interesting store. It’s not really a store ride because you’re it’s like a completely new story kind of, but it kind of brings back all the characters from it. But I don’t know, I guess like I would have preferred a bit more of the animatronic side rather than the 4D side, but.

00:37:47:09 – 00:37:48:22
Joseph
All right, Michelle, your thoughts?

00:37:48:26 – 00:38:19:24
Michelle
I don’t know. I would I would probably rate it an eight little little bit higher, obviously, because it’s it’s some new ride technology. It’s the trackless system, you know. So you’re in this little mouse and, you know, a couple of you kind of follow each other. And then all of a sudden, you know, two of you go this way, two of you go this way, you know, and at some point, you kind of go into like your own little theater where they do the whole, you know, movie aspect.

00:38:19:24 – 00:38:47:26
Michelle
And of course, I’m thinking, oh, my God, we’re going to drop off because we have a, you know, we have a, you know, there’s a lap bar crap because that, you know, that always means you’re going to drop on something, but you just kind of have the sensation that you’re going to, but you don’t. And then you know, you kind of move along and then, you know, there are, you know, actual aspects where, you know, you’re the size of a mouse.

00:38:47:26 – 00:39:07:25
Michelle
So, you know, everything’s larger than life, you know, above you when you go to the next room and, you know, stuff happens and, you know, another movie happens and then you go to something else and there’s another scene and something else and another movie and and, you know, a lot of back and forth, back and forth. So I thought it was it was definitely cute.

00:39:07:25 – 00:39:22:06
Michelle
An interesting take on, you know, the whole new ride technology. I wouldn’t wait an hour for it. So thankfully we had a lightning lane and didn’t have to, you know, wait as long. So.

00:39:22:11 – 00:40:06:21
Joseph
All right. Well, I think that’s a good summary of what we have available at ABC.com. And take a quick break and we’re going to come back and we’re going to take a look at Hollywood studios. When we come back, party. For over seven years, the second Sith Empire has been the Premier Community Guild in the online game, Star Wars, the old Republic, with hundreds of friendly and helpful active members, a weekly schedule of nightly events, annual guild, meet and greets and an active community both on the Web and on Discord.

00:40:07:23 – 00:40:37:19
Joseph
The second season of Empire is more than your typical gaming group. We’re Family. Join us on the Star Forge server for nightly events such as operations, Flashpoints, World Boss Funds, Star Wars, Trivia Guild, Lottery and much more. Visit us on the Web today w w w stop the second super and empire dot com.

00:40:42:16 – 00:41:28:11
Joseph
Welcome back to insights in the teens. We are reading rides in Hollywood studios now so going up Hollywood Boulevard we did see the distinct absence of many of the Hollywood players. They’re called a lot of the beyond the street mafia. Yeah, a lot of the ambiance was missing during our trip, which was kind of disappointing, but we did get to go on the new ride, which replaced the great movie Ride on Hollywood Boulevard, and that is Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway.

00:41:29:13 – 00:41:30:25
Joseph
That’s a mountain mouthful there.

00:41:31:07 – 00:41:31:18
Madison
Yeah.

00:41:32:17 – 00:41:35:27
Joseph
Michelle warning you start off with your your review.

00:41:36:01 – 00:41:45:07
Michelle
I would give this one. Oh, my gosh. Nine or a ten. Yeah. 9.5. Yeah.

00:41:46:22 – 00:41:52:24
Joseph
Okay, okay. That’s it.

00:41:52:24 – 00:41:58:27
Michelle
Well, it’s Mickey’s first ride. This is the first ride that Mickey ever was on.

00:41:59:21 – 00:42:00:03
Joseph
Yep.

00:42:00:27 – 00:42:26:11
Michelle
After 90 something years, he finally got around it. I yes, I missed the great movie ride the great movie ride help to, you know, set the stage for your day, you know, in the park and, you know, give you some history on on some old movies. And and so it’s kind of sad that they got rid of it to create this ride.

00:42:26:24 – 00:42:53:25
Michelle
But I like how they were able to take the whole trackless ride technology and kind of enhance it a little bit. And the the interactive ness of the screen and, you know, you’re watching a movie and all of a sudden you have to go through it. And, you know, you know, the the trains kind of break apart, but come back together and, you know, a couple of different scenes.

00:42:53:25 – 00:43:05:18
Michelle
And again, there are scenes that we didn’t see that they have. So it’s not always the same ride, ride, you know, when you go on it. So I thought it was cute. I liked it.

00:43:05:21 – 00:43:08:23
Joseph
All right, Matty Um.

00:43:08:23 – 00:43:35:09
Madison
I think I’ll give it an eight. Well, it definitely reminded me a lot of Ramis ride. I found myself enjoying it a lot more. Probably one time. One of the best tone setters I’ve seen. Basically, you’re put into this area, you’re just in the Chinese theater for a bit and then you watching a screen and then it crashes and a legitimate hole appears that I was not expecting to see.

00:43:35:24 – 00:44:04:26
Madison
And as soon as you go through that hole, you immediately see that you’re in this cartoony world because it’s in the new art style that I know you don’t like, but like you’re immediately basically transported into an area that looks way more cartoony than anything else in the rides. Q Which I really found enjoyable, and because we ended up being in the caboose, I really liked how they actually had like a specific sound for the caboose because it’s like you guys are all the way in the back.

00:44:04:26 – 00:44:27:04
Madison
I know that the train itself is supposed to open and see like goofy and then and for the back seat and you can’t really see it. It’s like he like is still speaking with you. And I really liked that again. I really liked that it was certainly different and there were definitely going to be different scenes that you could have done depending on where you were on the ride.

00:44:27:27 – 00:44:46:10
Madison
I actually also do like that. Not only is it like one of those similar cinema screens, like with Remy, but it’s another one of the trackless systems. But there are legitimate kind of animatronics and they’re done, interestingly enough, to where it’s like it kind of still matches with the original art style, which I kind of like.

00:44:46:10 – 00:45:13:15
Joseph
Okay. And what was your rating on it? I mean, I’m not even going to rate this because we have a point scale of 1 to 10. I did. I didn’t like the ride. It was jerky unnecessarily. They did away with the great movie ride, which how you do it with a ride that’s called Great. I don’t know. In a park.

00:45:13:15 – 00:45:31:06
Joseph
That’s a Hollywood park. And you do away with literally the only ride that has anything to do with Hollywood. You’ve done away with it. You’ve done it in a style that I absolutely can’t stand because it’s literally like Disney reinventing the worst type of art style you could possibly do.

00:45:33:00 – 00:45:33:28
Michelle
So you really feel.

00:45:34:15 – 00:45:58:10
Joseph
Like, you know, this thing is known for for quality animation. And the new animation style they have is terrible. It’s like, you know, flipbook freaks, three frames per second, terrible animation that they do and they do the whole ride in that theme and it just completely turned me off. So I’m not even going to rate this because it wouldn’t even make my scale on a 1 to 10 scale, to be honest with you.

00:46:00:04 – 00:46:24:20
Joseph
Anyway, deep breaths. Moving on to Echo Lake, which I didn’t even know was an area there. We talk about Star tours. No star tours. I didn’t go on this time because my back was killing me. Star tours I will rate and I will give Star Tours an eight. I’m always like star tours from when we first started going.

00:46:25:13 – 00:46:49:05
Joseph
Unfortunately, because of My Bad Back The Ride, it’s a motion simulator ride. It’s themed great walking through the entire Q and everything. I mean you can’t beat the giant AT-AT out front there that shoots water in in the heat, but the ride’s just a little too jerky for me right now. Last time I went on their own wound up wrenching my back, and it was not happy.

00:46:49:28 – 00:47:13:00
Joseph
But I loved the ride, especially when I get on the ride and it’s the Vader scene because the way they put the ride together, there’s three sections or three scenes, and those scenes are randomly generated now. Well, not randomly. They’re randomly selected of the same scenes over and over, but each of those scenes has a different selection of scenes you can get.

00:47:14:06 – 00:47:30:08
Joseph
And it’s nice. The one time you were the the rebel spy on the on the ride, which was always kind of fun when that happens and it opens into one of the best gift shops in Disney World. So I really like the ride. Michelle, your thoughts?

00:47:30:09 – 00:48:09:01
Michelle
I would probably give it an eight as well. You know, I’d like how over the years they’ve enhanced it and did new scenes for, you know, to kind of change it up. And I like how it’s it’s very random so that you don’t always get the same scene. It is a little jerky, but it’s the good thing about it is it’s not as motion sensitive as body wars was, which was the same ride technology that they had at Epcot years ago.

00:48:09:08 – 00:48:32:02
Michelle
And the idea was that, you were going through the human body and that I would actually get sick on. I’d actually have to close my eyes because the the movement didn’t always seem to match the the movie. And also the movie was a, you know, obviously different. And people always said, oh, I don’t get sick on star Wars, but I get sick on on body wars.

00:48:32:22 – 00:48:46:07
Michelle
So that’s always nice. I wish they would have kind of incorporated it a little bit more with Galaxy’s Edge because it is kind of a separate entity from it. So it does seem kind of out of place and weird.

00:48:46:07 – 00:48:56:06
Joseph
And it’s almost if they could have redesigned the area itself like they did with Romania, where your entrance now comes in from Toy Story.

00:48:56:07 – 00:48:57:04
Michelle
Right, right.

00:48:57:05 – 00:49:00:18
Joseph
So they should have done that with Star Wars.

00:49:00:18 – 00:49:01:16
Michelle
Right. And I don’t know if.

00:49:01:16 – 00:49:06:16
Joseph
It was only on the bill was, you know, get up and get the at the walk to the other side. That’s what you had to do.

00:49:06:25 – 00:49:10:01
Michelle
So so yeah, overall a good ride. All right.

00:49:10:04 – 00:49:10:23
Joseph
Madison.

00:49:11:03 – 00:49:14:02
Madison
But give an eight as well to round out the trio.

00:49:15:00 – 00:49:15:25
Joseph
Crazy Eights.

00:49:16:13 – 00:49:41:04
Madison
And before star and of course before star Wars land that was the real though like big themed Star Wars ride and the theming is probably one of the best I’ve seen in the ad at Outside’s really cool. It’s when you get to the inside and like it’s there it’s the very Star Wars ask area where you’re actually getting checked and everything.

00:49:41:04 – 00:49:55:17
Madison
I do like the story that like there’s a little movie that plays while you’re waiting and like, I do like the story to it, but again, it’s really cool that like it’s always different. There’s always a different combination and you never know what you’re going to get.

00:49:56:06 – 00:49:57:09
Joseph
And the box of chocolates.

00:49:57:26 – 00:50:24:17
Madison
Yeah, the whole thing with the whole rebel. Spy is pretty fun and I do enjoy that. I like that they have C-3PO that is not just in 3D that is actually in there with us. I do like that detail and it also matches very well the motion match is very well with the screen and obviously when you exit you get to the gift shop, which is really cool.

00:50:24:17 – 00:50:26:03
Madison
So I give it an eight.

00:50:26:08 – 00:50:26:25
Joseph
Okay.

00:50:27:05 – 00:50:50:23
Michelle
And the other thing too is that the idea behind it and maybe this is why they don’t have it in Galaxy’s Edge is because it’s also, you know, the idea behind it was it’s in Hollywood studios and it’s like the behind the scenes. So at one point when you’re walking, you see the ad it. But when you get to a certain point in the queue, you look and you see it’s really a facade.

00:50:50:28 – 00:50:52:03
Joseph
Backside.

00:50:52:10 – 00:51:10:13
Michelle
Of an animal, right? Because you have the the back lot, you know, commissary right there, too. So it’s kind of the idea is to give you the feel that you’re on a movie set, whereas when you go to Galaxy’s Edge, you are on a planet in the Star Wars galaxy.

00:51:10:13 – 00:51:31:01
Joseph
So we’re all sticking with the Star Wars theme. We move on to Galaxy’s Edge, my favorite place to be in all of Disney World at this point in time, despite the fact that Darth Vader is not there, this is like just this whole area. I could just go there and just just hang out and not even ride anything all day long.

00:51:31:26 – 00:51:43:24
Joseph
But the first ride we’re going to talk about is the one that we went on for the first time this last time down, and that is Millennium Fountain Smuggler’s Run. What are your thoughts?

00:51:43:24 – 00:52:10:18
Madison
Maddie It’s definitely a very unique ride and the fact that you actually are controlling it and it’s a lot more controlling than how when we talked about last week about Tomorrowland Speedway, where you controlling the car this time you’re actually given a job and you have to push buttons or move triggers in order to steal whatever it is you’re supposed to steal for the resistance.

00:52:10:18 – 00:52:21:06
Madison
In order to get money, you’re given either the job of an engineer of a slot, a flier, or a pilot. A pilot or.

00:52:21:07 – 00:52:21:24
Joseph
Fliers or a.

00:52:21:24 – 00:52:26:16
Madison
Hockey team or an attacker. Or at least that’s gunner. A gunner.

00:52:27:13 – 00:52:28:26
Joseph
Clearly, you didn’t listen to the briefing.

00:52:28:26 – 00:52:29:21
Madison
I’m sorry.

00:52:29:23 – 00:52:31:29
Michelle
She was an engineer every time.

00:52:34:02 – 00:52:49:06
Madison
And basically you get different jobs each time. The engineers have to push buttons in order to fix any like damages that the that the ship gets inflicted with when you know the pilots end up crashing in a stall.

00:52:49:07 – 00:52:52:21
Joseph
You’re either a button masher or a stick mover. That’s really what you’re are.

00:52:53:17 – 00:52:59:07
Madison
But like, it definitely tries to include everyone. The engineers also like shoot out the.

00:52:59:28 – 00:53:00:23
Joseph
The grappling.

00:53:00:23 – 00:53:31:11
Madison
Grappling hooks in order to grab the stuff you need. The gunners are obviously the ones that shoot it stuff and you just hit the buttons there. And you’re also supporters shoot out missiles as well. And then obviously the pilots are the ones that control it, but one goes up and down, the other goes left and right. So it’s a little confusing there, but the six people on each one, but I know that they have more people at once because ended up seeing one of the behind the scenes, one where they end up turning all of them and they have a bunch of capsules.

00:53:32:06 – 00:53:48:20
Madison
The esthetic of the ride is really cool and unique. I really like that you actually get to be on the Millennium Falcon and seeing it like that in, you know, real life is really cool. So I should probably wait it out. I’ll give it a nine out of ten.

00:53:48:27 – 00:53:50:03
Joseph
All right, Michelle.

00:53:50:05 – 00:54:15:16
Michelle
I would also give it a nine out of ten. Again, the the esthetics of everything, the theming behind it is just really cool, you know, just the the aspect when you get to Galaxy’s Edge and you walk and you see the Millennium Falcon there, you know? So anybody that’s ever been a fan of Star Wars or watch Star Wars grew up with it, you know, to see it, you’re like, Oh my God, it really does exist.

00:54:15:16 – 00:54:31:09
Michelle
You know, that that was really kind of and to to get on the ride and, you know, you’re walking and the theming behind it. And then all of a sudden you’re like, Oh my God, there’s the chess set. That’s all I want to stop and play, you know? And it’s like, No, you got to keep moving. You’re like, Oh, you know?

00:54:32:11 – 00:54:55:03
Michelle
So of course, both times we, we got the same job, which was a little disappointing. But, you know, like when you’re the engineer, all you’re doing is pushing buttons. But for the most part, you can still watch, you know, what you’re doing. You’re in the cockpit of, you know, the falcon. So they can’t really fit more than six people, which is nice that they’re not, you know.

00:54:55:10 – 00:55:15:14
Michelle
So as long as you’re kind of keeping an eye that your buttons are lighting up, you can watch, you know, most of it. So I don’t know how the rest of it goes. Obviously, if you get somebody that can’t fly, your ride might be over a little bit, you know, a shorter time period than somebody else that that does a little better.

00:55:15:14 – 00:55:23:05
Michelle
So I like that, that it is kind of interactive, you know, with that and it just looks really cool.

00:55:23:05 – 00:55:41:10
Joseph
I like the engineering of the ride because the way that they do it is, you know, when you walk up to the right, you see the facade that is the full size Millennium Falcon, and you never step on that. You go into the ride behind it. In the ride behind it operates very much like the barrel of a six shooter.

00:55:41:27 – 00:56:12:00
Joseph
You know, you have cockpits and they rotate the cockpits in from loading to unloading as you’re doing the job. Yeah. So it’s really neat the way they do that. It’s also really cool that you’re literally inside of a giant video game because it’s run off of Unreal Engine, which powers all the modern video games of today. Steam Engine that your shooters work off of your Star Wars squadron works off of all the video games that you play on your console or computer power.

00:56:12:00 – 00:56:36:22
Joseph
This technology which is which really cool. If you get a bad pilot and you’re the engineer, you wind up spending a lot more time button mashing than you do looking at the screen. Unfortunately. But obviously, you know, no matter what, six people in there, you know, it’ll fit six people in the seats or probably two rookies. It’s just cool.

00:56:36:22 – 00:56:59:23
Joseph
The ambiance, you know, you literally they maintain the aspect of that total immersion. You know, when you walk through the Q, you’re walking on the Millennium Falcon and you feel it. And when you step into that cockpit and you sit down and fasten your seat belt, you’re on the Millennium Falcon. It’s just awesome. You know, like I compare it to Star Tours.

00:56:59:24 – 00:57:21:09
Joseph
So when you get on Star Tours, the screen is up in Star Trek. So you don’t really see anything until the ride starts. But when you walk into this, the screen is on. You see a hangar bay that you’re in and people are walking in and all that stuff. So I don’t know. It’s just it was one of those rides that’s very immersive.

00:57:21:09 – 00:57:43:04
Joseph
I’d give it an eight. I wouldn’t I don’t want to give it a nine because the seat for really uncomfortable and you do get bounced around a lot but I had to find something to complain about speaking of complaints, it’s talk about Star Wars rise of the resistance. Yet, Michelle, why don’t you tell us about your unique experience with this ride?

00:57:43:04 – 00:58:24:02
Michelle
Well, again, this was one that I didn’t do any research on beforehand. And I was like, Oh, it’ll be fine. I saw enough videos of it. And it’s, it’s there’s there’s nothing that’s going to drop. It’s fine. It’s, it’s all good, right? Yeah, not so much, but I would still give it a ten even. You know, it scared the living bejesus me I think the whole you know obviously we unfortunately we didn’t get to do it this last time that we were here down there.

00:58:24:02 – 00:58:59:08
Michelle
So we did it the time before when they still had the virtual Q Which worked out, you know, fantastic with that. And it was just very immersive because kind of the same idea with the cast members on the Haunted Mansion being kind of, you know, very stoic and you know, here they’re the same way because they are part of the empire and, you know, they’re they’re mean and they’ll pick on you and, you know, get in line and do this and do that.

00:58:59:08 – 00:59:22:02
Michelle
And, you know, and the pre-show was very immersive. And, you know, just the whole it kind of reminded me in some respect when we had done the Star Trek experience, where you know, you’re in one thing and all of a sudden you’re not in something else. And it was kind of that same thing, you know, it was like you’re on the ship and then all of a sudden you come out of the ship and there’s all these stormtroopers.

00:59:22:02 – 00:59:42:06
Michelle
And where did they all come from and how many of them are real because they seem really real? And it’s like, move along and then you’re going to this and you’re like, What? Now? And you’re not even on the ride yet, and you’ve been immersed in all of this stuff, you know, beforehand. And then the ride comes and you’re like, Oh my God, where are we going?

00:59:42:06 – 01:00:01:25
Michelle
And you know, and then you go, and the big giant AT-AT, you’re like, That’s a real AT-AT. Oh my God. You know? And then the guns and Kylo Ren and everything going on and then the end and oh my God. And, you know, and then it ends and you’re like, okay, that was cool.

01:00:01:25 – 01:00:02:11
Joseph
Okay.

01:00:03:09 – 01:00:03:22
Michelle
Thank you.

01:00:04:06 – 01:00:04:24
Joseph
Madison.

01:00:05:04 – 01:00:34:05
Madison
I would also give it a ten. It’s probably one of the coolest rides I’ve ever been on it. Basically, you get the preshow, which you know, or to get you immersed and then you’re on this one little ship and like you’re like it’s again one of the 3D ones where you’re kind of trying to escape the empire, but you don’t actually escape the empire when you think like you’re almost there, you get captured and you assume that was the ride.

01:00:34:05 – 01:01:04:27
Madison
But then you realize that you’re in a completely different area than when you first entered. You see all these stormtroopers, you’re like, How many of those are real? And then you just get all the cast members moving you along. And they are. I mean, they’re legitimately acting and it’s like, you know, that’d be a really cool job to actually have if like you were a cast member and then you put in the different sections and then at some point a door opens and then like you’re given another show, you get like Kylo Ren and then like you’re getting busted out by.

01:01:05:11 – 01:01:07:17
Joseph
Another circle and gets out and there’s a song and dance for.

01:01:08:07 – 01:01:08:13
Michelle
You.

01:01:08:24 – 01:01:25:24
Madison
And then like, you’re being busted out by like this one line resistance gum. There’s like a droid in the front, and there’s like this little card and like, the droids mean override. And then, then you get into the actual ride and your, you sit tight.

01:01:25:27 – 01:01:27:20
Michelle
By the time you get to the ride. Yeah.

01:01:27:20 – 01:01:47:15
Madison
You see like really cool animatronic effects the way they did the guns was amazing. You see the giant and then you think you’re going to go down on an elevator, but then you go up and then you just like and then it continues to go on. And then obviously when you’re getting ready to escape the drop and the oh my God.

01:01:48:11 – 01:01:50:11
Madison
And then and then have other.

01:01:50:13 – 01:01:51:09
Michelle
Words added to.

01:01:51:09 – 01:01:52:06
Madison
Yeah, yes.

01:01:52:14 – 01:01:54:02
Joseph
The Gods of the Family show. Right.

01:01:54:14 – 01:02:00:02
Madison
And then you’re exiting. And then I’m like, wow, that happened.

01:02:00:02 – 01:02:24:02
Joseph
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would be tempted to give this a ten, but I can’t give anything at ten, so I’ll give it a 9.9. The technology that they demonstrate here is incredible. The first scene that you walk in through, yeah, you get beat and all that stuff, but you step onto a ship that is outside and you ride this ship.

01:02:24:02 – 01:02:56:18
Joseph
There’s a movie in the front, in the cockpit, there’s a movie behind you, you can follow it. What happens? The ship gets captured onto a star destroyer. The door that you just walked into that was outside opens there was no sensation of changing floors that you were in an elevator or anything. It opens in the hangar bay of a star destroyer, where all the stormtroopers are lined up and a massive hangar bay dour, which ships flying by does not look like a screen.

01:02:56:24 – 01:03:21:04
Joseph
It looks like you’re in space and the rest of the thing continued on foot until at some point in time you do transition into an off the rails type of car ride that you do, and then the battle breaks out and you have blaster fire and you can see the Blaster fire. You can see explosions as it hits the wall.

01:03:22:00 – 01:03:54:11
Joseph
Then you go up the elevator and the ads are shooting at you and you see the blast go over your head and hit the wall. The technology to do that, to provide that illusion that that level of realism, the audio animatronic of Kylo Ren is incredible. You wind up in a lift at one point in time with him chasing you and his lights, saber blasts through the ceiling of the chamber and starts to cut it open.

01:03:55:16 – 01:04:17:10
Joseph
It was just the most incredible I had ever seen. It was like you were in the middle of a video game, but everything was real. And to this day, I don’t know how he pulled off some of those effects. I would love to see it behind the scenes to see how that technology actually works, because that was just insane.

01:04:17:10 – 01:04:36:08
Joseph
So I would give this a 9.9 on a scale of 1 to 10, we’re coming up on the clock here. We’re not going to get to our second segment. So I think we’re going to turn that into another another podcast because we have a lot to talk about. But I do want to finish up with Story a Toy Story man.

01:04:36:08 – 01:04:45:07
Joseph
I think there’s some very good rides there and none of which I’ve been on, so I can’t talk. So should go a lot faster now. Maggie, tell us about Toy Story mania, which I have been on.

01:04:46:06 – 01:05:10:17
Madison
Yeah, you just lied. Anyway, now, Toy Story mania is definitely an interesting ride. It’s another 3D ride. But the whole concept is that, like, Andy has this shooter a carnival game thing in his in like his toy box. And the whole idea is that you’re a toy and you’re going through them. And it’s basically one of the things where you shoot at various targets to gain points.

01:05:10:17 – 01:05:29:04
Madison
And with a second person with you like you guys actually get to keep score of like how many points you end up getting. And there’s various different scenes. You actually move around and it’s really fun. The theming is really cool and basically you keep score of it.

01:05:29:05 – 01:05:29:25
Joseph
How would you rate it?

01:05:30:22 – 01:05:35:18
Madison
I’d give it an eight out of five and eight out of ten.

01:05:35:18 – 01:05:36:18
Joseph
And eight out of five.

01:05:36:20 – 01:05:43:28
Madison
No, sorry. I was thinking I was thinking eight defies because watch they move on and.

01:05:43:28 – 01:05:45:05
Joseph
All right, Michelle, what are your thoughts?

01:05:45:05 – 01:06:10:05
Michelle
I would give it an eight as well. It’s an interesting interactive. It’s very reminiscent of the Buzz Lightyear, but much more fast moving. You don’t have any control over where you’re shooting. It moves you into where you are. But the theming of the ride, you know, makes you feel like you’re a toy because everything is larger than life.

01:06:10:05 – 01:06:12:09
Michelle
So that’s that’s a very cool aspect of it.

01:06:12:13 – 01:06:30:16
Joseph
And I’m giving an eight myself. You know, the only thing is if you’re if you’re susceptible to motion sickness, it’s rough because you’re spinning around, you’re going backwards, you’re going sideways. So it takes a little bit of a little bit of poise to get through that. And you need to learn to pull that string really fast, to shoot as fast as you can.

01:06:32:03 – 01:06:35:11
Joseph
And don’t go for the cheap points, go for the high point.

01:06:35:13 – 01:06:35:23
Michelle
Yeah.

01:06:36:14 – 01:06:44:12
Joseph
So the next two, I’ve not been on the first being slinky dog dash which only you have been on. Tell us about only you can prevent fast.

01:06:46:05 – 01:07:14:03
Madison
So the whole point is that Slinky has been turned into a roller coaster in the outside of Andy’s area, and you basically just ride Slinky. And it certainly is a very fun ride. There is theming and most of it is outside, but like you get various sound effects on the you see various characters, there’s certain drops, scenarios, areas, and then there’s one point where you kind of stop and then you go backwards and there’s rings and then you just shoot off again.

01:07:14:24 – 01:07:23:27
Madison
It’s definitely one of the more exhilarating roller coasters I’ve been on and I’ve been on it multiple times, and it’s certainly very fun. So I’ll give it a nine out of ten, right?

01:07:24:16 – 01:07:38:20
Joseph
And then the last one that we had was the alien swirling saucers, which both of you have been on, but I have not. Now, this is a different like no pun intended, but different twist to the teacups. Tell us about it.

01:07:38:24 – 01:08:01:19
Michelle
Right. So it’s I don’t know, three or four aliens on an arm and then there’s like four aliens on it. So you kind of spin kind of reminds me of like the whisper rides where you kind of go around and then it kind of flings you out and you’re flying around. So, yeah. So there’s a lot of movement.

01:08:01:19 – 01:08:21:00
Michelle
So it’s kind of, you know, the teacup, you know, variation, except you’re not, you know, spinning and you don’t have any control of how fast or how slow you go. So if you’re motion sensitive or you have a bad back, it’s not something you’d want to go on. And unfortunately, it’s one of those it’s over before it kind of starts, right?

01:08:21:00 – 01:08:34:22
Michelle
So you’re only on it for like a minute and a half. So we usually only go on it when there’s little to no wait or we got a lightning lane and could basically walk on it. So I’d probably give it a six.

01:08:34:28 – 01:08:36:00
Joseph
Okay, Madison.

01:08:36:09 – 01:09:03:17
Madison
I’m actually going to give it a seven mainly because like there are definitely certain parts we end up twisting and it’s like really fun is pretty much like the swirling, like the teacups, but like you end up in certain areas getting changed because like there’s like two circles and like you go from one circle to the next and they do actually have two areas so they can manage the workflow a bit more, kind of like the Dumbo one.

01:09:03:18 – 01:09:09:11
Madison
Okay. So I appreciate that there’s not a lot of theming to it, but I still like the ride itself.

01:09:09:11 – 01:09:24:09
Joseph
All right. Well, the last section we have is Sunset Boulevard, which has another ride none of us have been on. So I’m not sure how it made this list. And then the last ride is rock and roller coaster, which only you have been on. Why don’t you tell us about that one?

01:09:24:16 – 01:09:42:14
Madison
So I only have been on it once, but basically it’s the only ride in Disney that has loop de loops and makes you go upside down. There’s a little preshow where you’re kind of talking to Aerosmith and they’re giving you like a ticket to go to the concert. And the whole story is just like, you’re supposed to get there as fast as you can.

01:09:42:14 – 01:09:48:08
Madison
Which clumsy story but. Oh well, it the cue for.

01:09:48:08 – 01:09:49:02
Joseph
Everybody it created.

01:09:49:11 – 01:10:08:08
Madison
The cue for the most part before you get through the pre show isn’t all that mad but when you get into the pre-show, you actually see the ride. The lighting’s really cool and like those different shadows and pretty much the ride, you’re basically like, get strapped in and you’re like, at the start you’re launched pretty marginal. You get that really fast.

01:10:08:08 – 01:10:15:03
Joseph
And so this one uses the linear acceleration motors, the maglev where it accelerator, it’s not a portal type thing.

01:10:15:11 – 01:10:33:03
Madison
Yeah. And you also listen to an Aerosmith song when you are on the ride and it’s also kind of a there’s like the roller coaster itself. The track at least is kind of like in neo colors. I didn’t really see a lot of it, but I know that like the track was like green and like black light and so forth.

01:10:33:03 – 01:10:53:17
Madison
And like there were various signs and stuff. I got jiggly. My legs felt like jelly afterwards and something about intense roller coaster I’ve been on before. What it is, I’ll give it an 8.5. The theming could probably have been better. Like I don’t know if Aerosmith specifically would have been the best.

01:10:53:17 – 01:10:55:23
Joseph
Yeah, they’re a little out of touch. These days too.

01:10:56:07 – 01:11:04:01
Madison
Yeah, maybe like changing that would be a little better, but, like, I can still appreciate it being the only roller coaster in Disney to go upside down.

01:11:04:04 – 01:11:30:23
Joseph
Okay, I think that was a good rundown of some of the more popular ones that we can talk about at least. And I think that’s all we run out of time for today. Before we do go, I want to once again invite our listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast. You can find audio versions of this podcast listed as insights in the thing in Teens, and you can find audio and video versions of all the network’s podcast listeners.

01:11:30:23 – 01:12:06:24
Joseph
Insights into things. We’re available on Pandora, Castro, Stitcher, Pod Being Anywhere you get a podcast, I would also invite you to give us your feedback, give us your suggestions for things you’d like us to talk about. You can email us at comments and insights into things dot com. We do stream five days a week on twitch at twitch dot TV slash insights and the things we are available on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash insights into things podcasts or you get links to all those and more on our official website and insights into things that come in you.

01:12:06:29 – 01:12:20:02
Madison
And don’t forget to check out our other two podcast insights and entertainment normally hosted by you and Mommy. And then to National tomorrow not not not really our monthly podcast anymore hosted by you and my brother Sam most of the time.

01:12:20:03 – 01:12:22:11
Joseph
All right, that’s it. And another one of the books by.

01:12:22:11 – 01:12:22:27
Madison
Everyone.

01:12:22:29 – 01:12:47:16
Joseph
By.