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Disney News (5/23), A Preview of The Mysterious Benedict Society coming to Disney+, and a Look Back at the Terrifying ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter

Episode 22

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This week we look to the future and to the past as we discuss The Mysterious Benedict Society, a new series coming to Disney+ on June 25 (based on the original novels by Trenton Lee Stewart), and the terrifying ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter ride that used to be at Magic Kingdom (before Stich’s great escape).  All that and more, on this week’s show!

Listen to us on your favorite podcast platform or at these links:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supercalifragilistic-awesome-disney-podcast/id1519529786
IHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-supercalifragilistic-aweso-68324055/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7aEKXzO7tTCqZfnvJnzAPC

For show notes, transcript, and more details from this episode, please visit: https://scfadp.com/podcast-season-3/disney-news-5-23-a-preview-of-the-mysterious-benedict-society-coming-to-disney-and-a-look-back-at-the-terrifying-extraterrorestrial-alien-encounter/
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All music for this episode is available through a creative commons license. The background music for the News segment was created by Kevin Macleod: Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

For more things DISNEY (and Disney food reviews), check out our website: https://scfadp.com Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at @SCFADP!

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Show Notes:

Largest “Traditions” class ever offered. Hiring spree continues: https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disney-world-hosts-largest-ever-traditions-cast-member-onboarding-class-as-hiring-spree-continues/
 Possibly moving to sell annual passes again: https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/is-disney-world-preparing-to-sell-annual-passes-again/
Hocus Pocus 2 is officially gonna happen: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/sarah-jessica-parker-bette-midler-and-kathy-najimy-officially-returning-for-hocus-pocus-sequel-1234977728/
Disneyland Resort set to open July 2 (limited capacity), reservations are possible now: https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disneyland-hotel-reopens-july-2nd/
Grand Floridian Resort will be transitioning Big Pine Key building to DVC villas: https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disney-vacation-club-expansion-coming-to-disneys-grand-floridian-resort-spa/
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser construction completion set for Jan. 2022 https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disney-continues-to-target-january-2022-construction-completion-for-galactic-starcruiser/
Parks are moving back to normalcy
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disney-world-begins-removing-physical-distancing-markers-from-extended-attraction-queues/https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/all-relaxation-stations-removed-at-magic-kingdom/
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/plexiglass-dividers-removed-from-soarin-around-the-world-at-epcot/
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disney-worlds-return-to-normal-no-more-space-while-parking-cars/
Disneyland Paris set to open June 19.
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/disneyland-paris-to-reopen-june-17/
Rideshare Signage has been moved at Hollywood Studios
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/ride-share-relocated-new-minnie-van-signs-installed-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/
EPCOT Slyliner Route closing in early 2022 for refurb just 5 days at the end of Jan.
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/epcot-disney-skyliner-line-closing-in-early-2022-for-refurbishment/
The Three Caballeros returns to Gran Fiesta Tour at Epcot
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPDuf_1B0Q6/
Morocco theming continues under Disney operation.
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/new-morocco-pavilion-theming-continues-disneys-pitch-perfect-takeover-at-epcot/
WEB Slingers attraction at California Adventure can be enhanced by purchases from WEB Tech
https://blogmickey.com/2021/05/want-the-best-possible-experience-during-new-spider-man-ride-youll-have-to-buy-the-merchandise/
ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter:
https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20150310/30034/depth-retrospective-extraterrorestrial-alien-encounter?page=3
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/ExtraTERRORestrial_Alien_Encounter
The Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/reviewed/2021/05/06/how-watch-the-mysterious-benedict-society-disney/4969598001/
https://whatsondisneyplus.com/the-mysterious-benedict-society-disney-release-date-announced/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUpFzScK7P8
https://deadline.com/2021/05/the-mysterious-benedict-society-disney-trailer-key-art-tony-hale-series-1234760723/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11875316/


Transcript:

Chris & Kelli  0:04 
You’re listening to supercalifragilistic awesome Disney podcast. Each week, we’re going to talk about three things. In Main Street USA, we’ll talk about the latest Disney news. In Tomorrowland, we talk about things we’re looking forward to. And World Showcase is dedicated to our favorite Disney adventures. So let’s get this show on the road. Por Favor Mantengase Alejado De Las Puertas.

Chris  0:48 
Hello out there podcast family. My name is Chris.

Kelli  0:51 
And I’m Kelli. Sorry, I’m bent down. I’m definitely here. I was working on my props for my segment.

Chris  1:00 
Oh, you got props.

Kelli  1:02 
I’ve got props.

Chris  1:04 
Hey, welcome to this week’s show. We are super happy to be here. If you’re watching on YouTube. This is actually a Pirates of the Caribbean Ambient Worlds Caribbean behind us. So if you’re watching on YouTube, hope you enjoy that. So we’re going with your more traditional yoda ears this week.

Kelli  1:26 
These are actual Yoda ears. So last week was Grogu. Okay, believe I’ve worn these in one of our cooking videos. But I don’t think…

Chris  1:34 
I think I’d be worried about getting hair in the food.

Kelli  1:36 
Well I don’t think I’ve worn it during an episode. And the reason for that is because they don’t hang on at all. Like there’s no grip to them. It’s just like a really kind of a flimsy headband of plastic and the ears are pretty substantial. Right? And so they don’t grip they don’t hang on and it’s very easy for them to just topple off.

Chris  1:56 
So we can have a wardrobe malfunction during the show.

Kelli  1:59 
I don’t think we will I think my headphones are holding them on. But these are I’m gonna call these legit Yoda ears mean they’ve got his ear hair. The attention to detail in these years is amazing. But I will just say wearing these on a humid day or slightly rainy day in the park is disastrous. His ear hair will fall out. Yeah. That’s not something that can be sustained for any amount of time. It’s, you know…

Chris  2:22 
None of us like it when our ear hair starts to fall out.

Kelli  2:24 
You don’t want the ear hair to fall out. I mean, he’s got a lot of ear hair like at the front and the back. A lot of your hair there.

Chris  2:31 
There’s a lot of hair. Yeah, there is. Details man. That’s what sets Disney apart.

Kelli  2:43 
Were you trying to sneak a peek at my prop?

Chris  2:44 
No, I don’t know what you’re doing over there,

Kelli  2:46 
I’m trying to get the prop ready. It’s very difficult.

Chris  2:48  
Okay. All right. I hope we’re not building this up too much. Hey, so my favorite thing is to look through the list of where we got downloads from from week to week. And this past week, we saw downloads from Chiefland, Florida. So Chiefland, Florida, they have a population like just over 2200 so…

Kelli  3:11 
That’s fantastic.

Chris  3:13 
It’s just about an hour west of Gainesville, okay, they call themselves the gem of the suwannee Valley.

Kelli  3:19 
Okay, sure.

Chris  3:20 
I think it’s cute. opposite end of the city size spectrum. We got downloads from Houston, Texas this way. Nice. Pittsburgh, PA

Kelli  3:30 
Nice.

Chris  3:31 
and Frankfurt, Germany.

Kelli  3:33 
Fun cool,

Chris  3:36 
very cool. So happy to to get downloads from anywhere frankly, and honestly, we’re on pace to set another like monthly record in May which is

Kelli  3:47 
just amazing.

Chris  3:48 
Thank you so much.

Kelli  3:48 
We really appreciate it

Chris  3:50 
so honored to have people that listen to us so yeah, hopefully it’s a it’s a fun distraction for you each week because it certainly is for us.

Kelli  3:59 
Yes, absolutely.

Chris  4:00 
I just happen to look across the room here and I see that our wines from your segment

Kelli  4:06 
yes

Chris  4:07 
they’re starting to come in…

Kelli  4:08 
I was actually gonna do a quick Instagram video on those maybe after the after record tonight to post out there because I want everybody to see this is real it’s come in Yeah, we have ordered the Disney family of wines and

Chris  4:19 
…That are at the Terrace place. Yes.

Kelli  4:22 
Yeah. Disneyland. And and so we’ve got to look at that logistically and see how we want to do it.

Chris  4:28 
Okay, that sounds great.

Kelli  4:29 
I don’t want to open 12 bottles of wine in one night.

Chris  4:32 
Okay.

Kelli  4:34 
These are fairly expensive.

Chris  4:38 
Only compared to what we are definitely drink. We’re more in the two buck Chuck range.

Kelli  4:45 
Right. Yes.

Chris  4:46 
You ready for Main Street?

Kelli  4:47 
Yes. Main Street. Alright.

Chris  4:49 
So. So, lots of stuff around things kind of back to normal, frankly, which is awesome. They had their largest Disney World had its largest I’m using air quotes here traditions class ever offered. Okay so because their hiring spree is mountainous right now, so traditions is the class is the new associate new associated music company jargon their new cast member assimilation and onboarding and orientation class that every new cast member goes through.

Kelli  5:26 
Okay, so a drink the Kool Aid kind of a class.

Chris  5:29 
Yes, yes. very much a go to this class to drink the Kool Aid largest class ever they had to move into a different location from where they normally do. Wow. Okay, the one of the people leading the traditions class tweeted out a picture of like this big huge hall that they were in. Wow. Yep. Um, so there’s some there was a there was sort of a news item that came out this week that annual pass holders will no longer get automatically get magic man’s magic bands are viewed as a free thing are clearly going away. They’re just got other options. Only magic bands will go away entirely. You just had to buy them right now. And they’re selling some really cool ones.

Kelli  6:08 
They’re selling cool magic bands.

Chris  6:09 
And they they’re clearly a collector’s item for a lot of people. So no need to stop them entirely from working. Right. But there are other options now that are cheaper for Disney than giving away free magicbands. Right. But then the thing that made it a little more newsy was the way they worded it. They worded it to suggest that future annual pass holder purchases will not get free magicband. So make people think, are they going to start selling new annual passes again, as you know, they said they weren’t going to do that they were only going to allow you to renew it if you already had a pass. But the way they worded this thing about the magic man’s people might be reading too much into it. Right. But it sort of sounds like maybe they’re going to offer annual passes for new purchase again, which I mean,

Kelli  6:58 
It could also mean that legacy annual pass holders still get magic bands.

Chris  7:03 
They’re definitely doing away with magic bands all together. Yeah, that is going away for anybody. It’s just the way they worded it they said any future annual pass holder purchases, okay, not renewals. I say purchases and renewals okay. will not get magicbands. So suggesting that there would be opportunity to purchase an annual pass new in the future interesting. In the world of entertainment, Cruella de Vil comes out on May the 28th. So Friday.

Kelli  7:31 
Oh gosh. That’s next Friday.

It’s Friday, yes.

Yes, okay.

Chris  7:38 
So Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Cruella Deville’s origin story to a degree.

Kelli  7:45 
I saw Emma Emma Stone on the red carpet for that, and man she looked phenomenal.

Chris  7:49 
She’s ridiculous.

Kelli  7:51 
Gosh, if my hair would look like that I would totes grow it out. It just doesn’t, I can’t pull it off.

Chris  7:56 
Well imagine all the all the people that she can’t afford to have it look, however she wants it to look at a moment’s notice.

Kelli  8:03 
Thank you, honey, I appreciate that. I do not have an…

Chris  8:05 
you don’t have an entourage of hair dressers.

Kelli  8:09 
Yeah.

Chris  8:10 
So the fabulous Bette Midler announced that Hocus Pocus two is is officially gonna happen. It’s been rumored since 2019.

Kelli  8:21 
All of them announced it Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy najimy also tweeted it.

Chris  8:24 
Okay, great. I knew that it was official that they had all signed on.

Kelli  8:28 
Yeah, they all tweeted it. Same time. That’s great.

Chris  8:31 
So fall of next year…

Kelli  8:34 
I think so, I think so.

Chris  8:35 
Yeah. Disney plus on Disney plus, that’s right. Yes. Ann Fletcher is going to direct it. She previously worked on the proposal and 27 dresses okay. And the previous director was a guy named Adam Shankman. He’ll remain on as the executive producer but he had to back away because of a scheduling conflict. He was already scheduled to direct disenchanted which is the sequel to enchanted with Amy Adams. So, Amy and Amy Adams is going to be in the new one too. I think so. Okay. So all of that is good news.

Kelli  9:12 
I Like what’s going on there. Okay.

Chris  9:14 
Um, Disneyland Resort has now announced that it will open on July the second in with limited capacity. Reservations according to the notice reservations are possible now. Okay. And trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Room will open at the same time, which is a really good time.

Kelli  9:32 
This is all still just for California people.

Chris  9:34 
That’s my understanding. All the parks are just for California people I think anybody can go and stay at the hotel if you’re willing to pay those dollars. And boy, there’s a lot of dollars and a lot of dollars involved in that but that that’ll that means that by mid July, all of their resorts are open at least in some capacity. All of their meaning Disneyland resorts. In speaking of resorts Grand Floridian resort will be adding Some new DVC villas, so they’re not building anything new. They’re going to take a my understanding is that they’re going to take the big pine key building, which is one of the buildings that borders the water sort of. And they’re going to turn those into DVC villas.

Kelli  10:16 
What are they right now? Just standard?

Chris  10:17 
Standard rooms. Yep, they’re in the building next to the one we stayed in that one time we were there for like 48 hours.

Kelli  10:24 
Yeah. It was glorious a glorious 48 hours.

Chris  10:26 
It was, it was. And there’s some if you look at online, there’s some there’s some like first looks of galactic star cruisers hallways, which are really interesting. It’s like walking through the interior of a spaceship course it is, which is great.

Kelli  10:46 
That actually does intrigue me. I always wanted to be on Star Trek.

Chris  10:51 
When they’re walking through the hallway. That’s what it feels like. That’s what it feels like, except in the wall or wakes up Star Wars, Star Trek.

Kelli  11:01 
No, I’m talking about Star Trek.

Chris  11:02 
I know you are. But that’s not what this is gonna be.

Kelli  11:05 
I know. But I’m just saying.

Chris  11:07 
Don’t say that when you’re there.

Kelli  11:09 
But the Star Trek…

Chris  11:10 
Don’t say that when you’re there.

Kelli  11:11 
The Star Trek makes me want to go there. To visit the Star Wars thing and walk through the halls is what I’m saying. For Star Trek…

Chris  11:17 
I’m gonna want to set this down right now. This is not allowed. These two worlds don’t get to mix. The parks getting back to normal physical distancing signs are being removed in a lot of the extended queue areas. Relaxation stations have been removed entirely from Magic Kingdom.

Kelli  11:37 
Wow.

Chris  11:38 
Yeah, they’re moving fast. Plexiglas dividers have been removed from Soarin’ and its capacity has increased.

Kelli  11:44 
Wow.

Chris  11:44 
Capacity has increased on Splash Mountain. All the parking spaces in the parking lots are now available for use as parking. You know, there had spaces in between previously…

Kelli  11:57 
I forgot about that. The cars were socially distancing.

Chris  12:01 
Yeah, Rise of the resistance. Separate parties can now ride in the same car and they’ve the physical distancing markers during the the pre show portions have been removed and plexiglass dividers have been removed.

Kelli  12:16 
We’re still wearing masks inside?

Chris  12:19 
Yes, that’s my understanding. Yes. Okay. Disneyland Paris set to open on June 19th. Last week, we said it will come soon. All right. announcement came June 19.

Kelli  12:29 
I see you Paris.

Chris  12:30 
Disneyland Paris opens up I know.

Kelli  12:32 
See Paris. I think it’s still gonna be a 2022 for us.

Chris  12:35 
I hope it’s 2022. Yeah. Um, so hey, here’s something fun, ride share signage has been moved at Hollywood Studios from where it was previously to a spot a little bit further out. Okay. But the newsy thing for us is they installed a new Minnie Van sign.

Kelli  12:53 
Somebody posted today, like they were looking at transportation options in the app. And the Minnie Van option popped up. Yes. And they were like, I don’t know if this is a fluke.

Chris  13:02 
Or if it’s for real, they’ve installed a new Minnie Van sign in their new location for rideshare.

Kelli  13:07 
I enjoy the Minnie Vans. I think it’s a lovely transportation option.

Chris  13:10 
It’s more expensive. But I’ve loved that option.

Kelli  13:12 
It’s a great experience for transportation.

Chris  13:15 
Yep. I’m the outcast skyliner is going to be I wouldn’t be put this on here, if I did read more about it early on, but it’s gonna go down for five days of refurbishment. In early 2022. The Three Caballeros I saw they’re back, they’re back at Grand Fiesta tour. They’re they’re back and better than ever. Again, they got totally refreshed.

Kelli  13:36 
They got a glow up.

Chris  13:38 
They got a glow up. That’s right. They got plussed.

Kelli  13:41 
They got plused.

Chris  13:43 
Morocco theming continues now that you know with Disney running the show, they’re now just you know, some color, some sign painting signage and stuff like that it’s looking really good. And some previz of the web slingers, attraction at the Avengers campus and California Adventure was released. This is gonna be the first attraction ever, to my knowledge where you can buy gear to further enhance your experience on the ride. It’s pretty cool. That’s really cool. It’s pretty cool. So you can buy like an enhanced webslinger, everybody will be able to sling webs on the ride. That’s part of the ride. But you can buy an enhanced webslinger to give you more powers, or an Iron Man style like hand what they call repulsor. Cool. That’s pretty cool. Pretty cool. I mean, these people are geniuses at making money. Seriously, they just print it. They just print it on domain. Take my check. All right. said it right there. No, no, that’s an old one. Okay. I get a lot of minis in here and Mickey. I’m sorry, Mickey said here.

Kelli  14:57 
Hey, Mickey, what you got for us, bud?

Chris  14:59 
Okay. From the Ferocious Beast, oh, good name. Favorite park, this is easy… Favorite Park transportation monorail, skyliner, ferry, or boat. Bus. What’s your favorite transportation?

Kelli  15:17 
Oh, gosh. I mean, okay, you go first.

Chris  15:21 
Skyliner, all day.

Kelli  15:23 
Skyliner doesn’t go everywhere.

Chris  15:25 
It’s my favorite though.

Kelli  15:27 
Skyliner’s my favorite. Yeah, I think. I mean, I enjoy Skyliner the most because we don’t have to ride with other people. That sounds like such a horrible person on this show. I don’t like being crowded in transportation situations. I don’t like…

Chris  15:46 
pre pandemic.

Kelli  15:47 
Pre pandemic. I don’t want to be shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of stinky sweaty people. I don’t want to be shoulder to shoulder with babies who need their diapers changed or somebody that just threw up.

Chris  15:56 
Wow. Okay,

Kelli  15:57 
We have experienced all of that.

Chris  15:59 
We have. I like the skyliner because it’s it’s you don’t have to wait too long to ever to get on it. It’s it’s comfortable. It’s there’s a nice breeze breeze. It feels it feels generally relaxing.

Kelli  16:16 
It is it’s very relaxing. And we’ve never had to ride with other people.

Chris  16:19 
What’s your second favorite?

Kelli  16:22 
I like the boats.

Chris  16:23 
The boats. Okay, yeah, the boats are good. Especially like there’s smaller boats from Magic Kingdom over to Poly.

Kelli  16:28 
Yeah, I like the poly boats.

Chris  16:30 
Okay. I’m sorry. We we offered up more than was even asked for hope that that answered your questions, Mr. Ferocious Beast,

Kelli  16:37 
Or it could be a doctor ferocious bass or Mrs. ferocious beast.

Chris  16:41 
That’s true. I see all of you. So on to Tomorrowland?

Kelli  16:49 
Okay, so I brought a book.

Chris  16:51 
I’m ready for this. Okay.

Kelli  16:54 
I’m gonna read… don’t look don’t look a little bit. Okay, I’m gonna read the back of the book. Don’t look at it. It says, “Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities. When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enrolled take a series of mysterious mind bending test. And you dear reader contest your wits right alongside them. But in the end, just for very special children will succeed. Their challenge to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could compete with their newfound friendship at stake? Will they be able to pass the most important test at all? Welcome to the mysterious Benedict society.”

Chris  17:34 
Oh boy.

Kelli  17:35 
I’m gonna just set this book here.

Chris  17:37 
As a prop, and I see.

Kelli  17:38 
So yes, you can see it. Now we actually have the entire set.

Chris  17:41 
Okay.

Kelli  17:42 
I’ll bring those up as well. Okay, so we’ve got the entire paperback set. So the reason we’re talking about the Mysterious Benedict society is because it is an original series that will start streaming on Disney plus June the 25th. Happy birthday to me. Yes. So interestingly, this was originally developed for Hulu. And it announced it was moving to Disney plus in November of 2020.

Chris  18:06 
Very easy for them to do since they own all that.

Kelli  18:09 
Yes. is based on the book series by Trenton Lee Stewart, and I’m going to give you a one sentence thing what I read initially was the back of book number one, okay, I’ll give you a one sentence plot. And if we have time, I’ll go into a little bit more detail. Placed undercover at a boarding school known as the Institute, a group of orphans must foil a nefarious plot with global ramifications while creating a new sort of family along the way. One of the just side note here, one of the executive producers Jamie Tarses, also helped develop friends and Frasier. Unfortunately, she passed away from a cardiac event last fall, she was only 56. Just a quick shout out to Jamie. She broke the glass ceiling for female TV executive. She was the first woman to run a network entertainment division. And she was president of ABC entertainment at age 32.

Chris  19:01 
Oh my gosh.

Kelli  19:02 
So she shattered that ceiling at a young age.

Chris  19:05 
And I hear stuff like that, and I feel like such a waste.

Kelli  19:09 
So good job, Jamie. Let’s just celebrate Jamie’s success. These are middle grade novels. That means they’re targeted towards like fourth to eighth grade.

Chris  19:19 
Right in my wheelhouse.

Kelli  19:20 
With a very Lemony Snicket vibe, won tons of Book Awards. But apparently it also has very strong moral lessons as well. So the cast I do love So first of all, the books are very diverse. The the folks in the book, The characters are diverse, it describes them. And so I think the casting was done really well. But so let me tell you a little bit about who is in it. So the first season that will come out on June 25 is eight episodes. I don’t know which book it’s going to be doing. Obviously it can skip around creative license or what have you. But it does look like there’ll be more than one series or at least they’re setting it up that way.

Chris  20:03 
Good. I like that.

Kelli  20:04 
So the eight episode first season stars Tony Hale, Kristen Shaw, Ryan Hurst, MaameYaa Boafo, I’m so sorry. Gia Sandhu, Seth Carr, Emmy DeOliveira, Mystic Inscho, and Marta, Timofeeva and she actually changed her name she is Marta Kessler now. So in any case, I want to give you a little bit of background each of these especially the children in this series, because I think they’re really gonna make it. So the first one is Reynie Muldoon.

Chris  20:41 
That’s the character’s name?

Kelli  20:42 
Yes, Mystic Inscho is going to be playing Reynie Muldoon. So Reynie is an 11 year old boy living at stonetown orphanage. He is talented at problem solving, logical deduction and perceiving people’s emotions. Reynie looks between the lines observing and questioning and solves most problems by looking for a puzzle within the situation. Right so these kids are unique and smart in very unexpected ways. That’s what I’ll say. The next one is Seth Carr and he is Sticky Washington. So Sticky is an 11 year old tea skinned boy, is how he’s described. He has a great memory everything sticks in his head, which is where he gets the nickname and a talent for reading quickly. He has timid and nervous and resorts to polishing his glasses in stressful situations. He ran away from his parents because they forced him into an academic competition and he thought they no longer wanted him around. I would like to just take a moment and say that does not make Sticky an orphan, that makes him a missing child.

Chris  21:51 
Potentially a kidnap victim.

Kelli  21:53 
But whatever. We’re gonna we’re gonna go with this orphan. According to this, he’s not an orphan. He’s a runaway. Kate Weatherall. She is played by Emmy DeOliveira, 12 year old girl who is sporty, dextrous, strong, creative, cheerful and optimistic. After being orphaned she ran away to the circus. She has blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She carries a red bucket containing various items which she thinks are useful, including an army knife flashlight, a pin a rope, a bag of marbles, slingshot spool of clear fishing twine, a horseshoe magnet and a Spyglass disguised as a kaleidoscope.

Chris  22:32 
It does absolutely feel very Lemony Snicket.

Kelli  22:35 
Very Lemony Snicket. Kate’s mother died when she was a baby and believes her father left her when she was young because of her mother’s tragic death. So again, we don’t necessarily know that she’s an orphan. She loves to call herself the great Kate weather machine.

Chris  22:52 
It’s great.

Kelli  22:52 
Constance contraire. This is Marta Kessler. So I introduced her as Marta with a different last name, and that’s because she is from Russia. Marta from Russia. She is small, extremely intelligent and a stubborn girl. She has the ability to write clever and brutal poems. And her ultra sensitive mind is most affected by the whisperer, which I will explain in just a bit. So then you’ve got the good guy. This is the guy that’s running the has recruited them. Okay. His name is Mr. Nicolas Benedict. He’s Tony Hale, also known as forky. In Toy Story 4, among other things, got a long line. Yeah. But I just thought the forky thing was really interesting. He’s a middle aged man who recruits the children he is the one who discovered the plans of his identical twin brother, hidden remember his name is Nicholas Benedict, his identical twin brother, his name Ledroptha Curtain from whom he was separated just after birth because their parents had died. Mr. Benedict suffers from narcolepsy, which causes him to fall asleep when he experiences strong emotions usually laughter So for example, when he’s laughing loud,

Chris  24:05 
he just he’s out.

Kelli  24:08 
I can already see this as being just hilarious. Yeah. Okay. The bad guy. His identical twin brother. Naturally Tony Hale plays both. Ledroptha Curtain is the antagonist of the story and the head of the Learning Institute for the very enlightened L.I.V.E. And the emergency are his, added that an air quotes, broadcast books are his tools for creating mass panic and destabilizing the world’s major governments. Mr. Curtain created the mind control and mind message transmitter device called the whisperer, which utilizes children’s minds to spread propaganda and subliminal messages through television as part of a scheme to usurp control of the entire world and be declared minister and Secretary of all Earth regions. M.A.S.T.E.R. he is also revealed to be Mr. Benedict’s long lost twin brother. He uses a modified wheelchair to get around and wears mirrored sunglasses in order to conceal his narcolepsy which is triggered by anger as a foil to his twins laughter induced narcolepsy.

Chris  25:21 
It sounds, you know…

Kelli  25:24 
Sounds fantastic sounds very.

Chris  25:26 
Oh yeah, it really does. I love the creativity of all of this.

Kelli  25:29 
So here’s the plot from IMDb. Okay, after winning a scholarship competition for gifted orphans are recruited by the peculiar Mr. Benedict for a dangerous mission to save the world from a global crisis known as the emergency in capitals, Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance must infiltrate the mysterious LIVE Institute to discover the truth behind the crisis. When the headmaster, the sophisticated Dr. Curtain appears to be behind this worldwide panic the kids of the mysterious Benedict society must devise a plan to defeat him. Now, that’s the IMDb summary. So that’s what I expect to see in season one.

Chris  26:09 
Okay, which…

Kelli  26:10 
sounds a lot like book one here.

Chris  26:12 
So when does it start?

Kelli  26:13 
June 25.

Chris  26:14 
Oh, my gosh. I’m just gonna read these before June 25.

Kelli  26:17 
I know. We just got them in this week.

Chris  26:22 
I like it. I love that we’ve got these books.

Kelli  26:25 
I know. I’m super excited about it. And I will say I glanced through them. They are middle grade, but they’re middle grade at…

Chris  26:33 
You think I’d like them?

Kelli  26:34 
Like a Harry Potter level? Yeah. No, they’re not. They’re not baby books. They’re good books.

Chris  26:39 
Well, this is very interesting. I’m super excited about it.

Kelli  26:44 
Super excited.

Chris  26:45 
I think maybe we start this one tonight. And you read me to sleep. Start reading that time you read that to me tonight.

Kelli  26:51 
I’m in the middle of another book right now.

Chris  26:53 
Well, hello.

Kelli  26:54 
And then I was gonna read Princess Bride after that.

Chris  26:56 
Okay, well, fine. I’ll take this on myself for a minute. Wow, that was awesome. I love that. I cannot wait to read these and see how they put it on screen.

Kelli  27:07 
Yeah, I’m excited about it.

Chris  27:08 
So sometimes I do wish we would talk about what we’re going to be talking about because this is a really tough turn.

Kelli  27:16 
Tough turn.

Chris  27:18 
So recently, I don’t know why I’ve been on this kick lately of reminiscing, long lost, sometimes not too long lost attractions at Disney. But here we are again. I was listening to another podcast where they recently reviewed the movie alien. And it made me think about First of all, it made me think about the section of the great movie ride when we ride through the alien section. But then I thought about one of the most biggest cult following rides at Disney maybe has ever had sort of controversial, but absolutely. I loved it. Okay, this is the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Did you ever ride this?

Kelli  28:09 
I didn’t. I did ride Stitches though.

Chris  28:12  
took over the the stitches greatest thing I took over this location it like once and used a lot of the same trickery. And, and. Yeah, and special effects.

Kelli  28:27 
That stitch was terrifying.

Chris  28:28 
Oh really?

Kelli  28:29 
Stitch was terrifying. Okay, well, it’s one of the scariest rides.

Chris  28:35 
No, no, ma’am. It wasn’t. The thing they had before that Alien Encounter was truly horrifying sometimes. Okay, so. So here’s a summary. This was a theater in the round theater in the round style attraction. That brought guests up close and personal with an alien. A vicious, monstrous alien. Okay, it opened for previz only on December the 16th 1994 having replaced the old mission to Mars ride Okay, did you ever read that one did not read that. Okay, for sure. It’s gonna be on a defunct ride. default one, day two. It was then closed just a few weeks later January 12. For retooling because mainly because CEO at the time Michael Eisner didn’t think it was scary enough.

Kelli  29:27 
Oh, my goodness.

Chris  29:28 
Yes. So it officially opened again on June 20 95. In magic kingdoms new Tomorrowland, you remember they did they sort of revamped Orlando. It only lasted about eight years, which in Disney parlance that’s not a very long run for something especially for a ride of this caliber. I closed for good on October 12 2003. And then it was replaced the next year by stitches. Great Escape. Okay. So here’s the ride. You had to pre shows Where leaders and scientists have access tech. Explain what we’re going to see which is a demo of their new technology. A teleportation device. In this in this environment we’ve got people living in on other planets, and we are now testing the ability to teleport from planet to planet. Excess tech. Their tagline was something along the lines of if you can’t do it with access, don’t do it at all. So we’re strapped in this in this round theater. strapped in strategy literally got bars strapped over you.

Kelli  30:38 
Yes, you’re strapped in.

Chris  30:40 
And they’re these monitors up in the ceiling are showing the scientists that are on a planet across the galaxy, and they’re going to teleport one of us to them. But at the last minute, one of the scientists decide, you know, no, we’re going to just go ahead and teleport me from here to them. But something of course goes wrong. And instead of teleporting him to us, they teleport a vicious alien monster from another planet to us. Yeah, soon as it the smoke clears. He goes berserk and bust out of his cylinder. It’s in the middle of the room. All the power goes out. A live cast member starts walking around the top scaffolding with a flashlight saying things like Don’t worry, everybody will have the lights back on shortly. And just about that time that cast member gets tagged by the alien. And all this screeching and noise and the cast members does this blood curdling scream and that’s when you feel warm liquid fall on your face. Now, people over the years have said that that feels like the animal the alien saliva or I always thought it was the cast members blood.

Kelli  31:54 
When you described it, I assumed it was the blood.

Chris  31:55 
Yeah, that’s what it felt like. And then the alien cast member legit screens legit screens. And then they use this bilateral sound system where you could hear things going from left to right and right to left creepy and the aliens running around the room your chairs rumbling like you can feel him running behind you. But then it all gets quiet Do you also hear like other guests on the ride screaming because you think they’re being killed by the animal

Kelli  32:26 
Now you put that in air quotes but I have heard other guests scream.

Chris  32:29 
Other guests absolutely screen. But there are there are clearly like recorded net like things that are people are saying and then then the writer gets quiet and dark again. And you literally feel the animal that alien lit the top of your head. And then you feel his hot breath on your neck. That’s usually when people pee a little bit. And then somehow they they get the animal back into the center cylinder. And they destroy it with one final airblast and I feel like I remember blood to the face. That’s what I feel like and then they open up the doors and you walk out you run out your your your line out. It was horrifying. People told story there were all these stories of people having heart attacks on it. I remember my grandmother god bless her. absolutely loved every minute of that right. Oh my goodness, she is such had a blast. So so it was crazy cool like technology. But so but that was never the original idea. The original idea Michael Eisner legitimately wanted to bring the alien movie franchise into the Magic Kingdom. And so they were going to do Disney franchise. It’s it’s not but although I think aliens was maybe 21st 20 Century Fox, which is now on by but at the time, not so much. It was going to be a dark ride shooter game, okay, where you were riding through the Nostromo spaceship from the original alien movie and you would shoot those aliens from that movie. They sort of split that idea. They didn’t like it. It was too scary. Plus, it was it was an R rated movie. And at the time, they had a rule of thumb that they would only bring in attractions for movies from G through PG. Although they’ve had a couple of pG 13 movies now that have made attractions in Disney parks. The shooter portion of it became Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger spin where we shoot and I beat you every time.

Kelli  34:32 
So that was all one ride.

Chris  34:34 
Well, no, not necessarily. They just said well let’s do a shooter. Okay, and we’ll put it over here and then we’ll turn this into something else.

Kelli  34:41 
I mean that little side sidebar comment that you made right there. I want you to know that I heard it.

Chris  34:45 
Okay.

Kelli  34:46 
That “I beat you every time” comment. You cheat every time.

Chris  34:50 
So once they decide okay, this is not going to be an alien movie franchise attraction how much time I got your good. Day decided like we got to create a new story then. It’s got to be a new story. They got George Lucas. In fact, they had to use George Lucas to convince Michael Eisner not to do alien. Okay, their movie franchise. So George Lucas came up with a whole new story for this ride. This is not what they went with, but it’s very similar. Just this is George Lucas his take on it. Excess Tech has opened up their spacelabs to the public shelter new technology, this teleportation device? Well, we don’t know is this is actually a trap. What they really want to do is test the destructive nature of this alien they’ve got their eyes on. So they’re going to put all of us in this room, they’re going to teleport the alien in there showing off their teleporter. But then they’re going to be taking notes as they see how quickly the alien can kill all of us.

Kelli  35:49 
Oh my goodness.

Chris  35:51 
Right. So they teleport the alien in he goes berserk. And it’s all crazy. And he’s breathing on us and all that fun stuff. But then the surprise, he’s actually very intelligent, and he knows what’s happened. And so then the alien rescues us by killing some of the scientists in the room. We still get the blood on our face. And he opens up the doors and the chair and the chair and lets us all out. And as we’re walking out, we hear him taking his revenge on the side.

Kelli  36:23 
Oh my goodness.

Chris  36:25 
George Lucas is a freak. I know that and that’s what they decided they decided that was dark. They felt like they could they could they could do they can add a little bit of kill a couple of cast members. They could add a couple they can make it a little more humorous and still kill some cast members. So that’s what they went with. What I found amazing. Another thing I found amazing what they showed was the cast. Tim Curry was in it.

Kelli  36:51 
I loved Tim Curry.

Chris  36:52 
You love Tim Curry, the great late great Phil Hartman from SNL. Kathy Najimy love played one of the scientists. Yes. Jeffrey Jones played the lead chairman. Okay. He was the bad guy and Howard the Duck was also the principal and Ferris Bueller. Okay. Kevin Pollak. It was was Kevin Pollak you know it is he plays one of the dads not miss maysles dad but her ex husband’s dad can miss nasal along with a million other things he’s been in and Tyra Banks was in this thing. Wow scientists. Yeah. CASS i know i mean i love that they will reach out and grab these big names to do some very recognizable faces

Kelli  37:37 
to be in such a dire and horrible

Chris  37:39 
it was an awesome ride. I was highly upset when they got rid of it. I loved it I went gene like oh my gosh gene loved every second of it. She had a bit of a dark oh man that it was an awesome ride I hate that they got rid of it and I hate that they got rid of it now

Kelli  37:59 
I’m not sad about stitch, I have not been on that thing in years was terrifying.

Chris  38:05 
Hey folks, that is it for this week’s show. You know what to do now? Go out to your favorite podcast platform subscribe because then you don’t have to worry about downloading those episodes it comes to you automatically and leave us a rating leave us a review to get that word out there for about our show.

Kelli  38:25 
Definitely. And if you’re looking for more things Disney visit SCFadp.com. That’s SCFadp.com. S for super, C for cali, F for fragilistic, A for awesome, D for Disney, P for podcast. What you need to do this week is entered the contest. Yes. So if you haven’t already done so, this stuff is up for grabs. We got about two more weeks left on it and make it happen.

Chris  38:46 
Yep, that’s right. Follow us on all the social medias instagram facebook twitter at SCF ADP. You can subscribe to our channel on YouTube supercalifragilistic awesome Disney podcast. And the more the merrier.

Chris & Kelli  38:58 
With that, we hope to see you real soon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
 

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Episode 22