Search
Follow me:
Search
Follow me:
Duffy Day Phenomenon

Disney News (3/24) – The Duffy Day Phenomenon, and Pros and Cons of Luminous at EPCOT

6 months ago
Episode 2

Play episode
Duffy Day Phenomenon

In this week’s episode, Kelli explains the Duffy Phenomenon with Disney parks in Asia (and why we should all love this bear), and Chris discusses the pros and cons of the new nighttime spectacular at EPCOT, Luminous: The Symphony of Us. 

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

SCFADP on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scfadp/
SCFADP on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SuperCaliFragilisticAwesomeDisneyPodcast

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

Show Notes:

Chris and Kelli discuss various Disney-related topics, including their favorite characters, nighttime shows at Disney parks, and the origins of Duffy, a popular character from Hong Kong Disneyland. Lou joins the conversation as a special guest and shares his thoughts on the topic. Chris and Kelli also discuss recent updates and new attractions at Disney Springs, including a drone show and a meet-and-greet experience featuring Bruno from ‘Encanto.’ They agree that ‘In Harmonious,’ a new nighttime show at Epcot, could benefit from more Disney music, while Kelli suggests that Duffy’s popularity stems from his cute and innocent nature and the fact that many guests purchase multiple plush Duffy’s and give them unique names and costumes.

Outline

Disney-related topics with special guest O’lu Mel

  • Chris and Kelli discuss Disney things, welcome special guest Lou Male.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss fun places in the US, including Gainesville, Georgia (poultry capital) and Detroit, Michigan (sports teams and festivals).

Drone shows at Disney Springs and potential reasons for their implementation.

  • Chris and Kelli discuss a drone show coming to Disney Springs, with Kelli expressing surprise and curiosity about the choice of location.
  • Chris and Kelli speculate about the reasons behind Disney’s decision to host the drone show at Disney Springs, with Chris suggesting it may be due to airspace restrictions.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss a new nighttime show at Disney Springs called “Disney Dreams That Soar,” featuring drones choreographed to music and movie quotes.
  • The show will run nightly from May 24 to September 2, and may attract visitors who want to stay at Disney Springs instead of visiting the parks.

New shows coming to Epcot, including a sing-along featuring Mirabelle and Bruno.

  • Bruno will be the focus of a new summer singalong at Communicare Hall starting June 10.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss the lack of shows in Future World at Epcot, particularly in the World Showcase area.
  • They suggest adding more shows, such as sing-alongs and street performances, to attract more visitors.
  • Kelli and Chris discuss the upcoming show at Hollywood Studios, hoping it will be like the Frozen sing-along show.
  • They reminisce about a past live show at Hollywood Studios that told the Hunchback of Notre Dame story, which they both enjoyed.

Duffy the Disney bear’s popularity in Asia and its evolution.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss Duffy, a Mickey Mouse-inspired character, and his origins in Asia.
  • Mickey and Duffy go on adventures together, with Duffy coming to life and becoming a beloved character.
  • Duffy’s popularity leads to the creation of a female counterpart, Shelley Mae, who becomes his girlfriend.
  • Kelli shares her experience of visiting a store in ilani where Duffy merchandise was available.
  • Imagineers realized they had a marketplace for Duffy in Asia and started launching him in other parks.

Duffy the teddy bear’s popularity in Asia and America.

  • Duffy, a cute teddy bear, is popular in Asia but not in the US.
  • Kelli and Chris discuss various desserts at a restaurant, including a chocolate strawberry mango crepe cake and a white chocolate strawberry croissant waffle.
  • Kelli and Chris discuss Duffy, a cute and innocent Mickey Mouse character, and their reactions to his shorts on YouTube.
  • They find Duffy’s expressiveness and pure soul endearing, and plan to watch his shorts regularly.

Epcot’s new nighttime show, Luminous, with mixed opinions on music and fireworks.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss Epcot’s new nighttime show, Luminous, and its comparison to Harmonious.
  • Chris identifies World of Color influence in the show, but notes dead spots and narration.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss the lack of Disney music in the show “Harmonious,” with Chris noting that only 10 Disney songs are featured, many of them briefly.
  • Kelli agrees, adding that some songs are sung in both English and their native language, making the show stand out.

Disney’s new nighttime show, Luminous, with praise for its size and accessibility.

  • Chris notes the absence of Disney music in the show, finding it less oomph than previous shows.
  • Chris and Kelli observe the large apparatus in the middle of the lagoon, which they find impressive.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss the new nighttime show at Epcot, Luminous, and their experiences watching it.
  • They share their thoughts on the show’s size, viewing locations, and music, with Kelli suggesting the use of drones and more Disney IP news.
  • Kelli and Chris discuss Disney’s attention to detail in lighting and architecture.

Duffy the Disney Bear:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2024/03/disney-eats-foodie-guide-to-easter-treats-2024/
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2024/03/duffy-and-friends-biggest-fans-head-to-hong-kong-disneyland/
https://sites.disney.com/waltdisneyimagineering/duffy-the-disney-bear/

At Disney Springs, drones take to the skies above Lake Buena Vista with “Disney Dreams That Soar,” a summertime experience that will be a late-night perk for visitors. “You can fly” takes on a whole new meaning as we showcase Disney stories celebrating the joy of flight with state-of-the-art drones choreographed to create designs in the sky and paired with a “soaring” musical score (see what I did there?) and memorable movie quotes. After spending a day delighting in shopping, discovering fun activities and savoring diverse flavors at Disney Springs, turn your eyes to the skies above the West Side with a show amongst the stars. “Disney Dreams That Soar” will run nightly from May 24 through Sept. 2!

  • World Showcase
    • Luminous – The Symphony of US
  • The Apparatus is GINORMOUS
    • But it does move in and out.
    • It was fully in place by 6:30, but was not started at 1:30.
  • Let’s be clear… it’s a gorgeous spectacle.

I’ve been hard on itafter watching the Youtube videos, but in person, it was great. Had this been the replacement for Reflections of Earth I’d been blown away.

But – Can you feel the love tonight is very brief, I see the light is described online as a “fragment” right before the original closing song (Beating of our Hearts)

By comparison, Harmonious featured 19 Disney great songs… some brief, but most get a full treatment despite being just 3 minutes longer.

  • Cheers
    • This is a BROAD show… seemingly covering the entire World Showcase lagoon.
    • It’s the most accessible show EPCOT has had, maybe the most accessible show in WDW history.
      • Don’t have to be on the rail because there’s no globe in the middle of the lagoon.
      • Don’t have to be in certain spots to get perfectly aligned with the circle in the middle ie Harmonious
      • You can enjoy this show truly from anywhere around the World Showcase promenade.
        • As such, the whole park feels more relaxed around showtime. No fighting over saved spots. No rush after dinner to get to your favorite location.
        • It’s just comfortable
    • The proud Corazon segment is cute because the fireworks form little hearts. 

Episode Transcript:

NOTE: This transcript was produced by AI and may have many inaccuracies. Please excuse any transcription issues.

Welcome aboard Disney fam Hello out there Disney fam. My name is Chris and I’m Kelly Welcome to This Week show run out the job I want to say to you. Thank you for doing this with me. I know it’s such a moment of joy every week it

Kelli 0:46
is for me. It is for me too good.

Chris 0:48
It is for me to you being here makes it part of that from its way

Kelli 0:51
you just trying to make up for all the main stuff you said.

Chris 0:54
Nobody is listening believes I would do that. We’re sitting here with our new Ursula I technically it’s a mug. It’s a mug. But it looks like a cauldron with a shining all sticking out at the top of it. It’s a pearl or oil or pearl. It’s a pearl. You’re right. That makes much more sense. You’re wearing your your Ilana yours that are beautiful. We’ve got a special guest today special

Kelli 1:17
guest Oh Lou male and he’s on topic. So I posted out on Insta you know Who can guess and spoiler it’s not all Lonnie, so we’ll see if anybody gets it right.

Chris 1:27
Welcome only mal you’re Looking very dapper.

Kelli 1:30
I think he does look dapper. I really like his little hands and stuff. Like five fingers. You liked everything about him? Yeah.

Chris 1:37
We had downloads this week from fun places. Gainesville, Georgia. Oh, Gainesville, alright, maybe fun places is not as strong but because of this large number of poultry processing plants. Gainesville Georgia has been called the poultry capital of the world.

Kelli 2:00
So okay, let’s move on to the next place. We

Chris 2:02
still love you Gainesville, Georgia. Thank you for downloading. processing them. Okay, um, I apologize to people that live in this Oregon town to Latson. Too late to fun. It is fun. It is the home of the two lots and crawfish festival held each August and the West Coast giant pumpkin regatta every October. Wow. The pumpkin regatta pumpkin regatta come out and the Croft the giant the giant pumpkin Regatta.

Kelli 2:30
I honestly thought South Carolina was the only state that ate crawfish.

Chris 2:34
No man Louisiana makes whole salad

Kelli 2:38
ballot. I just didn’t expect anything above the Mason deck. I didn’t think

Chris 2:42
Oregon was going to be able to make it work. Are you on the list but way to go to Latin with your two festivals in the summer and fall? Detroit Michigan, Detroit. Yes. Despite eight suburbs being listed in our list previously, we’ve never actually listed Detroit proper.

Kelli 2:58
Wow. Welcome Detroit. I love Detroit.

Chris 3:01
I think that’s a great place right? It’s

Kelli 3:03
awesome. Went there for a conference absolutely loved it. Yep.

Chris 3:06
Yeah, home the Tigers, the Redwings the pistons. Lions. I love Detroit. Yep. All right. And lastly, or Leone France early or early on?

Kelli 3:17
Is that when Corleone went oh, he was running away? No, that was Italy was Italy was Italy probably for Apollonia for

Chris 3:25
Apollonia got blasted a car. I so many so many others do. I don’t know how we got different or Lyon, France but sounds

Kelli 3:35
like Corleone. Sure. Okay.

Chris 3:39
Like there’s a city on the banks of the lar River in north central France. Ready for this? Joan of Arc famously saved the city from English siege in 1492. She did and they have an event to celebrate her

Kelli 3:51
every year in 1492 while Chris Columbus was outselling the OSHA 14

Chris 3:55
Sorry, that was a little bit of dyslexia on my part. 1429

Kelli 4:02
Okay, so she did that well before Chris. Yeah.

Chris 4:05
Huge glimpse into my issues though. Okay. So, where to go early on friends. Thank you for all being here.

Kelli 4:14
We love. Welcome. Welcome.

Chris 4:16
Alright, let’s talk about a couple of mainstream. Yeah. So what do we want to see come to Disney for nighttime shows more than anything else? A drone show a drone show?

Kelli 4:29
I’ve been saying dancer since they launched it at Paris.

Chris 4:33
Well, it’s coming to Disney Springs.

Kelli 4:37
This Do you think it’s because of like airspace or something?

Chris 4:41
I don’t know.

Kelli 4:42
Do you think it’s like that rule about airspace? I don’t know when they make some kind of new rule about you know, they the airspace above Disney parks or something.

Chris 4:52
I think that there was their planes were not allowed to fly over the Magic Kingdom. And there was Some talk that that roll was going to be rescinded. But I don’t think that covered Disney Springs. I don’t really know. So

Kelli 5:05
I’m saying is it airspace? They picked Disney Springs for airspace? I don’t I don’t know.

Chris 5:09
I mean, I think that the drones

Kelli 5:11
why not do that at the new Epcot show? Why not do their tests?

Chris 5:15
I think you know, we had that story about a company from France that does their drone shows was opening up an office in Orlando right for these types of things. So I just think maybe, you know, Disney just was waiting on them to move in. And I don’t know that they have but here we are with a drone show at Disney

Kelli 5:33
Springs show at Disney Springs. So that means now Disney Springs has a nighttime show.

Chris 5:37
Yes, exactly. Yeah, that’s the fun thing.

Kelli 5:40
And yet another drawing could be anywhere and just look up in the sky and see it maybe at

Chris 5:46
Disney Springs although they they the announcement does focus on the west end which is on there where like the movie theater and Alayo and all those things are their shops down on that end of the the old

Kelli 6:00
what was it paradise?

Chris 6:02
No, not Pleasure Island leisure Island oh well all of that was sort of Pleasure Island but that that spot where homecoming is is really was Pleasure Island. Okay, West End is always sort of been like shopping and

Kelli 6:14
food heavy. Okay. Sort of focusing it down. That’s what the so

Chris 6:18
I’ll read the announcement at Disney Springs drones take to the skies above Lake Buena Vista with quote Disney dreams that soar a summertime experience that will be a late night park for visitors. You can fly takes on a whole new meeting as we showcase Disney stories celebrating the joy of flight with state of the art drones choreographed to create designs in the sky and paired with a quote soaring musical score. That’s cute. Yeah, they even said see what we did there. Yeah, yeah. And we did you did see what they did there. You can fly you can fly a memorable movie quotes. After spending a day delighting and shopping, discovering fun activities and savoring diverse flavors of Disney Springs. Turn your eyes to the skies above the west side. Let’s not let’s not West End. I think that’s a theater district in London. Yeah. With a show amongst the stars Disney dreams that soar will run nightly from May 24 to September 2. Wow. Yeah.

Kelli 7:17
So that’s a summertime summertime

Chris 7:18
thing busy. Draw people out people are parks a little bit yeah, to see something or else make Disney Springs not a partial day thing where you’re there and then you leave to go to the parks to see the nighttime shows. To stay there like timeshare and have an item show

Kelli 7:35
or go to Disney Springs on your on your resort days. That everybody but us takes

Chris 7:41
that was that was a shot. Shot me. Alone.

Kelli 7:46
I’m for it. I want to see it. I’m ready for it. Yeah, I’ve always said we needed a drone show. So

Chris 7:51
they had a drone show I think there briefly sometime back at Disney Springs. I think so I you know, correct me if I’m wrong. Either way about the folks that are listening. And the but I think it was it was intended. We all thought it was a test like oh Jones shows are about to come to the main attractions. And it never really happened that way. It may have just been for this reason to pull people out of the parks. So don’t show. Okay. All right. Even for just dipping our toes in the water pours, dip them get ready for it.

Kelli 8:29
I want to see more drones. Yeah, more for drones.

Chris 8:33
Okay, here’s another item that I think is fun. Okay. So we were just at Epcot a couple of weeks ago. I think it’s been two weeks yet. Yeah. And they still had the wall. Most of world celebration was open in this beautiful, by the way, but they still had walls around what was community core Hall. And that’s where you would go and meet the characters had a whole lot more you Mickey than make many and then so on and so forth. Right? Well, Communicare Hall has been completely redone and the outside is beautiful. It’s gonna it’s gonna mirror sort of the look of spaceship Earth. Soon the walls are coming down and community core Hall is going to be opening. I’m going to read the announcement from Disney about a specific element of the new comunicare Hall. Okay, because the meet and greets will still be there. But there’s one bit that I am particularly excited about. Okay,

Kelli 9:27
let’s have it. Everyone

Chris 9:28
will be talking about Bruno from June 10 through September the sixth, because a new summer singalong featuring the beloved songs and the story of incanto is in development right now. The new limited time show called isa what I see on Encanto runs several times throughout the day and will not only invite you and your family to sing along with some of your favorite songs, but you’ll also spot Mirabelle and Bruno on The newly opened communion core Plaza stage Oh I love this this is a show at Epcot which is

Kelli 10:08
sing along people love a good sing along

Chris 10:10
they love a good sing along it’s it pulls people right it’s Epcot could use more shows absolutely

Kelli 10:19
I mean you get some like with food and wine you know eat to the beat things like that yeah

Chris 10:24
you get some on that big stage

Kelli 10:25
yeah over in you know the World Showcase but not a lot over in I’m gonna call it future world you’re gonna get upset about that.

Chris 10:31
Let it go. I’ll let it go

Kelli 10:32
you don’t get a lot of shows over there. And I think you could use some I mean I think living with the land has got some spaces in there like where you just walk through stuff that are like never used we always see like a cast member standing there with that walk through museum type area for living with the land and like nobody goes in there. Like makes him more makes more shows.

Chris 10:55
Well they had that show behind the scenes well that’s I think behind the scenes is a tour but then there’s a there’s a National Geographic type movie that’s in there but you’re right people don’t that’s not what they’re at.

Kelli 11:06
They’re now we got to live in with the land for the boat ride and the food

Chris 11:10
Yeah, that’s right.

Kelli 11:12
So you know show over there be a nice afternoon break I

Chris 11:16
had the janitors those are the people that bang on the trash can walk it is walks you walk by doesn’t pull a crowd the way you know off kilter used to do and I guess that new band probably does and you know

Kelli 11:30
we saw them does not pull that kind of off kilter crab. Crab crab doesn’t pull the off kilter crowd.

Chris 11:37
World Showcase used to have those like street performers in the UK and Italy that would do comedy routines and little shows that would draw a crowd and there was some audience participation there.

Kelli 11:49
I’m talking about like lion king I know you know, at a real show frozen at Hollywood Studios Beauty and the Beast Hollywood studios like a show where you go and sit down for 20 or 30 minutes and you know, hopefully an air conditioned space and your your you know, your butts down your air conditioned you know, all of that, like that type of a show a comfortable seat for

Chris 12:13
a little nap. Yes,

Kelli 12:15
that’s really needed at Epcot, the only one I can really think of is an American adventure. Which I mean, I love that I know you love it for our receipts are so soft. Such good seating.

Chris 12:29
There’s always somebody sitting beside you that you can there’s always your hair, perfect

Kelli 12:32
location that I can just nappy nap.

Chris 12:35
So this is going to be I think this is going to be a light type show. I love the idea that we see Maribel and Bruno and if those two people are actually singing

Kelli 12:47
that I’m sure they will. Yeah, it’s going to be like the frozen show the singular show. I hope so. hugely popular Hollywood Studios. And you have actually Anna, Ana and Elsa, and you know, the storyteller, storytellers and Christoph off on the stage. And it’s the Sing along. Yep.

Chris 13:04
Yeah, I think it should be. I’m hoping it’s something like that. Now. I don’t know if folks remember. But Hollywood Studios used to have a live show that told the hunchback story. I do you not remember that. Right? Yes. And I’m telling you right now, that was the best show in Hollywood Studios by a mile. Really? Where

Kelli 13:26
was it at?

Chris 13:27
It’s an area that’s not even like it’s unrecognizable. Now, like it was I don’t know if you remember like, over near where the old Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground was that whole area of back there. I think we’re a lot of where Galaxy’s edge is now, okay. And this was a had a lot more performers a lot of puppeteering. And I just remember the guy that played the full

Kelli 13:57
Carnival was great. His voice

Chris 13:59
blew the roof off the place every single time would have to Yeah, yeah. And it was I like I as a child look forward to going to that show. This won’t be that big of production.

Kelli 14:13
This was a whole I’m expecting it to be like frozen. Yeah, like a single and that’s good enough. That’s good enough by Mirabelle and Bruno just like the other one, just like the frozen lamb. That’s what I’m expecting. Well,

Chris 14:25
I hope so. And I’m for I love this idea. Absolutely. And then under percent when the run for Encanto runs out.

Kelli 14:32
Put another one in there. And when will that run out? That’s not going to run out? No, no, it’s September the sixth. That’s what they say. But if it’s hugely popular, let’s just keep it keep

Chris 14:41
it going and I think have have more Mirabelle everywhere. I love more of her.

Kelli 14:45
Yes, absolutely more of her. And Antonio, he’s totes adorbs he

Chris 14:50
is adorable. So his hair is

Kelli 14:55
so great. So great.

Chris 14:56
Let me help me remember to post a picture of his hair and It is good. All right, you ready for tomorrow?

Kelli 15:04
So I am doing this Duffy de Duffy de Duffy day, which is huge in Hong Kong Disneyland. Interesting. So we’ve talked before about how Duffy never really took off here in this day, for sure still has, but over in Asia, it is huge Tokyo Disney Sea. Tokyo, Disneyland Hong Kong, Disneyland Shanghai, the huge love their massive, massive over there. Yeah. So I want to go back and sort of tell the story of Duffy and then we can talk about the celebration a little bit more. So Duffy is Mickey Mouse is very on teddy bear. So he was originally launched in the US as Disney bear. Right? He wasn’t really given the story. Okay. Okay. And so it didn’t go off in the US. It was a no go people were like, Why do I want a bear to dress up? This is makeup artists. I’ve

Chris 15:55
already got my stuff for you, Mickey. Right.

Kelli 15:57
This makes a whole lot of sense. And so they ended up moving him over to the Asian market and creating that backstory for him. So his backstory is Mickey Mouse was a sailor, and when Mickey Mouse was a sailor, he was based in Cape Cod. He was leaving on a long sea voyage. Minnie Mouse may Duffy to keep him company during his travels. She presented her handsewn bear to Mickey in a duffel bag, which is how Mickey came up with the name Duffy. One night while on the voyage, Duffy was sleeping and he was lonely. And the bear actually animated itself and said anytime you’re lonely just talked to me. He woke up the next day and the bear was winking at him and talking to him and all that and they started going on these wonderful adventures together, where Mickey was posting like Instagram photos with him and Duffy, right course he comes back and tells all of his friends about Duffy, and they don’t believe that Duffy was animated to which Mickey is like, did you not follow my stories? While I was traveling? And they were like, no, sorry, we’re bad friends. We didn’t and he’s like, it’s animated. So he shows him the pictures. Duffy comes to life and he’s massive over there. Now here’s what makes Duffy so big over there. First of all, Mickey’s not the drawl in the Asian markets. It’s many. They see her as almost like a queen, many is the draw in the Asian market. Interesting. And so Duffy is seen as like minis child. And so everybody loves Duffy, because of this relationship connection with Manny and the Asian markets have this relationship with cute little things like that, like you know, Hello Kitty. That it’s totally okay to be obsessed with that in your adult years. But so as Duffy story has evolved, Mickey and him have visited many exciting places together meeting new friends along the way. Duffy has a willingness to do anything that will bring a smile to his friends with his quintessential innocence. And you know, I just love I love like Wally, this so pure. And so Duffy is that same thing. Okay, so it says Duffy takes us all back to our childhood when we all had an inner Duffy. Oh, right. So like our inner self, yes. So with the rise of Duffy’s popularity, Imagineers noticed that many guests were purchasing multiple plush Duffy’s giving them unique names and costumes, and they would like pose them around the parks as though their Duffy was there at the park that day having this adventure. Okay. So they decided Duffy became lonely, like Mickey, and so many made him a girlfriend Her name is Shelley Mae. She got her name because Duffy gave her two seashells he had found on an adventure. So she became Shelly may they the pair became increasingly popular. And so Imagineers just kept adding to the collection with these other characters. They all have a distinct personality and a talent. So we have an artistic cat, who is named JELA Tony he’s Italian. We have a dancing rabbit Stella Liu. She really wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. A chef dog whose name is cookie n. And then a musical turtle friend who is a Lou male. Now we were at a Lani when they launched a Lou mill. So here’s what’s interesting. Okay, so No, we just happened to be there. And so Duffy huge in the Asian markets. So in the early 2010s, Disney said, Okay, let’s bring him back to Epcot. We’ll introduce Duffy at Epcot and give him a different outfit for each country. And that’ll be huge. Right. So they did they brought Duffy back to Epcot thinking that’ll bring the Americans on and they’ll now be interested in Duffy. Okay, we’ve been doing got several times since the early 2010s. Do you see Duffy in and around Epcot with all those outfits? No, because what the Imagineers found is that the Americans still weren’t interested. Just but all of the folks from Asia traveled to Epcot to get that Duffy and by all of the outfits interesting, and the Imagineers suddenly realized, oh, we have a marketplace. We’ve got a tourism situation. And so that’s when they started launching Duffy in all the other parks. So there was a specific Duffy character you could only in Shanghai, just a specific Delphi character, you could only get in Hong Kong a specific Duffy character you could only get at Disneyland see our Disney Sea in Tokyo. And then aloo Mel was the specific Delphi character Forlani interesting. So we just happened to be there. When he launched in ilani. We went into the store several times he wasn’t there. We didn’t weren’t we weren’t looking for in there. Then the last day we’re like wish can pop into the store and more time, I wanted to see if they had a CD, which tells you a lot about how we were listening to music just several years ago. I want to see if they had a CD of the music that they played in and around the resort. And we walked into the store and overnight it had been transformed into a little nail. And I was like well, I’m buying him this

Chris 21:21
is clearly a thing is things overnight and he’s wearing an

Kelli 21:25
adorable, you know, like shirt with ukes on it and little board shorts and a straw hat and he’s a turtle, which I love. So that’s how we ended up with Ola. Mel Well, interestingly, Duffy is still the most popular character ever in Tokyo Disneyland ever in the history of ever. Duffy this. Americans just have hardened hearts. Embrace a cute little teddy bear. Sure. So originally, Duffy had come to the United States in 2010. In 2002, for the opening of Once Upon a toy at Disney Springs. Then he was just known as Disney bear. Yeah, right. And so I think he got off to a tough start Sure, here in the States. But over in Asia, they will line up as early as 3am like a popcorn bucket such a purchase Duffy and friends toys. When Lena Bell was launched, she’s widely considered the national daughter of China. People adopted a near fanatical obsession with the characters one particular adult who is really into Duffy goes every other week to Disney and takes her Duffy characters there to meet the Duffy characters at Disney she says is very stressful to live in a big city where many have forgotten how to smile. But watching Duffy and friends videos makes me laugh and feel happy from the bottom of my heart Wow. They make these characters make her believe that in quotes, the world is a really beautiful and kind place and Flint true friendship does exist. Wow. So Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is celebrating Delphi day technically it was on March 14. They’re celebrating it until June the 10th. And so you can see special shows you can get special merch and they have special food. And so I want to tell you about a couple things. They also have a really cool AI immersive thing where you get to interact with the character in a way which is cool. So they have cookie and mango passionfruit tart, jello Tony’s white chocolate pistachio cream with an almond cake. Cookie an has a Citron Pineapple Smoothie, and Stella Liu has a grape and strawberry shake, right again things you’re not going to we’re not going to do a grape and strawberry shake in the US. But even cooler their main street market which is available until June 10 has a Duffy and friends crepe cake so I want you to matter Oh imagine a small circular cake, which is just stacks of crepes with cream in between that chocolate one a strawberry one and what looks like kind of a vanilla one. Amazing. It says chocolate strawberry and mango. They also have what they’re calling a Croscill which is like a croissant waffle was white chocolate strawberry and chocolate hazel nuts. Duffy and friends donuts, a waffle marshmallow. Great popcorn. Milk 5.0 Whatever that

Chris 24:29
whatever that is with white peach

Kelli 24:30
flavored soft serve raspberry and white chocolate cheese tart chocolate cheese tart what with pistachio cream.

Chris 24:41
What’s Chucky Cheese tart?

Kelli 24:43
Exactly an entire afternoon tea set which is adorable. Stella Luna purple sweet potato and green tea glutinous rice dumping. It’s called a glutinous rice dumpling a lunch and dinner buffet with themed dessert Like, it looks so springy and Easter and I would assume that China doesn’t celebrate Easter.

Chris 25:07
No, definitely. Something they would endorse. I’m

Kelli 25:12
sure I’m gonna assume that they don’t celebrate Easter. It looks like Easter has thrown up the name of death in Hong Kong Disneyland and it is all pink and yellow and green and blue and Duffy and Duffy’s friends, and snacks and marshmallows and bunnies and rabbits. And I mean just everywhere.

Chris 25:33
So here’s here’s the thing is, I feel like I thought about into Duffy, although my heart has grown three sizes, just in the telling of the story. I

Kelli 25:42
thought it might Yeah, no, I kind of am into him now.

Chris 25:44
Yeah, a little bit. I feel like I feel here’s what I feel like we are the home of Mickey and Minnie and the Fab Five and all that right right. And so Americans are gonna go into the parks or the stores or wherever and they’ve got a finite number of dollars to spend on a stuffy it’s gonna be one of those it’s gonna be one of those. I know. And so if if

Kelli 26:10
he just didn’t have a strong enough story in the States and I

Chris 26:14
think that LinkedIn to the to where Mickey was going we don’t

Kelli 26:17
Yeah, we don’t go to Disney for teddy bears. Right. That’s not what you go to Disney to buy. You go to Disney for mice. So endears. Yeah. So I mean, I just think it’s maybe not part of our culture, but this whole innocence side of it. Yeah. So I watched a few of the shorts on YouTube. adorbs O M, G, they don’t speak. It’s like, oh my gosh, it is some of the cutest stuff and like, you think how can I possibly cry in a minute and a half? You could? You could. It’s

Chris 26:49
really sweet. And so I’m watching I don’t even talk like Bali. It is like wildly,

Kelli 26:54
like wildly you said I’m saying it’s like they’re just so expressive. And they give each other flowers and butterflies and they’re just so so cute. Like just just completely pure souls. Walk

Chris 27:08
you through, you get in verklempt right now just

Kelli 27:10
walking through the most adorable forest together holding Paul’s. I mean, too much. It’s too much. And like, I think I’m gonna start watching Duffy shorts on

Chris 27:25
right before bed. Yeah. And then first thing in the morning, like,

Kelli 27:29
so. I can’t even tell you. I love aloo mail has

Chris 27:32
been with us for a while now. And he’s he is really sweet. He’s

Kelli 27:36
prasch he’s totes brash. I’m gonna pull him out. He’s gonna have a new a new place to live. Oh, I know. I’m very into illumines you have a prominent spot? Yes, he’s gonna have a prominent spot. We need to embrace stuffy. Well, it sounds like we’re on our way. So upset with the Americans. As for us.

Chris 27:57
That’s awesome. I love it. Gaddafi. All right. And friends. So we’re gonna transition to a World Showcase here. And look, I am going to talk about luminous a symphony of us. Okay. I have been skeptical of the show. You were

Kelli 28:17
Yes. Because we really loved harmonious I still

Chris 28:19
do. I still do. I still do. Yes. But we’ve now seen it in person, not just on the YouTube, right. And I want to be perfectly clear. This thing is a gorgeous spectacle. It is it is. It is so broad and big. But

Kelli 28:44
it’s like a junior spectacle compared to harmonious it’s not that big of a spectacle.

Chris 28:48
I’m I’m just gonna say I’ll say this. If they had moved from reflections of Earth and Epcot forever, to luminous we all love it. I would be effervescent and my praise for luminous Yes, yes. Yes. Yes. problem for me is that I saw harmonious right. Yeah. And so it does not for me compete with harmonious Yeah, it doesn’t, but it is worthy of Epcot. I’ll say it’s great. It’s beautiful. It is a spectacle. They probably have more fireworks than harmonious hell, I think for sure. I mean, we were walking out of there with with firework ash falling on Oh, yeah, no, it’s a thing. Okay. So it’s big. It’s broad. It takes up what feels like the entire lagoon with fireworks and lights. So it’s it’s amazing. It’s amazing. It just I saw harmonious so I’m sorry, right that I had been so hard on it. Yep. So let’s just let’s just we’ll talk about it right so the so the elements here are fireworks fountains, beautifully colored fountains colorful spotlights, like so many colorful spotlights, LED lighting on the barge itself or on the central site. I’m gonna call it x Combi bar. I’m gonna use the term of art. They do they hate something called the bars. were

Kelli 30:15
intentionally pushing some buttons. I am, that’s fine.

Chris 30:20
And I’ve never actually seen the world of color show out in California, in person supposed to be except on YouTube. Yeah. But I do feel like there were certain moments of this show that have so many fountains that they’re able to color that I feel like there’s definitely a strong influence of World of Color in this show. Yeah. Which I think is smart. Yeah, absolutely. So, here’s a couple of I’m gonna I’m gonna do my, my complaints and concerns first. Okay.

Kelli 30:52
Okay, start with the bed. Yep.

Chris 30:55
The couple and even my notes here, I said these, some of these might be nitpicky, but but whatever that I had. There’s some dead spots in the show. There’s a sort of a strange moment in the show where the music slows down and the color sort of falls away and just not a lot going on there. There might be a little bit of narration, but they’re just like, I felt this deadened loll in the show, and I feel like I shouldn’t feel that. And so not really sure what’s going on there. If that was just that night, maybe I don’t know. But it was it stuck out and it was noticeable to me. The other thing and this is a bigger issue for me personally was the music. There just isn’t enough of the music we’ve grown to love in it. Harmonious was Uber focused on Disney great music. And then it was augmented by original theme song that was performed stellar Lee that augmented the Disney music that were so fond of. This felt like the opposite of that this felt like it was mainly driven by a new original score new original song. I mean, Katherine McPhee is one of the singers for that. So I mean, it’s not like the talent was bad or anything like that. It’s just that was the driving force for the this show as opposed to the Disney music. That’s not to say there’s none in it. Right? There’s just it didn’t feel like it’s centered around that the way some of the other shows have. Bagri. Alright, so if I want to read off a quick list here, and you’re gonna say well, that’s plenty that’s a lot of Disney music right? It starts with something called heartbeat symphony. That’s original music for this. You’ll be in my heart is their proud Corazon. You’ve got a friend in me friend like me. Can you feel the love tonight? And then so close, which is from enchanted the movie in channel? Wow. Right. So that’s something that we all are going to notice right away. When she loved me from Toy Story, remember me into the unknown, I see the light and then beating of our hearts is original for this show. That’s how it ends is with that there

Kelli 33:09
were times I couldn’t even hear the music because the fireworks were so that’s true, too.

Chris 33:13
Yep, very valid. So I list all those songs. That’s, um, it’s 10 or so Disney songs there. But like, Can you feel the love tonight very brief, it’s even labeled as brief. And another online source referred to the segment for I see the light as just a fragment of I See the Light. Whereas I feel like you know, there were certain bits of inharmonious or songs you only got a couple of notes, but most of the music in there got full treatments and maybe not the whole song, but you know what it was? Yeah, you really got the feel of it. So by comparison, which is a dangerous thing to do I get that harmonious featured 19 Great Disney songs. Wow, some of it was brief, but 19 Full on Disney songs. This lot of

Kelli 34:08
them song in both English and their native language. That’s right.

Chris 34:10
That’s right. This had 1-234-567-8910 Disney songs, some in various bits and pieces. Even though the show’s only three minutes shorter than harmonious. I actually thought it was significantly shorter. It feels significantly shorter three minutes, you know, as a percentage of 20 minutes that is fairly significant. But it just didn’t have that Disney oomph that harmonious had or even that even reflections of Earth which was almost entirely classical music there wasn’t really Disney. Yeah, right. Okay, so here’s, here’s some tears for the show. And they’re significant. I feel like this is a like I said mentioned earlier. It’s a broad show. It feels like it encompasses the entire Liger They are not skimping on this show. Right it is. It is legit. It is real. And I think maybe the biggest thing about this show that I liked it might be the most accessible show up cots ever had it love that may be the most accessible show at Walt Disney World ever.

Kelli 35:20
That’s possible. Yeah. Because we did not have to look for seats two hours before.

Chris 35:24
That’s right. That’s a huge thing. I think for the show. The the apparatus in the middle by the way, the apparatus is the biggest thing they’ve ever put on that lagoon. It makes me wonder why they could not actually move the barges for harmonious in and out. But this thing it was the lagoon was more or less empty. When we got to the park at 130. We can talk about that in another show. While we get into the park I

Kelli 35:47
think we need to. So

Chris 35:50
that was around 130. And then at 630 The whole apparatus is out there in the middle of the lagoon and we came out of cosmic rewind or or maybe the land or sorry, we came out of Soren we’re doing our you know, run across the park to the to the reservations we had. And suddenly this thing is out there in the middle. And it is a domed shaped, ginormous apparatus. And that’s the first time I thought, Oh, this is the thing. It’s a thing here. This is a thing. I don’t know how many huge, high powered colorful spotlights they have on that thing. But I’m gonna guess about 7000 No, I’m joking. It was a lot. No, it was a lot. It feels like that many. And so you can enjoy this show. We came out of creation shop. And I was like, I’m gonna walk over to the UK and try to buy something, right. And as I was walking over there, I noticed that the vibe around World Showcase was just more chill. Yes, then any like than the lead up and we’re talking 20 minutes before the show,

Kelli 37:01
right? It’s not like The Hunger Games asking for a spot, right? Reflections of

Chris 37:05
earth because of that globe in the middle, you sort of felt like you needed a spot right

Kelli 37:10
on the rail. And for harmonious you wanted to be right there where where you can see the full circle

Chris 37:14
on the middle of that, right? This thing is so big, so broad, it’s fighting you. Nobody’s fighting. There were spots on the rail. Yeah, right up until the time the show started. But a lot of people were just like sitting on the opposite side of the promenade from the lake. Because you can see just fine. Everything that’s happening is happening up above this apparatus, the lights, lasers, the fireworks, the fountains that you know, all that is happening in a way that you can see it truly from anywhere around the promenade when that when the person that is saying you know, in 30 minutes will be showing whatever. There are still prime viewing locations all around the world showcase promenade. That’s now true. That was never true. 15 minutes before any of the other. Yeah, now it’s true. I loved this show. Yeah. And I watched it from like those hedges in front of the UK bathroom. Yeah. Right. So I take back my criticisms of luminous okay. It does not show well on YouTube. No, no, no, it does not show well on YouTube. And that was a driver of my skepticism. Originally. This thing is way bigger than YouTube can really give it credit for Yeah, I agree. I think yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed

Kelli 38:40
it. I think we need drones.

Chris 38:44
And more Disney IP news. I

Kelli 38:45
think fewer fireworks, more Disney IP music, I say go back to the music that was sung in the native languages around the world show still since Yeah. And bring in some drums. So

Chris 38:56
I did see something really interesting in this show. They light up the nations they the the light of the nations, but they don’t do that for Morocco, or Norway. Interesting. It is interesting. The buildings in Morocco are modeled after highly religious buildings in Morocco. And so we can’t light and so they don’t want to light them up. And so Norway doesn’t light up to keep it symmetrical on both sides. Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. And that’s something again, just think about the little details there that they’re paying attention to. So Wow. Anyway, highly recommend luminess don’t watch it on YouTube. Try to get there and see it in person. It’s a whole it’s a whole thing.

Kelli 39:40
It’s a good thing. Yeah, good show, for sure. Alright,

Chris 39:42
folks, that’s this week’s show. We hope you liked it. And you know what to do. Now, if you did run out to wherever you get your podcasts from, leave us a five star rating. But if your service allows for reviews, that’s where we’re really going to bring in other folks and so if you could leave us a review out there that would be amazing.

Kelli 40:02
Absolutely. And if you’re looking for more things Disney visit SCF adp.com. That’s s for Super C for Cali F for fresh lipstick a for awesome D for Disney P for podcast. We are going to have some bonus episodes coming soon. But not this week. I need to get through a research deadline of April 1.

Chris 40:20
You know I’m so impressed at how you get through. I don’t know that you’ve ever messed up that.

Kelli 40:26
That April 1 deadline. O ‘s are super safe. For this new product, I

Chris 40:32
don’t think I would mess it up. Every week got a place for folks, thank you so much for joining us. Join us out there on Instagram at SCF ADP and with that we will see you real soon

Share this
FacebookXRedditEmail
Tagged as:

More from this show

Menu

Subscribe

Recent posts

Episode 2
Disney News (3/24) – The Duffy Day Phenomenon, and Pros and Cons of Luminous at EPCOT