This week, in honor of Fantasmic’s 30th anniversary, and in expectation of the new Fantasmic show coming to Hollywood Studios, Chris tells us what he’s hoping to see when Fantasmic returns to Disney World. In honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, Kelli takes us on a tour of the best desserts at Disney World with Chocolate Chip cookies!
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For show notes, transcript, and more details from this episode, please visit: https://scfadp.com/season-5/disney-news-5-15-fantasmics-return-to-hollywood-studios-and-the-best-chocolate-chip-desserts-at-disney/
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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!
Show Notes:
Disney’s recent earnings report was discussed, with Chris highlighting the success of Genie plus and favorable attendance mix. Kelli expressed concern about the cost of a two-day vacation inside the parks. Unknown Speaker joined the conversation, sharing their perspective on being open-minded and growth-oriented. The group also discussed updates at Disney World, including the scaling back of the World Celebration area at Epcot and the upcoming return of Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. Chris provided insights into the new concept art for the area and shared his enthusiasm for the updated version of Fantasmic, while Kelli and Speaker 3 offered their thoughts on the changes.
Outline
Disney earnings, tax disputes, and political connections.
- Chris and Kelli discuss Disney-related topics and share fun facts from their listeners.
- Disney reports $6.7 billion in revenue for Q2, up from $400 million in losses last year.
- Chris and Kelli discuss Ron DeSantis’s lawsuit against Disney, with Chris expressing skepticism about the lawsuit’s chances in federal court.
Disney news, including updates on Epcot’s World Celebration area and the return of Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios.
- Chris and Kelli discuss a Halloween party at Disney resorts, with ticket prices ranging from $99 to $199.
- New concept art pieces have been released for the World Celebration neighborhood at Epcot.
- Chris and Kelli discuss updates to the World Celebration area at Epcot, including a new communal core building and 10,000 new LED lighting systems.
- The duo also touches on angst around Disney’s political decisions and Marlene’s energy level.
- Chris and Kelli discuss the return of Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with new show sequence and technical enhancements.
- Chris wants to see updates from Disneyland’s Fantasmic, such as Pocahontas segment and new special effects.
Chocolate Chip Cookies at Disney:
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-chocolate-chip-day-may-15/
https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/05/22/the-6-best-chocolate-chip-cookies-in-disney-world/
https://www.disneysprings.com/dining/gideons-bakehouse/
https://gideonsbakehouse.com/
Disney News:
- General
- Disney General
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/disney-parks-posts-6-7-billion-revenue-in-second-quater-of-2022/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/disney-praises-favorable-attendance-mix-disney-genie-as-revenue-drivers-for-theme-park-business/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/guest-spending-up-more-than-40-over-pre-pandemic-numbers/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/galactic-starcruiser-demand-remains-strong-disney-expects-100-sell-outs-into-summer/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/disney-world-undertakes-26-million-fiber-optic-project-in-partnership-with-reedy-creek-improvement-district/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/federal-judge-dismisses-taxpayer-lawsuit-against-desantis-over-dismantling-of-reedy-creek-improvement-district/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/republican-senator-takes-aim-at-mickey-mouse-copyright-woke-disney-in-new-bill/
- Magic Kingdom
- Epcot
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/new-look-at-modified-world-celebration-neighborhood-coming-to-epcot/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/imagineers-will-install-more-than-10000-additional-led-fixtures-to-ensure-world-celebration-comes-alive-with-light-at-epcot/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/guardians-of-the-galaxy-cosmic-rewind-easter-eggs/
- https://blogmickey.com/2022/05/video-first-look-at-magicband-interaction-with-fab-50-character-statues/
- Disney General
Episode Transcript:
Chris 0:28
Welcome aboard Disney fam. Hello out there Disney fam. My name is Chris and Kelly. Welcome to the Supercalifragilistic awesome Disney podcast where Kelly today is wearing. We’re back to normal by the way, that’s
Kelli 0:44
normal. I’m here.
Chris 0:45
Kelly’s wearing her Mickey apprentice ears that have the Mickey wizard hat on top. Yeah,
Kelli 0:52
I’m wearing those in honor of Fantasticks 30th anniversary.
Chris 0:56
Oh how apropos show.
Kelli 0:59
Oh, I was pretty excited about that. I started to wear my big sorcerers a big one. But I really love these and you are obsessed with taking photos. For some reason
Chris 1:11
I love like walking behind you when you got this particular set of ears on. Something about it is like totes adorbs
Kelli 1:19
I love these ears. These
Chris 1:19
are some of my favorite. So this week, we see people downloading and some fun places. Okay. San Tan Valley, Arizona. Oh, that sounds fun. It does unincorporated a little community just southeast of the Phoenix metro area. Okay. Yep. Wichita Kansas home with a shocker. Ah, okay. Nice. So shockers and a place have not been but I desperately want to go. Malibu, California.
Kelli 1:52
Malibu
Chris 1:54
Pepperdine University’s got to be one of if not the most beautiful college campus in America and and home with Tony Stark.
Kelli 2:04
Look at that.
Chris 2:07
And internationally. Apologize to these folks for how am I gonna butcher this name is Megan, in the Netherlands. Nijmegen? Nijmegen, this Majan I don’t know. I’m sorry, folks.
Kelli 2:23
Welcome to The Netherlands. Welcome. We’re
Chris 2:25
we are huge. In the Netherlands nice. It’s this is a town right near the border with Germany. Okay, cool. So yeah, awesome. Awesome. Just so excited every time I see new places show up in our download feet. You ready for Main Street? Main Street. All right. So this week was a busy week for earnings called stuff. You know, we just took a small gaze away from fighting with the GOP to reporting our earnings this week. Great quarter for Disney. They reported $6.7 billion in revenue for the quarter for the second quarter doubling the same period a year ago. Make sense though? Does a not every park was open yet. Although I think Disneyland for the second quarter was open for the full quarter. Okay, but both parks were operating at reduced capacity. Same story for net income 1.8 billion in net income compared to 400 million in losses last year in the same quarter. So that’s better for them
Kelli 3:39
for most excited to report something like that. So was Sam sure che Peck was excited or something like that. Just take a little bit of
Chris 3:47
heat off, please. They praised a favorable decision. This is cute, quote, favorable attendance mix. And Genie plus for driving Park revenues? Well, yes, Genie plus half the people that are going to the parks are paying $15 per person per day. Yes, that’s going to drive a lot. But the favorable attendance mix is we believe that sounds like Disney is perfecting the whole park reservations model where they feel like they’re driving people to where they want them to be more.
Unknown Speaker 4:26
Okay. Yep.
Chris 4:30
starcruiser demand also remains strong and it’s expected to be 100% capacity through the summer. Yeah. You know, honestly, though, it’s only been open since March officially. Still.
Unknown Speaker 4:42
I mean, the money I know. I know. Just
Kelli 4:46
struggle with that. I will struggle with the cost of a two day vacation a
Chris 4:53
two day vacation inside almost the whole time. I
Kelli 4:58
really struggle with that cost. Yeah.
Chris 5:01
I’d still be surprised, though, if if even into the summer they were at capacity. There’ll be at capacity for for right. I mean,
Kelli 5:09
we’re talking about Star Wars people not. I’m not worried about their ability to attract people who are willing to pay the money. I just don’t think that’s gonna be us. I mean, these are these are Star Wars books, right? No, no, no, they
Chris 5:21
will. Yeah, they beg people to take their Star Wars money. Yes.
Kelli 5:25
Yes. May the force be with them all? Yeah.
Chris 5:30
So some taxpayers sued Ron DeSantis. Over the whole kerfuffle is talking, I’m so surprised that the taxpayers don’t want to pay an extra $2,500 in taxes every year. Um, but they sued in federal court. So it was dismissed, mainly because the federal court felt it lacked standing to to make a ruling on a state a specific state. That’s
Kelli 5:58
interesting. Why did they sue in state court,
Chris 6:00
the lawyer that actually the lawyer, the Congress person that was speaking on the subject said, this is just the very first thing we’re going to do to make sure this doesn’t actually take place? Oh, yeah. No, Disney doesn’t seem super worried about it, considering the very next day. They announced a $2.6 million fiber optic project with the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
Kelli 6:28
Disney knows this is not going to happen. People in that district do not want to take up billions of dollars in debt and debt just because Ron DeSantis didn’t get his way. Or he actually did get his way. He just didn’t like how it went down. Right. You
Chris 6:41
didn’t know anybody criticizing that. Right? So that’s ridiculous. The United States can’t criticize a politician for bit
Unknown Speaker 6:49
heaven forbid.
Chris 6:52
Interestingly, along the same lines Josh Hawley, US senator from Missouri, what makes this particularly sad is that is Missouri is where Walt Disney spent most of his childhood
Unknown Speaker 7:06
was just I didn’t know that. Yep, yeah.
Chris 7:10
Marsiling, Missouri, okay. Supposedly, Main Street USA is modeled after the main street. There were Walt Disney.
Kelli 7:19
That’s cool. All right.
Chris 7:21
So Josh Hawley, who a is from Missouri, he’s not he doesn’t have anything to do with Florida, I should say, actually, he’s the Senator from Missouri for Missouri, because he lives in Virginia. But that’s neither here nor there. He’s threatening to pass a bill that would have actively stripped Disney of all of its copyright protections, giving anyone access to Disney’s IP. And there are their Disney has lobbied for years to extend copyright protections for you know, for their IP, but he’s like, nope, it’ll get it won’t make you won’t make it the answer is just news making T stuff so little bit. I don’t know. I guess this is happier news. Not so scary Halloween party tickets are on sale for any guests that are going to be staying at Disney resorts during the time that they’re hosting that party. That includes the swan dolphin and shades of green I was about to say that for anybody staying in a resort on Disney property. But as we’ve learned, there’s a million other resorts on Disney property these days. So these are specifically Disney resorts, Disney resorts, okay, right now like the Wyndham and the right, right, right, right or Vista, right? Ticket prices range from $99 to $199. Depending on the age of the party goer and the specific nights you choose to go $199 on Halloween night, for example,
Kelli 8:59
I thought you told me they were like two or $300
Chris 9:03
There is something that was but it wasn’t this party. Maybe it was the Christmas party or something.
Kelli 9:08
Whatever it was, we both agreed that people would spend it Yeah, but that’s very reasonable.
Unknown Speaker 9:13
200 bucks.
Kelli 9:15
People pay it. Yeah,
Chris 9:16
I mean, that’s the thing. I mean, people are gonna pay you’re gonna
Kelli 9:19
pay that and you get tons of candy. safe environment for candy does he’s not gonna put razor blades in the apples. I mean, I’m just saying you know, you don’t have to worry about that type of thing. If you want to pay you know, $99 for safety.
Chris 9:35
And hang out with Halloween Ray wholesome and Diane and well, no, that’s on the cruise ship where the were the were there dressed up by the Sanderson Sisters? Right? Epcot news, so some new or a new series of concept. art pieces have been released for the world celebration neighborhood. Right So Greg got world Discovery World celebration world Chuck He got to four neighborhoods. I think world discovery might be another one. In any case, the the world celebration area has been they put some new concept art, because it’s different now than what they had originally said that area was going to be
Kelli 10:17
like, okay, like the mid century modern type stuff that we saw. Well,
Chris 10:22
I don’t know that necessarily that’s gonna change but like there was a, there was like a multi level pavilion multi use multi level, that’s not going to be there anymore. Right? So just did they just changed it up because they had to spend less money for whatever reason or what they ultimately wanted to do.
Kelli 10:40
I’m sure they’ll lower the cost of the housing to match the lower, you know, the fewer amenities.
Chris 10:49
What are we talking about? Well, if
Kelli 10:50
there are fewer amenities now?
Chris 10:51
No, I’m talking about in Epcot, the world celebration area in Epcot. Oh,
Kelli 10:59
I’m in a totally different totally
Chris 11:00
different thing. I’m
Speaker 1 11:03
not quite long enough to tell that Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Kelli 11:06
This is about the neighborhoods
Speaker 1 11:07
is not the house. Oh, wow.
Kelli 11:11
What do they call that story
Chris 11:12
living by Disney? You want to start over?
Kelli 11:15
Who? Let me just drink a little bit more this day really quickly. Go ahead. I’m totally here. You’re with me now.
Chris 11:22
All right, world celebration at Epcot tight, has been has been scaled back a little bit. And so they released a new concept art, okay, for what it’s now going to look like. So this is where the creations Cafe is. And the creations store that whole area right there between basically Spaceship Earth and World Showcase. Right? They’re redoing that whole area, right. The multitiered things is not going to be in there anymore. Does Twitter is just all kind of angsty about it, you know, oh, will, they’ll still raise the prices the same, you know, all that. So I choose to remain positive and energetic and celebratory about whatever they decide to do. Because it is an update. They are building something called a communal core, there’s gonna be a communal core, multipurpose building, that will be in that outside and fiberoptic the concept art makes it like the whole outside, it’s just covered in fiberoptic screens. That’s cool, which is really cool. And we they’re gonna put 10,000 new LED lighting systems throughout there. That’ll make it give it a lot of energy. They also show them Alana attraction in more detail there. Um, also getting some first looks at the Magic Band plus things. And it’s possibly like interacting in sync with the lights on spaceship Earth. Yeah, it’s supposed to interact with the parks. Yeah, pretty, pretty cool. There. Yeah. So yeah, we got lots of other news, but we just are sorry, I went sideways. So sideways, had to get you back. You know, sorry. Plus, you know, we got all the angst about the politics of Disney. Okay, we’re back on though, folks. We’ve Marlene RT, our energy level is here. All right. So Friday was, as you say, the 30th anniversary for Fantasmic. Yeah, your ears are?
Kelli 13:29
They are right. I know. perfectly appropriate.
Chris 13:33
Yes. On May the fourth disney world made this very happy announcement Fantasmic set to dazzle audiences again later this year. So it’s definitely opening back up. The iconic Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will make it so much anticipated return. This is after two years by the way, and later in 2022 with a new show sequence featuring Disney characters, Mulan, Elsa, Aladdin Pocahontas and Mallanna in heroic moments as well as new technical enhancements. So I started thinking alright, well I wonder what technical enhancements I’d most like to see in an updated version of Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. I need to do a quick shout out here to the uniquely fantastic duo. The poor unfortunate podcast Connor and Karolina, they’re awesome. By the way if you if you haven’t heard them, go check them out. They do a wonderful job there and they are just a hoot. They are so much fun. Recently, in one of their episodes, they actually did one of their showdown their their their patented showdown episodes where they did a showdown between all the various versions of Fantasmic. So you’ve got Fantasmic at Disneyland, which technically is now on its second version. They updated it in 2015 2017. You’ve got Fantasmic at Hollywood studios and Tokyo two And he sees Fantasmic which I don’t know if it’s still actually running, but nevertheless, they did a great job. And they they talked about a lot of the stuff that I think yeah we need this stuff at the Hollywood Studios version of Fantasmic and I’ve always sort of maintained that Fantasmic is my favorite nighttime spectacular I just I go gaga over it I’m although withholding the right to change my mind now that harmonious is a thing in the world. Yeah. And I’ve seen that so I’m not going to make a final judgment until I see what the new TASMAC okay all right but I’m just saying harmonious is really packing a punch
Unknown Speaker 15:43
to be an open minded you know, growth mindset.
Kelli 15:48
Wow.
Chris 15:49
Okay. So what what things would I like to see in the updated version Fantasmic at Hollywood studios, and I’m basically pulling pick cherry picking from the one in Disneyland because they they have gone wonderful there’s nothing
Kelli 16:08
from Tokyo Disney saying you know you’re maybe but but mostly Disneyland’s? Yeah, for sure. All right.
Chris 16:14
So first and foremost, it appears that the Pocahontas segment
Kelli 16:26
just pause it. Yeah, yeah, hit record.
