Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 149 “Franklin My Dear I Don’t Give A Zolocon”

[INTRO THEME]

[INTRODUCTIONS] (2-3 minutes)
Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 149 “Franklin My Dear I Don’t Give A Zolocon”
My rested and relaxed co-host Michelle Whalen

[SHOW SUMMARY] (2-3 minutes)
After a long hiatus we’re back with a couple events we attended and a brief Disney discussion. First we’ll talk about our experience at the Disney 100 Exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Then we’ll discuss our time and our treasures from this year’s Zolocon. Finally we’ll talk about some of the impact of Bob Iger’s to Disney.
But first I’d like to take a moment to invite our listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast.

[Show Plugs] (2-3 minutes)
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[TRANSITION]

[SEGMENT 1:] (8-12 minutes)

Disney100: The Exhibition
https://www.fi.edu/en/exhibits-and-experiences/disney100-exhibition?k=&utm_campaign=tfi2003-d100-consideration&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=ppc&utm_content=website_visitors&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0oagBhDHARIsAI-BbgfNWR3z3eztigBa_Roj4FdBKqQeq3v-LGDy0XSDytCxMQybaDywMQkaArFCEALw_wcB
http://bit.ly/3mrskz4
Created for the 100-year celebration of The Walt Disney Company, the world premiere exhibition will immerse guests in the beloved stories that have been dazzling fans since 1923.
The Walt Disney Archives is opening its vault of treasures, showcasing more than 250 of its “Crown Jewels,” rarely seen artworks and artifacts, costumes and props, and other memorabilia.
Exclusively for this exhibition, Disney has curated special behind-the-scenes glimpses into the creation of the company’s most popular characters, films, shows, and attractions—from Disneyland to Walt Disney World and beyond.
Plus, ten magnificent and imaginatively themed galleries, all featuring moving stories, unique interactive installations, and exciting background information, will take visitors on a journey through 100 years of The Walt Disney Company, celebrating the classics from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Strange World, as well as the latest members of the Disney family—Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and National Geographic.
Daytime Hours: 9:30 AM – 5 PM
Last entry: 3:30 PM Sun-Wed | 4:30 PM Thu-Sat
General Museum Admission is included.
Adult: $45 | Child (3-11): $41
Evening Hours: 5-8 PM Thu-Sat
Last Entry: 6:30 PM
General Museum Admission is not included.
Adult: $25 | Child (3-11): $25
Going on now until August 27th in Philly
Opens in April in Munich until September 3
Opens in Fall 2023 in London

[SEGMENT 2:] (8-12 minutes)

ZoloCon
https://zolocon.com/
http://bit.ly/2UfiDpk
ZOLOCON is a SCI FI and Fantasy Expo that focuses on vintage Toys & Comics from the 1970s on Up!
This past weekend was the Winter edition of ZOLOCON
This expo was the LARGEST ZOLOCON TO DATE! They had RECORD BREAKING attendance with attendees coming from different parts of the WORLD to see the convention. They even had folks driving and flying in from all over the United States to exhibit and experience the show!
This was their 9th Event
The Next one will be Summer – vintage Comic and toy show with video games and tattooing
Saturday Sept. 2, 2023 (10:00AM – 6:00PM) V.I.P. (8:30AM) Children (4-12) $5.00
Sunday Sept 3, 2023 (9:00AM – 4:30PM) Children Under 12 FREE!
The Fuge Convention Center, Warminster, Pa. 18974
Then they are planning a 3rd one around Halloween
Saturday, October 28th, 2023 at
River Bend Venue of Millersburg PA

[SEGMENT 3:] (8-12 minutes)

Disney since Igers Return

The company is also slashing 7,000 jobs, confirming widespread fears, as it looks for $5.5 billion in cost cuts.
What went wrong under Chapek and how Iger’s return happened
Disney executives had complained to the company’s board about Chapek’s leadership
Chapek’s fumbles were wide-ranging.
Disney had just reported a $1.5 billion loss in its streaming business on a November 8 earnings call.
Earlier in the year, the company faced backlash from customers over price increases at its theme parks.
Separately, employees walked out in protest over Disney’s reluctance to take a strong stance against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Iger’s top priority will be a solid succession plan
During Chapek’s first year as CEO, Iger remained as executive chairman of the company, and there were tensions between the two executives
While many in Hollywood cheered Iger’s reinstatement, the move also quickly drew criticism from some on Wall Street over Disney’s succession planning and questions about whether the company even has execs who could be groomed to succeed him in two years.
Can Iger strengthen Disney’s streaming business and control costs
Iger will have to address not only steep losses in Disney’s streaming business but also whether to seek full ownership of Hulu, now part-owned by Comcast; how to manage content distribution across Hulu and Disney+; and whether to keep or sell ESPN.
How a sluggish box office and talent demands will create new challenges for Iger
Long considered one of Hollywood’s most successful CEOs, Iger will need to marshal all of his business acumen, cultural savvy, and management skills to usher Disney through a challenging economic landscape and transition the company to a strong new leader.

[OUTRO AND CREDITS]

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00;00;02;08 – 00;00;50;05
Michelle
Insightful podcasts by informative host insights into Things, a podcast network, and welcome to Insights into Entertainment, a podcast series taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Your hosts, Joseph and Michelle Whelan, a husband and wife team of pop culture fanatics, are exploring all things from music and movies to television and fandom.

00;00;51;25 – 00;01;14;21
Joseph
Welcome to That was kind of a sudden cut that a little. A little breakfast. Welcome to Insights into Entertainment. This is episode 149. Franklin my dear, I don’t give as a welcome. I’m your host, Joseph Wayland, and my rested and relaxed co-host Michelle.

00;01;14;22 – 00;01;15;21
Michelle
Hi, everyone.

00;01;16;10 – 00;01;17;09
Joseph
How are you doing today?

00;01;17;15 – 00;01;19;15
Michelle
I’m doing well. How are you?

00;01;19;29 – 00;01;26;06
Joseph
I am frustrated because my camera three is not working and I had to quickly replace it.

00;01;26;07 – 00;01;27;02
Michelle
I understand.

00;01;27;09 – 00;01;30;25
Joseph
But, you know, other than technical difficulties, I think I’m doing well.

00;01;30;25 – 00;01;31;12
Michelle
That’s good.

00;01;33;01 – 00;01;37;00
Joseph
So been kind of on a hiatus for a while here.

00;01;37;05 – 00;01;39;26
Michelle
Unintentional.

00;01;39;26 – 00;01;41;04
Joseph
We just haven’t had a lot to talk.

00;01;41;04 – 00;02;08;04
Michelle
Yeah, we keep kind of trying to, I guess, revamp how we want the show to be what we want the show to be. And we just haven’t really found that right mix of what we what we actually want to do. We don’t want to just regurgitate, you know, the the news stories.

00;02;08;09 – 00;02;12;03
Joseph
We want to add value, right? We want to add value to the things that we talk, right?

00;02;12;03 – 00;02;24;24
Michelle
We want to make it so that, you know, also you can go back to a, you know, a past podcast past and relisten to it again and and find some entertainment value from it.

00;02;24;24 – 00;02;34;24
Joseph
So and I think the weekly cadence was got to be too much of a grind. You know, it got to the point where we were struggling to find things, right?

00;02;35;04 – 00;02;49;28
Michelle
So it was definitely a, you know, we want it to be quality, not necessarily quantity. So if it’s something where it’s once a month, it’s once a month. If it’s twice a month, it’s twice a month. If it’s, you know.

00;02;51;02 – 00;02;54;19
Joseph
I think a minimum once a month. I think we can you know, we can.

00;02;54;19 – 00;02;55;09
Michelle
Probably.

00;02;55;09 – 00;02;58;07
Joseph
Think that probably especially now that conventions.

00;02;58;25 – 00;02;59;16
Michelle
Yeah. Yeah.

00;03;00;07 – 00;03;24;02
Joseph
So today we’re not really going to be talking about much in the way of news. We’re going to be talking about a couple of things that we added to. We will be talking in our first segment about the Disney 100 exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Then will the next day, actually, we went to Solo Zone. Okay.

00;03;24;17 – 00;03;31;17
Michelle
It’s your most favorite convention toys, Toy Toy Show two to go to.

00;03;32;07 – 00;03;33;08
Joseph
So we.

00;03;33;08 – 00;03;34;13
Michelle
Just so you can say that.

00;03;35;10 – 00;04;02;22
Joseph
We have a little bit of footage from both of those. We’ll take a look at those. And then I kind of threw something together real quick for our third segment here. I thought it would be worthwhile since our last podcast, we talked about swapping the Bobs again and Bob Iger coming back to be kind of interesting to kind of see where things are and what what challenges Iger might be facing right now and just get your opinion on that and how things are going with Disney.

00;04;03;04 – 00;04;33;27
Joseph
You know, since he’s come back in. Sure. But before we do that, though, I would like to invite our listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast. You can get audio versions of this podcast. Listeners insights into entertainment, and you can get audio and video versions of all the network’s podcast listeners insights into things. You can find us pretty much anywhere you can get a podcast these days Google, Apple, Spotify and so forth.

00;04;34;24 – 00;04;58;06
Joseph
I would also invite you to writing. Give us your feedback, Tell us how we’re doing. Give us your suggestions on what you’d like us to talk about. You can email us your comments and insights into things. Dot You can find us on Twitter at Twitter.com. Slash insights underscore things we can get links to All that are more on our official website at WW w that insights into things.

00;04;58;18 – 00;05;03;24
Joseph
Dot com. Shall we get in more. Here we go.

00;05;07;08 – 00;05;12;12
Joseph
So Disney 100 Franklin Institute Philadelphia we were there.

00;05;12;12 – 00;05;13;06
Michelle
Last weekend.

00;05;13;15 – 00;05;15;10
Joseph
Last weekend which was was that.

00;05;15;17 – 00;05;19;28
Michelle
No it was their second weekend they opened the week before.

00;05;20;13 – 00;05;41;13
Joseph
Right so we were there early in the morning. We got there. We did the museum. We had a 1230, 30 time for the exhibit and they have it in the same exhibit hall. They have all the Ottomans. We’ve done the Star Wars one, we’ve done the Marvel one. What are your thoughts? Walk us through.

00;05;41;13 – 00;06;09;15
Michelle
It. So I have to say, if you are a fan of Disney, any aspect of of Disney being in this area, we’re very fortunate because this is the only location within the United States that this is going to be. So there are people that are traveling from from all over the country to come and see it, because this is the only place.

00;06;09;15 – 00;06;20;03
Michelle
So that’s kind of special to to think that, you know, that we’re kind of hosting it, even though we’re not physically hosting it unless, you know, let’s.

00;06;20;03 – 00;06;25;01
Joseph
Let’s be fair since they always do the D23, well, that you the least they could do is give the.

00;06;25;04 – 00;06;55;14
Michelle
Right, exactly. And that’s when you think about all of the the D23 events and everything else. It’s usually always Florida or it’s California. So to to actually have it you know in Philadel delphia you know so so really for anybody that that’s within you know a couple of hours you know and you’re a Disney fan this is a look into you know behind the scenes stuff that you don’t normally get to see.

00;06;56;14 – 00;07;11;00
Michelle
Disney has been doing a lot of different behind the scenes shows on Disney Plus, like, you know, Behind the Vault or, you know, all these different shows. There’s a couple of different ones.

00;07;11;01 – 00;07;15;10
Joseph
I mean, that show that you started watching again without any of that that Disney show.

00;07;15;11 – 00;07;17;03
Michelle
No, the other one that we already.

00;07;17;03 – 00;07;19;19
Joseph
Watch, other ones. The other one that you’re watching?

00;07;19;20 – 00;07;21;11
Michelle
No, we already watched it.

00;07;22;04 – 00;07;23;23
Joseph
I thought you stopped at one point.

00;07;23;23 – 00;07;31;15
Michelle
You’re that’s the that’s the the that’s the attraction one. That’s the other one.

00;07;31;15 – 00;07;36;02
Joseph
I know there was one of them. There was one. There was one that you left me out of.

00;07;36;03 – 00;08;19;05
Michelle
Right. Well, anyway, there’s various different shows that are on that Disney Plus running that they’ve been running where they give you some of these behind the scene things from the archives. You know, look at stuff that unless you work for the Disney Corporation, you’ve never seen. So this is such an an opportunity to be able to see so many different things from so many different decades, you know, going back 100 years really with the company when you think about it and different aspects of it.

00;08;19;05 – 00;08;45;04
Michelle
So you have the animated part of it, you have the music part of it, you have the attractions you know, So they they break down the whole exhibit into I think they they had it in ten. What did they call it? Uh, did what did they call it? Why can I think of the word.

00;08;45;21 – 00;08;46;22
Joseph
I don’t know what they call.

00;08;48;03 – 00;09;38;29
Michelle
The, the, the different themed galleries, you know, the different galleries that you know. And each gallery had a different theme to it. One was costuming, one was the individual characters. One, like I said, was the music technology, even showing some of the audio animatronic body parts, how they would manipulate a character to make it move. Obviously then the drawing aspect of it and even going from the original way that the movies and cartoons were drawn to now the computer animated, how do they make Rapunzel’s hair move a certain way?

00;09;38;29 – 00;09;42;09
Michelle
And so they have all these little videos going on.

00;09;42;09 – 00;09;43;29
Joseph
Algorithms like like Google.

00;09;43;29 – 00;10;10;14
Michelle
Right, exactly. So there’s a lot to it. And so much to really say. And unfortunately, there were so many people there that it’s kind of hard to to read everything and to look at everything. So fortunately, because we live so close by, it’s definitely something that I want to get to again, to be able to.

00;10;11;08 – 00;10;12;19
Joseph
So how long is it actually.

00;10;12;19 – 00;10;27;09
Michelle
It is actually in Philadelphia until August 27th. So you have quite a while. You know, all of the summer and all of the spring, too together.

00;10;27;10 – 00;10;30;17
Joseph
Isn’t the only location that they’re going to be doing. Right.

00;10;30;17 – 00;10;40;27
Michelle
So other so two other locations. So in April, it will actually open up in Munich. So it will be going simultaneously with.

00;10;41;00 – 00;10;42;05
Joseph
This other probably showing.

00;10;42;05 – 00;11;11;08
Michelle
Probably different things. And the one in Munich actually goes until September 3rd. So it goes a little bit beyond the Philadelphia one. And then the dates for London are actually fall of 2023. They actually don’t even have their dates open yet. So I’m guessing maybe part of Munich Show and part of Philly show might end up at the London show.

00;11;11;08 – 00;11;12;19
Michelle
I’m guessing.

00;11;13;13 – 00;11;26;24
Joseph
So let’s talk a little bit about what was on display. You know, you mentioned there’s multiple galleries. What were some of the galleries, How were they themed? What were some of the things that were there that was that kind of stuck out at you? There’s stuff that just Sure.

00;11;26;24 – 00;12;11;10
Michelle
So they they start off they they go sort of in a, you know, a linear fashion, starting with the very beginning of everything and how the Disney company started. And you have the, the Alice shorts and then Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and then obviously Mickey Mouse. So that’s the, the progression. So they have some original drawings of all three of those with some videos playing as you’re, you’re walking through that section and then they kind of go through and then it goes on to the whole, you know, Mickey and everything that happened.

00;12;11;10 – 00;12;42;08
Michelle
How he kind of blew up, I guess, and how the company really kind of formed around that and everything. And then they had, you know, the whole music section with the original songs for Snow White and and, you know, because that was really their first musical. And so they had some of the original sheet music from that. And along with drawings and things like that.

00;12;42;08 – 00;13;10;09
Michelle
So you have that whole aspect and then they, they go through the whole character development. How do they develop a character and, and basically take you through the different iterations of the character. So you have, you know, here’s their, their first sketch of a character and then where does it go from there? And then to the MCATs, where here’s our final model of a character.

00;13;10;09 – 00;13;18;10
Michelle
So now so you can actually see it in a 3D form to be able to manipulate it and do other things with it.

00;13;18;10 – 00;13;37;02
Joseph
So some of the exhibits themselves, there’s a lot of static exhibits that are there, there’s a lot of descriptive place to read, to give descriptions and stuff like that, but not all of it is static. There’s some interactive exhibits that they have there can talk a little bit about the interactive.

00;13;37;25 – 00;14;20;01
Michelle
Well, the one interactive exhibit wasn’t working, which I don’t know if it hasn’t been set up yet, if it was too early or if it already broke down, which is kind of a shame if it’s only been within the the first week. They have a lot of different ones where you can listen to different presentations and then they have other ones again where they had one where it was different colors and you could pick different colors, color schemes, and when you picked certain colors it would show you which character was associated with that.

00;14;20;01 – 00;14;28;01
Michelle
I really didn’t do much of the interactive, so I don’t know if if you guys, because we weren’t really walking around and together kind of.

00;14;28;01 – 00;14;52;13
Joseph
Blew through a good portion because most of the interactive. So the way the exhibit itself is arranged is you have small rooms that are then connected by plays and a lot of the interactive listening things and stuff like that are on the walls and the right and there’s walkways. So the problem that I ran into is that it was very bright.

00;14;52;28 – 00;15;14;11
Joseph
So those those walkways became bad, Right? Right. So I kind of was rushing to get through those into a more open. So we skipped a lot of right off most of the things that we went in and sort a look at were just the static. You know, that’s the eye popping, Right? Right. But what I did notice is there’s a lot of subtlety.

00;15;14;26 – 00;15;45;24
Joseph
There’s there’s like when you walk into the first open room, the room itself is roughly round with large displays in the middle of these large projection displays are original, not like right fairy tales and stuff like that, which were they weren’t just like library bright. These were like the original novels that inspired the stories that Disney, which if you didn’t get up there and see those, you would have never.

00;15;45;24 – 00;16;12;29
Michelle
Right? And that was one that I had missed. Whereas one of the things that I ended up seeing was a Winnie the Pooh. That was from the live action movie. And then they had from the live action Beauty and the Beast movie, they had models from of two of the characters from that, and that was kind of like back around a corner.

00;16;12;29 – 00;16;31;00
Michelle
So there were certain things where you had to kind of wait in line right to see because, you know, so many people were going to to see. But if you went past it, you would have missed it because you know, they were kind of back in the corner in a certain area.

00;16;31;13 – 00;16;42;29
Joseph
So they did have a section there for one of the galleries was kind of dedicated to the mesh and and things that came out of parks. Talk about that a little bit and what were some of the things that they had?

00;16;43;11 – 00;17;12;17
Michelle
Yeah. So one of the things was they had one of the original ride vehicles from Peter Pan, so that was really cool too to see. And really that hasn’t changed much over the years. If you, you know, have gone to the park, you know, recently, it pretty much looks the same. Then one of the bobsleds from the Matterhorn was there as well.

00;17;13;02 – 00;17;41;04
Michelle
One of the other things that was really cool, I don’t think you had it in your video, but I know I took a picture of it was they had the original name tags from when the Disneyland and first opened, and I guess when they had first done them, they had numbers on them and they had the number one, which was Walt Disney’s original name tag, you know, from the park.

00;17;41;04 – 00;18;09;08
Michelle
So that was that was really kind of interesting. And then they had some other models, so they had one of the dolls from It’s A Small World. They had one of the characters from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, one of the little devils there. One of the other things that was kind of cool was it was a model from all your Disney fans are going to yell at me because I’m I’m.

00;18;09;24 – 00;18;10;09
Joseph
Is it in the.

00;18;10;09 – 00;18;36;09
Michelle
Movie? I don’t think it was in the movie, but it was the the Innerspace ride and but the little model, it’s it’s the dune buggy. It’s you know, but it was blue because on that ride it was it was the Omni. I can’t think of the the, the ride vehicle but it looks like it’s a little dune buggy except it’s blue and there are people in it so that.

00;18;36;11 – 00;18;37;07
Joseph
Married the cat.

00;18;37;07 – 00;18;47;23
Michelle
Yeah. I was like oh look there’s my dumbo. It’s not the dune buggy, you know. But I knew what it was because I knew they use that same ride vehicle in other rides back in the day.

00;18;47;23 – 00;18;55;17
Joseph
So of, of everything that they had there. What was the biggest highlight for you of the entire thing?

00;18;55;19 – 00;18;59;10
Michelle
Oh, I don’t know.

00;18;59;10 – 00;19;01;07
Joseph
What jumped out at you the most.

00;19;02;20 – 00;19;03;15
Michelle
I don’t know.

00;19;03;22 – 00;19;05;22
Michelle
I don’t know if there was any like what.

00;19;05;22 – 00;19;07;11
Joseph
Was the most impressive thing?

00;19;07;28 – 00;19;26;28
Michelle
It was the most impressive. Well, I guess the the castle. But that wasn’t. Yeah, that was just a model of the the castle. I think. You know, Walt’s name badge. You know, his name tag was probably from a you know, from a sentimental, you know.

00;19;26;28 – 00;19;39;14
Joseph
The thing that jumped out at me the most was the model of the not like it was the hero model that was 12 feet. Right, right, right, right. That was just impressive to come around the corner and.

00;19;40;08 – 00;19;51;10
Michelle
Yeah, like everything was like, oh, wow. Like, if they would have had something from the Haunted Mansion that probably would have been like, my.

00;19;51;11 – 00;19;53;15
Joseph
But they but they didn’t. And that was horrible.

00;19;53;15 – 00;19;58;03
Michelle
Yeah, but that’s the whole thing is I don’t know if other.

00;19;58;03 – 00;20;05;15
Joseph
It’s a shame because it was such a pet project of, of war. Right, right. He was so, so involved in doing it like.

00;20;05;15 – 00;20;25;21
Michelle
I would have liked to have seen more stuff with the audio animatronics and a little bit more of the history and the technology for that. But again, they had the different movies going on in one of the movies. You know, one of the clips they had was a behind the scenes of the Haunted Mansion. So they did have to have that look.

00;20;25;24 – 00;20;26;27
Joseph
So from the video.

00;20;26;27 – 00;20;27;22
Michelle
Sure, sure.

00;20;27;24 – 00;20;36;00
Joseph
Kind of give us some commentary over the video and can point out the things that catch your eye. Sure.

00;20;36;00 – 00;20;42;04
Michelle
So this was a cute little pre-show, I guess, when you first, you know, walked in.

00;20;42;22 – 00;20;50;25
Joseph
And it was neatly done because it was a ringer there. It’s a it’s a hologram. It’s multi-screen. Three dimensional hologram.

00;20;50;29 – 00;21;08;06
Michelle
Yeah. So, of course, being able to see, you know, Walt Disney like that was was really kind of cool, you know, kind of creepy, but kind of cool at the same same time.

00;21;08;12 – 00;21;32;26
Michelle
Thing about And let me go in to that new project. We believe in the way we have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job. There’s really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors, doing new things because we’re curious and curious. That keeps leading us down paths.

00;21;32;26 – 00;21;49;04
Michelle
We’re always exploring and experiment. Everybody ready for the move along right?

00;21;49;04 – 00;22;27;08
Michelle
Yeah. So this is the first section that you you kind of walk through and it shows, you know, Oswald told then this was an area where they had concepts of the different parks, different lands, and of course the haunted mansion right there. This was that book section that you were talking about. So this was talking about where they got the inspiration for their different movies and shorts and things like that.

00;22;27;08 – 00;22;38;13
Michelle
And this was again, the innovation area and the multi play a miniature version of the multi plane camera, talking about again that the first animated musical.

00;22;38;16 – 00;22;39;01
Joseph
And that was.

00;22;39;01 – 00;22;39;22
Michelle
The original.

00;22;39;22 – 00;22;41;10
Joseph
The original score. Mm hmm.

00;22;41;23 – 00;22;47;14
Michelle
Yeah, the original, you know, record.

00;22;47;20 – 00;22;47;29
Joseph
Yeah.

00;22;47;29 – 00;22;48;27
Michelle
Record album.

00;22;49;23 – 00;22;52;21
Joseph
Yeah. Like, this is where you kind of start. You feel the history here?

00;22;52;23 – 00;23;02;23
Michelle
Mm. Yeah. Yeah. And then they had various different costumes from some of their live action. So this was from the Cruella movie.

00;23;02;25 – 00;23;05;07
Joseph
So that’s one of the interactive ones where you can listen.

00;23;05;19 – 00;23;09;07
Michelle
Right? So they kind of had like a little history of Cruella.

00;23;09;13 – 00;23;10;00
Joseph
What’s this?

00;23;10;12 – 00;23;11;06
Michelle
I don’t know.

00;23;11;06 – 00;23;12;29
Joseph
Some some science.

00;23;12;29 – 00;23;18;28
Michelle
Some science fiction, anything and some dice from a guy that wants to be a pilot and Oh, look, it’s chicken.

00;23;19;00 – 00;23;22;29
Joseph
No, that’s better.

00;23;22;29 – 00;23;37;02
Michelle
And of course, Baby A and these were screen used props that were were here right. So some you know, they had a nice little Star Wars section. So it was kind of cool.

00;23;37;02 – 00;23;38;18
Joseph
Obviously, it was a little.

00;23;38;18 – 00;23;46;05
Michelle
But yeah, it was kind of kind of surprising that it was as small as it was because those books, again.

00;23;46;14 – 00;23;49;07
Joseph
They again.

00;23;49;07 – 00;23;52;18
Michelle
Yeah. And there were different interactive things with that that I.

00;23;52;28 – 00;23;53;22
Joseph
Had screens on.

00;23;53;22 – 00;24;09;14
Michelle
There. And then this was the music section talking about how influential music, you know, and how much a part of music is. There’s no there’s that creepy doll spot and.

00;24;09;23 – 00;24;19;13
Joseph
And because it actually lights up like there’s a shot of the actual ride. Yeah, we lit up ironically enough, the devil not nearly as creepy as the other one but.

00;24;20;03 – 00;24;29;06
Michelle
Yeah yeah, definitely not as creepy as that. And he’s from, you know, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. And then this was interesting.

00;24;29;06 – 00;24;31;06
Joseph
So creepy way.

00;24;31;07 – 00;24;50;21
Michelle
In a creepy. I have a story about the the the doll we can talk about after after the the video. And then they had, you know, a little bit of a marvel section. So that was kind of nice to see.

00;24;50;22 – 00;24;52;28
Joseph
Obviously guys makes as much as a Dodge method.

00;24;53;01 – 00;25;08;05
Michelle
You have to yeah you have to put something in from that. And then of course, you know, when you get to the end, there’s a gift shop. Oh, they’re very Disney of them.

00;25;08;05 – 00;25;10;07
Joseph
Surprisingly poorly stock picture.

00;25;10;13 – 00;25;29;29
Michelle
Yeah. Not as many exclusive things as I would have expected. Yes. You see, I think for the musicals, yes, they they did a whole, you know, so along with the musical, they also had the Broadway aspect of it. And then here’s that No that the model, the Nautilus.

00;25;31;05 – 00;25;34;17
Joseph
Like it’s literally 12 feet.

00;25;34;17 – 00;25;38;29
Michelle
Yeah. Yeah. It’s a monster.

00;25;38;29 – 00;25;39;27
Joseph
And here’s a great.

00;25;39;27 – 00;25;43;23
Joseph
Deal to go along with the other creepy characters.

00;25;45;03 – 00;26;03;23
Michelle
Because again, this was part of the Broadway show. And had they developed it and made the character and then this was this really cool Cinderella’s castle, it was kind of towards the end of it with, you know, the fireworks.

00;26;03;23 – 00;26;04;07
Joseph
Were allowed.

00;26;04;08 – 00;26;06;05
Michelle
For not so loud fireworks.

00;26;06;05 – 00;26;08;06
Joseph
And you never get to watch fireworks when.

00;26;08;06 – 00;26;32;11
Michelle
We’re at the parks. I very rarely do, so I never get to see them from the right angle. I’m usually seeing them from the back side of something because our daughter is not a fan of loud sounds. But now with, you know, AirPods, she could. Right? And maybe I’ll actually get to see fireworks the next time we we go.

00;26;32;17 – 00;27;05;27
Michelle
So what was interesting about that Mickey doll was again one of the the specials that’s on Disney Plus where they kind of do a behind the scenes thing. And this is from one that was from a couple of years ago. So it’s not new. But if you go on Disney plus you’ll find it they talk about that Mickey doll because when Mickey’s his shorts, you know, became available, there was this woman who knitted who who sewed this doll and had sent it to Wall.

00;27;06;10 – 00;27;35;26
Michelle
And he loved it so much that he kind of hired her to make them, but she couldn’t make them fast enough. So she actually sold the pattern to McCall’s. So that so that’s what that doll represented there, where you could go and buy the pattern to make your own Mickey Mouse doll. So that was kind of, you know, an interesting, you know, side note of seeing that and then seeing it on on the television show, too.

00;27;35;27 – 00;27;43;20
Joseph
So to wrap it all up, what are your final thoughts on the Disney 100 exhibition at the Franklin Institute?

00;27;44;02 – 00;28;08;14
Michelle
If you’re a fan, you have to go. You you can’t miss this opportunity, especially if you’re somewhere or within, you know, the East Coast or if you’re out on the West Coast and you want to fly out to to to Pennsylvania, to to Philadelphia and make a weekend trip of it. There’s obviously enough stuff to do in the area.

00;28;08;14 – 00;28;41;17
Michelle
We were pretty historic in the Philadelphia area. We’ve had a couple of things happen here. So you could definitely make a a week, you know, a long weekend trip. What’s nice is that if it’s something where you don’t want to do the rest of the museum, because if you get a if you go during the day for with the exhibit, you get the rest of the Franklin Institute included in it.

00;28;41;23 – 00;29;08;16
Michelle
But if it’s something where you don’t want to do that, they do evening hours, Thursday through Saturday from eight from 5 to 8 p.m. So it’s a little bit less because you’re just doing the exhibit. But if you want to have, you know, a full day, then obviously you can do the museum as well as the exhibit and again, up until August 27th in Philadelphia.

00;29;08;28 – 00;29;16;11
Michelle
Then, unless you’re in Munich, then that one starts in April, and then this fall it’ll be in London. All right.

00;29;16;11 – 00;29;24;13
Joseph
And, you know, like you said, we’re going to probably go back again in the evening. Just exhibit. Right. Hopefully it won’t be as crowded, But fortunately, we have plenty of time to do it.

00;29;24;16 – 00;29;25;08
Michelle
Absolutely.

00;29;25;28 – 00;30;09;00
Joseph
All right. Well, we’re going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we’re going to talk about zillow.com. We’ll be right back. Four over seven years, the second Schiff 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 and your guild meet and greets and an active community both on the Web and on Discord.

00;30;10;02 – 00;30;39;03
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 at w w w start the second Civ and Empire dot com.

00;30;44;27 – 00;30;55;07
Joseph
Welcome back to Insights into Entertainment. Now we get to talk about zone income. Sorry, I myself.

00;30;55;27 – 00;30;56;13
Michelle
I know.

00;30;56;25 – 00;31;10;24
Joseph
So Zola con is a sci fi and fantasy expo that focuses on vintage toys and comics from the 1970s and up. Tell us about it. Tell us about your experience. How did you enjoy it this year?

00;31;10;28 – 00;31;35;13
Michelle
So this past weekend, it’s funny because as far as we knew, they only did it once a year and then I guess last year or the year before, they started doing it twice a year. Now this year they’ll actually doing three different events. So this happened to be what they consider their winter edition, and it was actually the largest one to date.

00;31;36;19 – 00;31;57;09
Michelle
And we could definitely tell vendors all over the place and in various different places, even in some parts of the building, we had never even been to before and every area was jam packed. I don’t think there was really any empty spaces. No, This year.

00;31;57;09 – 00;32;03;21
Joseph
You’d go through there and you’d see like empty vendor tables or vendors that didn’t. Right, Right. Everybody was.

00;32;03;28 – 00;32;05;14
Michelle
Yeah, everybody was there.

00;32;05;18 – 00;32;24;08
Joseph
What to you have the main room where the centrifuges, which is the highlight of the whole thing. Right. You have another room at that level and then a hallway that was packed. Mm hmm. Then you have the upstairs room right where you’ve got two rooms split by a bar, which, by the way, they have alcohol on the main floor this time, right?

00;32;24;11 – 00;32;36;02
Joseph
Right. You can get drinks the whole time and get sloshed while you’re buying the toys. Right. Right. And then down on the first floor, they had vendors there, which they’d never had before.

00;32;36;03 – 00;32;53;11
Michelle
And they were also doing tattoo tattoos. There were a couple of different tattoo artists, which that seems to be like the new thing at toy shows and conventions is to have a various Tier two art is go by Luke Skywalker and get a tattoo while you’re here.

00;32;53;18 – 00;33;02;09
Joseph
So not only did we find the exhibition area downstairs, we also happened to find the restaurant they had there that we never knew they had. Right.

00;33;02;10 – 00;33;27;07
Michelle
And I think that’s relatively new as well. So that might have, you know, been something that they started. Well, I did see the one sign that they were normally open just like Fridays, I guess, during the week. So maybe on the weekends or if they have an event and they know there are going to be people around because I can’t see just going there for a meal, it’s kind of out of a out of the way.

00;33;27;23 – 00;33;35;25
Joseph
Well, and that’s the complex that they’re in, Right? Is an office complex. Right. There’s a school in there because of manufacturing in there.

00;33;35;26 – 00;33;37;22
Michelle
So I could see like on a Friday.

00;33;37;27 – 00;33;54;14
Joseph
There’s a lot of different stuff that’s actually in there. Right at what used to be the Brewster Aviation plant before World War to. And then it became a naval testing station as well. So again, Philadelphia had a lot of history just in that one little area.

00;33;54;15 – 00;33;55;10
Michelle
Yeah. Yeah.

00;33;57;06 – 00;33;58;13
Joseph
How were the crowds?

00;33;59;01 – 00;34;25;10
Michelle
It was crowded, but it wasn’t you know, it wasn’t unmanageable. It was because everybody kind of flowed through. And it’s it’s done in such a way in the main room because it’s where the centrifuges, it’s a big circular room. They do two rows. So they have the inner circle and they have the outer circle just.

00;34;25;10 – 00;34;25;25
Joseph
Like a dart.

00;34;26;19 – 00;34;52;02
Michelle
Yeah. And they leave enough room in between. So you definitely don’t feel like you are, you know, getting, you know, claustrophobic. And usually what we end up doing because there’s so much on both sides as we’ll do each, you know, each aisle, each circle twice will do you know the outside. So we look at just that, you.

00;34;52;02 – 00;34;54;28
Joseph
Know, side can do the right side then come to the inner circle.

00;34;55;00 – 00;35;19;09
Michelle
Right And so that this way we we get to see, you know, everything so that we’re not. Oh, did you see that? No, I was looking over here and and I never felt like there wasn’t enough room to do that. They do have stairs to get to the upstairs area, but there’s also elevators, which were very spacious because we ended up taking that cargo elevator.

00;35;19;10 – 00;35;19;19
Michelle
Yeah.

00;35;20;17 – 00;35;22;16
Joseph
So which was deemed one of the.

00;35;22;20 – 00;35;52;28
Michelle
Yes, it was. It was space themed. So it was just so that part is is kind of cool. But they have something for everyone, you know, they have the if you’re into pops, which that seems to be a big sell seller, you know, almost everybody you know, you’ll find a a a handful or two handfuls of vendors that are selling that.

00;35;52;28 – 00;36;09;28
Michelle
Then you have brand new toys that are out, obviously the vintage toys. And that’s what a lot of people obviously are going for. There was the one vendor, I think this was the first time we saw who does pins.

00;36;09;29 – 00;36;10;12
Joseph
Yeah.

00;36;10;14 – 00;36;18;03
Michelle
Beautiful pins. So between Matty and myself, you know, we bought a bunch of different pins.

00;36;18;04 – 00;36;20;06
Joseph
And even the the pendant guy that I.

00;36;20;18 – 00;36;22;16
Michelle
Yeah, I was going to say the pendant would talk.

00;36;22;16 – 00;36;24;06
Joseph
About them because he hasn’t gotten he’s.

00;36;24;06 – 00;36;26;03
Michelle
Really hasn’t gotten his stuff. Yeah.

00;36;26;18 – 00;36;39;20
Joseph
The pendant guy. That’s our who hand makes his own pendants. Right. And it was neat because he’s asking he’s. He’s there interacting with you, not just selling your stuff. Right. He’s. He’s soliciting input for what you like. Right.

00;36;39;20 – 00;37;10;01
Michelle
Like, what would you like me to make? So that’s what’s always so cool about these events is it’s that unique item that you didn’t know existed maybe, or you did. And you’re like, Oh, you know, the one guy who we’ve seen, you know, because again, we go to so many of these now that we run into a lot of the same, you know, vendors, but it’s like, okay, well, what do you have for this show?

00;37;10;09 – 00;37;37;25
Michelle
And the one guy, he sells Lego Minifigures and he makes the the Lego figures this time around. I didn’t buy a Lego figure from him. He was selling purses and wallets and he had a haunted mansion purse. And I was like, All right, take my money. Yeah. So again, something you never know what you’re going to find when you go.

00;37;37;26 – 00;38;05;26
Michelle
And like you said, part of the whole Zollo con experience is the venue itself just, you know, knowing the history of that building and what happened there. And that was what was kind of cool to this time around was because we were going to these other areas of the building, there were more pictures and plaques and and different historical things about what had happened at that building in the past.

00;38;05;26 – 00;38;07;29
Michelle
So that’s that’s really kind of cool.

00;38;08;00 – 00;38;30;17
Joseph
That I had noticed was while it was vendor heavy, it was kind of laid on artists. This time around. Like last time there was probably three or four times as many. Yeah, in a ring there didn’t get as many artists this time. So I don’t know if it’s really a like it’s not a comic book show, right. Even though there are guys here that are selling comics.

00;38;30;18 – 00;38;39;16
Joseph
Right. So you don’t get a lot of artists. They had the one the one author there who many had bought her book last time.

00;38;39;24 – 00;38;40;18
Michelle
Oh, okay.

00;38;41;06 – 00;38;55;01
Joseph
But not really a lot in the way of artwork. Right. Which I don’t have enough room on my walls right now, but. Right. Kind of noticed that was was one of the big changes. They also changed the refreshment up here.

00;38;55;04 – 00;38;55;14
Michelle
Mhm.

00;38;56;02 – 00;39;13;03
Joseph
This time because they put the alcohol down where the refreshments were. So you didn’t have the seating area there. Right. For someone like me who I can’t stay on my feet that long, it was kind of difficult trying to find little nooks and, and so forth here. And in fact when we left I had to sing you guys back up.

00;39;13;23 – 00;39;20;17
Joseph
Right. Last year I won because I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do all the walking. Right. Right. So happy with what you got. Did you get anything that was good?

00;39;20;24 – 00;39;37;14
Michelle
Yeah, We like I said, Maddie and I got a couple of pins. I ended up getting some Star Wars Pyrex. Really? For you? For. For lunches, so. Yeah. Interesting. Unique things that I wouldn’t have thought to find any of.

00;39;37;14 – 00;39;43;27
Joseph
The videos or we can. This was video footage that we took while we were there, and I had Matty walk around with the camera for a little bit.

00;39;43;29 – 00;39;44;08
Michelle
Mm hmm.

00;39;44;18 – 00;39;49;13
Joseph
You know, just to see what some of the things were that they had.

00;39;53;05 – 00;40;06;06
Michelle
Yeah. So it’s neat to to see, you know, because again, here’s the the big giant centrifuge and various space stuff just there while you’re while you’re walking around.

00;40;06;08 – 00;40;08;11
Joseph
But you can see how wide these aisles.

00;40;08;11 – 00;40;09;02
Michelle
Oh yeah.

00;40;09;02 – 00;40;15;10
Joseph
Plenty of room. Yeah. Aisles. Which is nice. So you’re not elbow to elbow. Right. Right, right.

00;40;15;20 – 00;40;36;16
Michelle
You know, you know some of the sections, you know, with individual wall vendors, if they have like a little corner and you wanted to go into the corner to see, then it might have been tight. But other than that, for the most part, you know, and there were a lot of people there when when we were there, so it wasn’t like it was.

00;40;36;20 – 00;40;38;18
Joseph
And this was Sunday that we were there right.

00;40;38;18 – 00;40;41;06
Michelle
We usually always tend to go on a Sunday if.

00;40;41;06 – 00;40;55;09
Joseph
We’re not going for panels or for celebrities, which we usually don’t go for, we’ll almost always go on a Sunday. We’ll go on the last day of the show because the vendors tend to be a lot more interested in selling their stuff, right?

00;40;55;27 – 00;41;04;13
Michelle
Yeah. And you have, you know, you know, a bunch of the vendors with homemade, you know.

00;41;04;29 – 00;41;22;24
Joseph
Couple of vendors with daddy stuff. But some days tower which, you know, it’s kind of nice to see that coming into its own right. I really need to coach her on a couple of these go slow.

00;41;23;29 – 00;41;34;16
Michelle
Yeah it’s it’s just such a nice yeah because like the one vendor selling coffee, he wasn’t there at this one, so. Oh, here was the pin.

00;41;34;25 – 00;41;35;06
Joseph
Yeah.

00;41;36;20 – 00;41;37;15
Michelle
And all.

00;41;37;15 – 00;41;37;27
Joseph
On a.

00;41;38;10 – 00;41;53;28
Michelle
Ton of different types of beans and more on her website, which is nice. A couple of people dressed up. Not a whole lot, but you know, there were were some they were doing a custom toy.

00;41;54;13 – 00;41;57;20
Joseph
Well, they usually do a costume contest that they do there on Saturday.

00;41;57;20 – 00;42;03;06
Michelle
Is that I don’t I don’t know maybe but they were doing a custom toy contest.

00;42;03;06 – 00;42;07;05
Joseph
Right. Like a action figure, right. Yeah. Right.

00;42;08;22 – 00;42;12;13
Michelle
So again, lots of different pops like this.

00;42;12;17 – 00;42;16;17
Joseph
That particular vendor, he he’s he’s got £3,000 back at his is.

00;42;16;17 – 00;42;44;05
Michelle
Oh I bet. I bet. And then you have different video games So if you play any, you know, older systems there’s usually always a couple of different people selling that. Sometimes you get a T-shirt person. Yeah. Selling things. The one T-shirt guy who does T-shirt artwork and pins, he happened to be there. So I picked up a T-shirt from him.

00;42;44;11 – 00;43;08;19
Michelle
Matty picked up another pin of his because I follow him on Facebook. So I knew he had an Owl house, which is one of the shows that she and I watch on Disney Plus. So he had a pin that had come out a couple of months ago, so we knew he was going to be there. So we definitely made a beeline to go and get something from him.

00;43;08;20 – 00;43;15;29
Joseph
So the thing that’s really nice is that when you have that many vendors there, there’s you don’t get a lot of duplicate get vendors, you.

00;43;15;29 – 00;43;16;10
Michelle
Get a.

00;43;16;11 – 00;43;34;04
Joseph
Lot of variety, a lot of different things to choose from. And the vendors like the interaction with the vendors. I think since COVID really I’ve noticed, has been very positive. They’re very outgoing, very engaging now.

00;43;34;05 – 00;43;39;08
Michelle
Because everybody misses being around people and talking to people and.

00;43;39;12 – 00;43;39;24
Joseph
Yeah.

00;43;39;25 – 00;43;41;03
Michelle
And doing that.

00;43;41;04 – 00;44;02;29
Joseph
I struck up a conversation with one of the vendors. I was there for 15 minutes just talking about, you know, how the shows are mingling, businesses being and, you know, different types of customers. And it’s just it’s they’re not just vendors. They’re people that love the same things that you love. Right? Right. It’s almost like a community at this point.

00;44;03;03 – 00;44;32;20
Michelle
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And that was you know, they one of the Facebook groups, they they have another Zollo Con Facebook group. And and it was one of the organizers of it. And he was just over the moon about, you know, how well it went and that this was, you know, their largest, you know, attendance to date and that they couldn’t speak.

00;44;32;23 – 00;44;45;15
Michelle
You know, they they had so many nice things to say about the vendors that were there, about the guests that were there, about, you know, just everything all around, just giving out the love. It’s a great.

00;44;45;26 – 00;44;53;03
Joseph
It’s a great venue. It’s not far for us. It’s in Warminster, Right? So it’s, what, 45 minute.

00;44;53;07 – 00;44;54;21
Michelle
45 minutes for us. Yeah.

00;44;55;02 – 00;45;05;20
Joseph
So it’s not that far from us. And it’s it’s just it’s a nice day out and it’s it’s kind of nice to go out there and buy stuff that you can’t buy anywhere else.

00;45;05;21 – 00;45;23;22
Michelle
Right. Exactly. And that’s what’s always, you know, and I think for us now, we’ve kind of we’ve gotten to the point where we just have way too much stuff. You’ve seen our collection and it’s still, you know, since we did that video, what, a year ago now, there’s been more.

00;45;23;22 – 00;45;25;09
Joseph
Stuff on a small.

00;45;25;10 – 00;45;43;09
Michelle
Scale. Yeah, that wasn’t even all of it, where we’ve kind of come to the conclusion we don’t need to buy anything more. So for us to go to a show, it’s really to see, you know, the experience. It’s the experience of it, or to find that.

00;45;43;22 – 00;45;54;01
Joseph
Well, you, you going to find stuff for other people that, like I said, right to get to really cool things for Sam this time right. That I couldn’t get anywhere else but right that’s kind of where I’m at.

00;45;54;02 – 00;46;06;29
Michelle
Right. And Matty ended up picking up a couple of things that she wouldn’t have normally been able to find, you know? And the things that I got, again, were that unique individual, one of a kind.

00;46;07;14 – 00;46;18;00
Joseph
Things that I would be looking to add to my collection at this point are things that would require me to mortgage the house. So I’m trying not to add things to my collection at this point.

00;46;18;00 – 00;46;32;09
Michelle
Right. And or if when you find that small little thing that, okay, that’s not going to take up, you know, a lot of room or, you know, or this adds to somebody else or something go with D and D or, you know something.

00;46;32;09 – 00;46;37;22
Joseph
Yeah, that’s really what I’m looking for now. I was kind of disappointed they didn’t find any dandy minis there. Right. I need more minis. You right.

00;46;37;22 – 00;46;57;02
Michelle
You don’t need more minis either, but that’s you know, that’s the thing is for us it’s also the experiences just going and being with the community. And again, this is the type of show where there aren’t panels, there aren’t the celebrities to go see. It’s not like Monster mania or Wizards or, you know, some of the other shows.

00;46;57;02 – 00;47;02;03
Joseph
It’s really fan Expo fan wizards anymore. It will always be Wizards.

00;47;02;03 – 00;47;10;17
Michelle
You’ll always be Wizards. To me, just like downtown Disney. You can’t take that away from me. All right.

00;47;11;01 – 00;47;29;17
Joseph
I think we’ve we’ve covered that one pretty well. We got to take another quick break. And when we come back, we’re going to get a feel for how Bob’s doing. The new the new the new old Bob. That’s what I should name this, The new old Bob Show. We’ll be right back.

00;47;35;11 – 00;48;11;26
Michelle
Insights into Teens, a podcast series exploring the issues and challenges of today’s youth. Talking to real teens about real teen problems. Explore issues from races to puberty, social anxiety to financial responsibility. Each week we talk about the topics concerning today’s youth. We look at how the issues affect teens, how to cope with these issues, and how friends and loved ones can help teens handle these challenges.

00;48;12;20 – 00;48;38;08
Michelle
Check out our video episodes on YouTube.com backslash insights into things. Catch our audio versions on podcast Insights into Teens, XCOM or on the Web at insights into Things. XCOM.

00;48;38;12 – 00;48;43;06
Joseph
So Bob is back at Disney. Not that Bob. The other Bob. All right, so we’ve.

00;48;43;09 – 00;48;44;05
Michelle
The original Bob.

00;48;44;06 – 00;49;18;01
Joseph
We’ve swapped Bob’s back to the old Bob and you know, he’s facing some challenges. He’s only supposed to be there for two years, kind of a short time to to turn things around. Chapek did a brilliant job of running things into the ground in a short amount of time that he was there. One of the first things that I was doing that he’s back is apparently slashing 7000 jobs and there’s 5.5 billions in cost cutting he has to make somewhere.

00;49;18;01 – 00;49;23;22
Joseph
Should I feel bad that that. Disney’s hard up for cash at this point in time.

00;49;23;26 – 00;49;28;07
Michelle
And that’s the thing is are they really because I haven’t seen anything where.

00;49;28;07 – 00;49;29;27
Joseph
According to their stock price they’re not.

00;49;29;29 – 00;49;36;17
Michelle
Right that’s you know we’re it’s kind of Huh.

00;49;36;29 – 00;49;37;10
Michelle
Right.

00;49;37;16 – 00;50;02;19
Joseph
Right. And it’s almost it’s almost imagined because you look at some of the things that they’re running into when you’re running into sluggish box office sales, you know, like, for instance, that that new Quantum Mania movie came out and it tanked at the box office. Okay. Well, Box sales are down in general since since COVID. Right. That plus everyone knows that their stuff’s going to come out on Disney plus in a few months.

00;50;02;19 – 00;50;02;29
Michelle
All right.

00;50;02;29 – 00;50;20;10
Joseph
So why go to the box office? Right. Right. The streaming business has been hit hard because they’ve completely flooded the market and turn people off with crap. Really. I mean, they’re literally just just churning out stuff to put on there. Right. And it’s not quality stuff.

00;50;20;10 – 00;50;26;25
Michelle
So the or the stuff that is good, they cancel after two seasons. Yeah.

00;50;27;01 – 00;50;27;10
Joseph
Yeah.

00;50;27;11 – 00;50;47;19
Michelle
You know, there have been a number of shows that Matty and I have started to watch and it’s like, oh, by the way, this is done now, right? Like, oh, we couldn’t even get like a second season or a third season, like. Hmm. Okay. Right. Thanks. So it almost makes you not want to watch something, right? Until there’s.

00;50;47;22 – 00;50;48;08
Joseph
It’s almost.

00;50;48;08 – 00;50;49;24
Michelle
Like three or four seasons out.

00;50;49;24 – 00;51;06;06
Joseph
Like nobody wants to get Google calls that are really cool stuff, but it’s like, get into what they cancel in a good way. So he wants to do that. And Disney is putting themselves in the same position as well. They’re canceling shows that I’m not even watching and usually I’m the one that kills shows, right? Right.

00;51;06;19 – 00;51;08;09
Michelle
Exactly. Exactly.

00;51;08;20 – 00;51;34;26
Joseph
So I think that 5.5 billion they’re talking about really is a pacy. It’s a it’s a fictitious number that they think they should be making that I don’t think Disney is losing money. Disney’s got more money than God. Mhm. You know, when God needs to put a new world in place, he goes to Disney for a loop. So it’s not that Disney’s losing money, they’re just not making it as fast as they want to.

00;51;35;22 – 00;51;55;05
Joseph
Okay. And part of the problem you run into is, Yeah, you know what? You keep coming out with superhero movies just for the sake of coming up with superhero movies. They finally reach the point of saturation with Marvel, and nobody wants to go see it anymore. Mm hmm. Okay, well, they learned that lesson pretty fast with Star Wars, right?

00;51;55;13 – 00;52;27;22
Joseph
You know, they flooded the market with Star Wars, trying to turn it into another marvel, and they that bit them in the butt really quick. Right. Right. So I can’t feel bad for Disney. Mhm. So the real question comes down to in two years, can they come up with a succession plan for Iger. And, and really what I have to ask is do you a succession plan for Iger is, is he really going to be gone in two years?

00;52;27;25 – 00;52;28;09
Michelle
Uh.

00;52;29;02 – 00;52;36;13
Joseph
Because given how much his incentive is for, I don’t see him going away any time soon.

00;52;36;29 – 00;52;42;17
Michelle
Yeah, I could see him still staying on as a consultant when. He’s still.

00;52;43;00 – 00;52;43;13
Joseph
Right.

00;52;45;01 – 00;53;00;22
Michelle
Doing things. But then again, you also have to look at everything that’s kind of going on right now, the state of Florida. And that’s a whole other kit and caboodle of that whole toxic ness that let’s.

00;53;00;24 – 00;53;19;29
Joseph
Let’s be honest, what’s going on in Florida is a temporary thing. Hopefully it’s temporary because it’s a pissing match between DeSantis and Disney. Right. And it really was a pissing match between DeSantis and Chapek. Right. And Champix out of the picture. And the sentence is going to be out of the picture in 2024 when he runs for president.

00;53;19;29 – 00;53;20;29
Michelle
Anyway, hopefully.

00;53;21;15 – 00;53;43;27
Joseph
So it doesn’t really that’s not that big a deal. In fact, Disney came out with a statement recently basically saying, you know, we’re going to focus on what we do best. We’re going to provide the best experience for blah, blah. They took the high ground. Mm hmm. They didn’t buy into the taunting and the stick poking the Santas was trying to draw them into.

00;53;43;28 – 00;54;17;11
Joseph
Mm hmm. And they basically said, look, we operate under numerous jurisdictions and numerous regulations around the world, and we make it work, and we’ll make it work here. Mm hmm. So ultimately, I think what’s going to happen with this little pissing match between DeSantis and Disney is the taxpayers are going to lose out. Mm hmm. You know, they skirted around the idea of of not of having to take on all that debt for really cre by just re what the the restructuring the zone itself.

00;54;17;11 – 00;54;21;09
Joseph
And now DeSantis has his hand-picked group of right he.

00;54;21;09 – 00;54;23;19
Michelle
Picked all of his board members and everything.

00;54;23;20 – 00;54;45;08
Joseph
Well the fact of the matter is Disney has been supplementing really freaks since it was created. Mm hmm. Disney’s not going to do that anymore. Right. So really creak or whatever the Central Florida tourism district or whatever they call it now, because they had to rename it. They’re not going to have the same budget they had before, but they still have the same requirements.

00;54;46;06 – 00;54;50;17
Joseph
And it’s ultimately the people of Florida that are going to have to pay for that.

00;54;50;19 – 00;54;51;00
Michelle
Mm hmm.

00;54;51;20 – 00;55;15;11
Joseph
And I think when people look at their tax bill after this whole fiasco, this little vindictive fiasco that the Senate has put together, they’re going to realize, well, maybe we shouldn’t have reelected him for this. Maybe he’s having a hard time keeping politics out of out of business and keeping it from being personal. And, you know, that’s really what it was.

00;55;15;11 – 00;55;16;11
Joseph
It was his own little.

00;55;16;14 – 00;55;18;14
Michelle
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

00;55;18;27 – 00;55;40;25
Joseph
And ultimately, when the Florida taxpayers get their bill, that’s when you’re going to start seeing things change. And I think what’s going to happen is by the time he goes to run for president, those tax bills are going to be in and it’s going to seriously impact his ability to raise money for his campaign. That’s just what I think.

00;55;41;09 – 00;55;55;13
Joseph
My fortune teller myself. So that state down there of flux is really not going to be that big of an impact. Hmm. Disney is the number one job maker in the in the state.

00;55;55;14 – 00;55;56;06
Michelle
Absolutely.

00;55;57;06 – 00;55;59;22
Joseph
Do you really want to piss him off and have him leave the state?

00;55;59;23 – 00;56;25;18
Michelle
And that’s the thing, because there are a lot of people who don’t forget, there were a lot of people from California where they you know, the Disney Company was transferring a lot of jobs from California down to Florida. And now there are a lot of people that are like, I don’t know if I want to go down here in this hostile environment right now the way that things are.

00;56;25;19 – 00;56;54;05
Michelle
So now there’s, you know, some various talk going back and forth of, well, maybe we should wait two years before, you know, making this this change that maybe maybe in California is the better idea. And of course, there’s, you know, all the different people saying that, you know, gee, I wonder what Florida would be like if Disney decided, you know what, we’re going to just up and move Walt Disney World to a different part of the country.

00;56;54;05 – 00;56;55;28
Michelle
Right. And see how quick.

00;56;57;22 – 00;57;14;00
Joseph
You know, I mean, you’re going to it’s Disney is such a huge part of the economy. Mm hmm. That all they have to do is move one, the vision that they have down here. And you’re talking thousands of jobs out of the state. Yeah.

00;57;14;03 – 00;57;14;13
Michelle
Yeah.

00;57;14;15 – 00;57;23;22
Joseph
And. And it’s the it’s a direct response to the Santas. Mm hmm. He can’t afford that bad press.

00;57;23;23 – 00;57;24;23
Michelle
No, no.

00;57;24;23 – 00;57;30;14
Joseph
And the only reason he’s doing the things he’s doing now and the other stunts that he’s doing is not just Disney centric.

00;57;31;04 – 00;57;31;25
Michelle
Oh, yeah.

00;57;31;25 – 00;57;59;19
Joseph
The whole stunt with the. The moving a flying migrants. Mm hmm. Democrat cities and his whole stance. I love the fact that he’s he’s got this major stance against border security. Mm hmm. Somebody really needs to tell the man he doesn’t have a border with another country with his state. So you don’t have border security, right? Right. So he’s doing all this just for the publicity he needs to gain national attention.

00;57;59;20 – 00;58;12;11
Joseph
Mm hmm. So that he can make a run for 2024 after 2024, assuming he doesn’t win after 2024. He’s going to be relegated to the crap pile of history at that point.

00;58;12;12 – 00;58;14;26
Michelle
Yeah, he’s going to be wishing he had a job at Disney.

00;58;14;27 – 00;58;34;26
Joseph
Yeah, because he’s he’s going to. He’s burning every bridge there because what’s Disney going to do. They, they bought they thought they bought him as a politician because they backed his, his original election. What’s going to happen when you’re a politician that you bought doesn’t doesn’t vote in your favor, You’re going to go buy another politician, right?

00;58;34;27 – 00;58;35;19
Michelle
Exactly.

00;58;35;27 – 00;58;48;21
Joseph
And the last thing you want is to have literally one of the largest corporations in the world, again, a company with more money than God backing a politician other than you in the presidential race.

00;58;48;22 – 00;58;49;06
Michelle
Yep.

00;58;49;18 – 00;58;53;00
Joseph
How that’s never going to end Well for two Santas?

00;58;53;01 – 00;58;53;15
Michelle
No.

00;58;54;00 – 00;58;56;04
Joseph
And that’s exactly what’s going to wind up happening.

00;58;57;22 – 00;58;58;17
Michelle
Here’s to hoping.

00;58;58;23 – 00;59;19;07
Joseph
Plus, all those voters that they have down there. Oh, well, the taxpayers that they have down there that are getting screwed by the Santa, does he think they’re going to vote for him for president if he gets into a pissing match with Disney when he’s just a governor of a state? What’s he going to do as president? He’s not going to be looking out for the for the people.

00;59;19;08 – 00;59;19;19
Michelle
No.

00;59;20;06 – 00;59;37;00
Joseph
So he’s burning his own bridges. So by 2024, between him and Trump, tearing the Republican Party to the ground and literally just burning it to the ground, he’s not going to have anything after 2024. So I’m not worried about any of any of that stuff.

00;59;37;07 – 00;59;37;16
Michelle
Okay.

00;59;38;02 – 00;59;47;17
Joseph
But, you know, Iger’s staying out of that now. Right. Funny how he was commenting on it when when Chapek was steering the ship in the wrong direction. Right, Right. You know.

00;59;48;01 – 00;59;49;04
Michelle
To try and get in.

00;59;49;11 – 00;59;59;21
Joseph
Chapek already had the company in the ditch, and he was over there kind of poking a stick in his case. Right. Got it. Right. Now that he’s back in charge, he’s not saying anything. He’s lipped about the whole thing.

00;59;59;21 – 01;00;00;29
Michelle
Which is the way it needs to.

01;00;00;29 – 01;00;07;26
Joseph
Be. Exactly. So the one thing I did see is that they’re doing away with the parking charge.

01;00;07;27 – 01;00;12;28
Michelle
Right. We did see that. That was, you know, one of the things that did go away.

01;00;13;28 – 01;00;16;08
Joseph
And that helps me to justify going down.

01;00;16;09 – 01;00;46;02
Michelle
Yeah, absolutely. And that that’s really been one of the only things I’ve seen kind of come back. I know they were talking about the reservations system that there they were still leaving that in place, but they were opening it up for more people. The the park hopping, changing the time on that to make it more accessible. I think they were starting to do some of the annual passes.

01;00;46;02 – 01;00;47;03
Joseph
Right. They were doing the.

01;00;47;04 – 01;00;47;26
Michelle
Again.

01;00;47;26 – 01;01;02;14
Joseph
Hours in the morning. They were trying out to other resorts. Right. So he’s the traffic dug a huge hole. Right. He’s got a he’s got a clause way out of. Before he wins, people like me back.

01;01;02;15 – 01;01;02;29
Michelle
Yeah.

01;01;03;09 – 01;01;17;17
Joseph
And I wasn’t a big fan of Tiger’s to begin with. Right. So he’s going to have to he’s got to. He’s got his work cut out for him. Right. I would want to be in his position. And I don’t think he’s going to be able to fix all this stuff in two years.

01;01;17;18 – 01;01;31;03
Michelle
No, I think a lot of it it’s it’s going to take time because it’s one of those things they were so quick to make the changes in the first place. And then, of course, you had the pandemic that kind of escalated. It got.

01;01;31;03 – 01;01;33;20
Joseph
A breather. So everyone’s neck about it.

01;01;33;20 – 01;01;44;20
Michelle
Right. So like now you have you know, they’re starting to do dining options again. You know, like not the traditional dining plan that they had before, but something and, you know, got.

01;01;44;20 – 01;01;47;02
Joseph
To get rid of that genie plus. Oh, they’re.

01;01;47;02 – 01;01;52;13
Michelle
Not, though. That’s the problem. Genie Plus isn’t going anywhere. They’re modifying it to.

01;01;52;13 – 01;02;12;07
Joseph
Ever win me back. Right. Genie Plus, I’m sorry. Yeah, that was a waste of money. It was a terrible experience. Mm hmm. I walked out of Disney for the first time in, what, 18 years that we’ve been gone? 15 years? We were going walked out of the first time and felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth out of it.

01;02;12;08 – 01;02;18;11
Joseph
Mm. And when you’re paying Disney money, right, you damn well better feel like you’re getting your worth.

01;02;18;17 – 01;02;46;06
Michelle
No, I agree. I agree. I was I was very disappointed with it as well. And and I and, you know, and but you never even you never felt like you had that with the fast passes. Like you didn’t have to really learn how to navigate it. It was, you know, like, yeah, there were probably people when Fastpass first started that had a hard time with it and didn’t quite understand how to make it work.

01;02;46;10 – 01;02;48;09
Michelle
And, you know, and that was that.

01;02;48;09 – 01;02;58;29
Joseph
The hand, once you got to hang a fast pass, you could make the system work for you. Right. There’s no way the genie plus works for anybody.

01;02;59;06 – 01;03;19;12
Michelle
I don’t know. And that’s the thing is I, I think we probably needed to do a little bit more research, but that’s the other consistent them. But right but that’s my whole point is that I shouldn’t have to take a college course in how to use genie plus before I go on a vacation that’s where and.

01;03;19;13 – 01;03;43;05
Joseph
The thing is they build it as being anybody can use it. It’s super convenient. Do everything through the app. Everything’s wonderful. Right. Well, what I’m paying for it, too. It has built in restrictions that doesn’t even come close to comparing with Fastpass the way. Right. Right. Three. The app was terrible, right? It was confusing. It didn’t always work.

01;03;43;17 – 01;03;46;26
Joseph
And you got to kill your phone battery just to get around the point.

01;03;46;28 – 01;03;47;04
Michelle
Right.

01;03;47;21 – 01;03;49;02
Joseph
Terrible idea. Right.

01;03;49;10 – 01;04;04;09
Michelle
The idea is I’m on a vacation. I shouldn’t have to be constantly on my phone. Like when they had fastpass. When they had the fastpass system. You know, as long as you knew what time your fastpass was for.

01;04;04;22 – 01;04;05;15
Joseph
It was simple.

01;04;05;18 – 01;04;07;21
Michelle
You didn’t need to be on your phone.

01;04;07;22 – 01;04;27;10
Joseph
Do all that on my phone. Or I could go to a kiosk or go to a park cast member in the park I got option. Right. And that was free. Right. I’m paying for a system that they’ve deliberately handicapped now. Right. So as long as that’s in place, they’re not going to get me back. Mm hmm. It’s. It’s just that simple.

01;04;27;12 – 01;04;28;06
Michelle
No, I agree.

01;04;29;11 – 01;04;34;14
Joseph
So sorry, Bob, but it’s an uphill battle. I would want a job.

01;04;34;22 – 01;04;35;17
Michelle
Yeah, it wouldn’t.

01;04;35;17 – 01;04;38;09
Joseph
Even want a salary for his job, to be honest with you.

01;04;38;20 – 01;04;42;26
Michelle
It’s going to. It’s going to take a while. It’s. It’s not something that’s going to.

01;04;43;20 – 01;04;45;09
Joseph
But that’s the thing. He doesn’t have a wall.

01;04;45;10 – 01;04;47;25
Michelle
He doesn’t have a while. Yes, I know. Well, I may.

01;04;47;25 – 01;05;00;05
Joseph
Be making revolutionary changes. They’re breathing down his neck about $5.5 billion. That they didn’t lose, that they want back because they’re not making money fast enough. That’s what they’re concerned about.

01;05;00;05 – 01;05;09;22
Michelle
And that’s the thing is where is it that you’re cutting these jobs? Is it from, you know, certain divisions? Is it a little bit.

01;05;09;23 – 01;05;12;11
Joseph
They didn’t back up from the cuts from COVID.

01;05;12;11 – 01;05;28;05
Michelle
Right. And that was going to be my next thing is, I know that there are still cast members from the parks that never got called back because they just never opened up that section of the park or, you know, where they had had worked before. So.

01;05;28;09 – 01;05;28;22
Joseph
Yeah.

01;05;29;03 – 01;05;39;10
Michelle
That’s okay. How many, you know, are these new cuts now? What are you going to cut? What are you closing or is it. Yeah. Yeah, that that’s the whole thing.

01;05;39;10 – 01;05;41;25
Joseph
And what service am I losing now? I go down.

01;05;42;04 – 01;05;43;13
Michelle
But I’m not.

01;05;43;13 – 01;05;46;22
Joseph
Going to cut the price. Right. You’re going to raise the price.

01;05;46;29 – 01;05;50;00
Michelle
And because you need to make them right, because you need to make the money now.

01;05;50;03 – 01;05;55;21
Joseph
So I’ll wait for the dust to settle and figure out who his successor is and how bad they are.

01;05;55;22 – 01;05;57;10
Michelle
Yeah, I guess for.

01;05;57;11 – 01;06;04;08
Joseph
Before I have to say know. Anyway, okay. We haven’t had a chance to bash Disney in a while. Was good to.

01;06;04;08 – 01;06;05;18
Michelle
Say. Do you feel better now?

01;06;05;24 – 01;06;08;04
Joseph
I do. I feel like there’s a weight lifted off of me.

01;06;08;04 – 01;06;08;15
Michelle
No.

01;06;08;29 – 01;06;32;10
Joseph
This was such a great new stressor for me. It’s so that’s all we had today. Before we do go, I want to once again invite our listening and viewing audience to subscribe to the podcast. Audio versions of this podcast can be found listeners, insights and entertainment. You can get audio and video of all of our podcast listed as insights into things.

01;06;32;10 – 01;06;45;25
Joseph
We’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, etc. I would also invite you to write to us. You can email us comments and insights into things dot com.

01;06;45;27 – 01;06;51;01
Michelle
You can find us on Twitter at Twitter.com. Backslash insights underscore things.

01;06;51;02 – 01;06;56;21
Joseph
We do stream five days a week on Twitter, Twitch dot TV slash insights in the things.

01;06;56;21 – 01;07;02;07
Michelle
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01;07;02;07 – 01;07;10;20
Joseph
You can find us streaming six days a week on YouTube as well as all of our videos on YouTube at YouTube.com slash insights into the things.

01;07;10;26 – 01;07;16;12
Michelle
You can find us on Instagram. I am at Instagram.com Backslash insights into things.

01;07;16;19 – 01;07;24;12
Joseph
Or you can find all that and more on our official website at insights into things dot com. That’s it now in the books.

01;07;24;16 – 01;07;52;19
Michelle
Have a good week, everyone. Bye bye.