Podcast: The Ride - Downtown Disney Ordeal 2-3

Episode Date: November 13, 2019

Listen to Podcast: The Ride Ad-Free on Forever Dog Plus: http://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plus Level 2-Stage 3: Sanuk Salt & Straw Wetzels Pretzels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forever Dog Darkness falls out on the street Evil rears its head Get your crazy shake to go And your fried donut bread Beignets The villains threaten this sacred place

This downtown shopping mall We must defend the Lego store And the Splitsville bowling balls The Downtown Disney or to you We must protect our AP discount meals The Downtown Disney or to you But secrets does the Earl of Sandwich conceal Boys, boys, my cousin has been taken by evil forces that have inhabited Downtown Disney

In order to find them, you will need to thoroughly discuss every aspect of the mall stores restaurants both of the starbucks we have 15 daily very necessary episodes in which to do so i will be there to guide you and keep your conversations from getting too off topic or boring the downtown disney ordeal why do we do this to ourselves welcome to podcast the ride the downtown disney ordeal uh we are on level two stage three my name is mike carlson joining me as always jason sheridan hi and scott gerdner yep let's get to it uh and this is of course this is a stage three so who knows who lurks at the end of it it's a boss one again it's a boss not totally there yet i don't know how to handle these guys but uh uh-huh um you know we'll be more steeled up by level five right obviously

and of course joining us on this journey uh the sector keeper is here. Boys, boys. Hey, you're with us. Physically manifested with us, which is always nice. You give me such strength. Thank you so much for helping me find my cousin, the level keeper. Yes. We would not not help you. I mean, of course, we have to. We're all, you're our ward. Yes, yes.

I'm your ward and you're like my three dads in a way. Yeah. Yeah. yes i'm your warden you're like my three dads in a way yeah yeah um which that's yeah that's where we're at it's like our closest thing to a child yeah oh yeah full house yeah that's one thing you can't redo who is one of those things oh my god well i wait it's november so i don't know where we're at but it's's distinctly possible that Aunt Becky is or already has gone to jail. What? Aunt Becky's in jail? It could be. I don't know.

Or it's on the way. I'm not sure on the timeline. What about Uncle Jesse and her sons nicky and alex the twins well the character of aunt becky is fine but laurie laughlin the actor did some some naughty business oh no no oh no uh yeah her how do you begin to explain her daughter is a youtube influencer i'm so glad you to please stay away from this yeah as much as you can even even just dropping this at the top of a boss level episode i is really making us making you little boys sector keeper if you had to get like if you if we were the three males on Full House, which ones would we be?

If you had to assign us the characters. Let's see. Fingers wagging. Danny. That's me. Scott is Danny. Danny, yes. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Organized.

Hey. Oh, thanks. Yeah, yeah. You know, I should be More of a neat freak At home But I do You know Well he's a

He's a host And I try to Sort of you know Keep the Just keep things moving In the episodes Just like Danny On Wake Up San Francisco

Yeah Wake up Wake up San Francisco Oh yeah yeah Hello podcast Yeah the cool one Like music That's what you were

Gunning for Honestly I didn't even Think about it before I said it. Yeah, the music. Yeah, I play guitar like Jesse does. So you have thought about how you want John Stamos to jam with us in a live show. Yes, that is a dream of mine for Podcast The Ride. Us non-musicians, except for you, kind of. Yeah, I would say a musician.

I'm classified as a musician. Yeah. He can, you play a keyboard. But yeah, he'll jam with us one day. Absolutely. All right. And Jason? Joey.

I am the funny one. The funny one. With a tinge of sadness. Just like Uncle Joey. Wait, let's not go through this again. We fell into all the thing. My wife was very upset that we said Uncle Joey because nobody called him Uncle Joey.

Jesse is an uncle. But didn't someone call him Uncle Joe? Didn't somebody point out on Twitter that there was an episode? There was one single example found. He was not commonly called. And who called him that was Uncle Jesse. The children, DJ Stephanieie michelle did not call him uncle joey did not give him that level of affection or respect this was the biggest fight

aaron and i've ever had wow if never has she been so cross sector keeper if you had to assign us the different characters and three men and a little lady which characters would each of us be oh i'm trying to remember what gutenberg dancing who's the other one selic selic right yeah yeah all by the way three cool guys so you can't accuse me this time of wanting to be the cool one if you're if we're staying with funny with a twinge of sadness that would have to be Gutenberg, and therefore Jason. Jason is Gutenberg. Hey, I retired early. Cashed out.

Cashed out, retired early. Who's more Selleck, me or Scott? Oh, that's awesome. Who's more organized, dancing or? That's a good question. Selleck. All right, we'll get back to that. You're taller. Maybe that's why you're dancing

i guess i'm dancing in this and you're tom selleck all right sorry sorry four minutes but if i may real quick that if i by not calling him uncle joey i'm just realizing he was now just a dirt bag with a puppet with a puppet who around. Yeah, it went from odd job to odd job. Failed out of all of them. Great. Yeah, yeah. Lives in a basement industry bum.

Lives in the garage. Basement or garage? Well, they changed. He kept moving. Was it a garage initially and then they changed it into his room? He ended up in the trash can outside, I think. It's like Oscar. He's sleeping in the trash can like Oscar the Grudge.

You're right. Sad man. Sad man. Not like us. We're doing great. We're captains of our own destiny, fighting the good fight for your cousin, and we get to spend a bunch of time

talking about some pretty great locations today what are those yes yes boys boys you've made it so far and you still have much of a journey to go but today will be you're getting tired too but today you will be trying to conquer by discussing and reviewing level two, stage three, Sanuk, Salt and Straw, and Wetzel's Pretzels. Major ones. These are some of the titans in this episode. So let's kick into it with, yeah, I don't know, Sanuk. Do we know Sanuk?

Sanuk. Okay. Sanuk is a. Sanuk means fun. Sanuk, the word. Okay. So in the Thai language... And the brand.

In the Thai language, which means to have a good time, to have fun, to enjoy oneself, and to derive pleasure and joy from something. Yeah. It doesn't mean, to be clear, Sanuk doesn't mean rise to the challenge. Right, no, that's a different word.

That's Sivako. Sivako. Most guidebooks to Thailand will tell you about the thai concept of sanuk which often gets translated as meaning as jason said fun fun so sanuk was a store that i never even walked by until we had to do this we've done that until we did this to ourselves i'm not sure i'd noticed it seen it it's been there since 2011 is it really yeah yeah some of these places i thought it was new no 2011 the brand has been around for a long time in southern california wow well so this is interesting so i was looking

at the first of all the web did you look at the website for sanuk hell yeah it's it's uh when you look up locations they also it's like confusing because it's not true sanukes not listed here but it is another one that there's a sanuk in downtown disney in anaheim and disney springs in orlando but then in goletta california yes there's a deckard store deckard brands is the parent company. Deckard. Deckard. Sorry, Decker. Oh, okay, Decker. Decker, like Tim Heidecker's show.

Part of Black and Decker. Not affiliated. When you looked up locations, and also, and this is last night, it pulled up the flip-flop shop at Universal CityWalk. Yeah, so this, Deckard Brands, which is closed. Flip-flop shop at Universal CityWalk. Yeah. So, this.

Yeah. So, Decker Rams. But the flip-flop shop closed forever. Oh, yeah. That's a newly fallen brother. What? I'm sorry to tell you. I guess you haven't been to your old haunt in a while. No, I can't.

I need a ride. Yeah. Because you used to live there and now. It's steep hill to walk. It's steep, yeah. Yeah. This parent company also owns. Edwin wants to live there and now... It's steep, yeah. Yeah. This parent company also owns... Edwin wants to come up on the couch, sorry.

Okay, come on up, Edwin. I guess he doesn't. He's fucking with everyone. Parent company also owns Ugg, who makes Ugg boots. And Teva, another sandal company. Another big sandal company. Teva? Teva.

Teva was what I was wearing when I died sure whoa you were wearing tevas which i always called tevas your family must have been well to do but that means that this i would call this company a flip-flop monopoly a flip-flop monop for sure oh my god yeah it's maybe the worst it's the worst thing you've ever said oh flip flop yeah that's tighter that's better that's why they pay you the big bucks that's most of what i'm good at is combining words yeah he's taking it that time because it's so cool flavor on that one but there's another big company oh sorry yeah yeah like luxottica this is like the sunglass monopoly we encountered at sunglass icon by sunglass hut so this company own owned the flip

flop shop is that what was happening or they just carry their brand of shoes i think that was another one of their like lines the flip-flop shop flip-flop shop were they cheaper flip-flop shop. The flip-flop shop? Were they cheaper flip-flops? I don't, I think they may have sold Sanuk brand in the flip-flop shop. Right, that's what I, that's my reading of it. But they obviously haven't updated the website because when you put it in. If you put in the zip code, it comes up flip-flop shop. And I went, wait a minute, is that still? And I was like, no, no, it's a fallen brother.

That's gone. That CityWalk store is gone. A lot of people feel seen right now, but that we are finally addressing the problems with Sanuk.com. Yes, I mean. People have been screaming at their computer screens for so long. Our listeners have been frustrated with it for so long. There's a few things we know for sure from the Sanuk page

on the Downtown Disney website. We know our happiest days are spent in sandals. Yes, they do convey that. That's not one of the problems. We know Sanuk, you know, from its early roots in the Southern California surf culture to its global lifestyle brand it is today. We know it's a global lifestyle brand and we love it. We love to see it. It's more than just open-toed shoes.

It's a global lifestyle brand. Of course. Live your life open-toed shoes it's a global lifestyle brand and of course your life open-toed they invented the style the sidewalk surfer which combines a closed shoe with the comforting sole of a sandal we're we're doing it we are i mean this is how is this what we're talking about right now is like approximately like 200 feet from the indiana jones boulder and we're choosing to talk about this sure oh yeah sorry i know i know i know fine this is a prison that we've created self-built this is a good practical play like

if you're staying if you're visiting disney, if you're visiting the resort and it got really hot or your shoes got wet or something, you could go to Sanuk and buy some new shoes. But if you don't mind wet socks, as we discovered you, Jason, do not. I'm not saying that. You don't need to go to Sanuk. He likes them. He likes.

Jason likes having his socks soaked in water. What? Yeah, we discovered this recently. Sector Keeper. He thinks like, you know, the what we would call an unpleasant feeling of going on Splash Mountain or the Rapid Ride. I mean, your socks are wet. Jason likes it.

So he says. You know, like. It's one of the worst feelings in the world. Like Dalton at Roadhouse says, pain don't hurt. Okay? Pain don't hurt. This doesn't imply pleasure. Jason loves squishy feet.

I feel weak. Oh, hey. You can't do that. That's only the sector keeper's job. That's his move. My problem with Sanuk is that, i brought this up uh on the sunglass the icon what's the name of it i for sure brought it up on that episode remember uh uh that i feel like the too expensive i we need a cheap what i like about city walk is that there's some dirt

cheap options like this is still a little high end. There's some sales on the website, but you're still like $30. Give me some $5 flip flops just because I need them. You know what I mean? If you're on vacation. My whole thing with downtown Disney is I feel like it's catering a little too much to an aspirational. It's like aspirational stores.

Plus the Disney tax on top of it. That Disney extra little bump that there should be some garbagey stores like they have at city walk here for five dollar flip-flops and five dollar sunglasses that's what i'm saying you're not wrong well you gotta go to the cvs on harbors yes which i by the way i argued should be part of this series scott was triumphant in keeping the harbor stores out of the downtown disney ordeal uh so you're out of bounds yes thank you for having me pass the car you really wish that right now we were talking about you know uh tony romas and it'd be funny how upset you were though about it so i think the listener would like that metal detectors to star

wars galaxy's edge van thank you all right sorry the brackets nuke is in the brackets the harbor hoedown is years away when we talk about all the harbor store but you got it it's a fun one it's not an ordeal it's not a saga it's We're going to just have a great 25 episodes talking about Captain Kids Buffet on Harbor. I so. Jason is gleeful. I so want to unlock the mystery. Jason is gleeful thinking about it. I have a lot of, I can come up with a lot of excuses to leave the podcast between now

and then. A lot of time to figure out why. You just take a leave of absence to spend more time with your family um aaron and rex aaron and rex yeah uh sanuk sanuk did answer the question where did my mother when giving me a stocking stuffer get these mickey mouse socks that are long uh but they're not quite men's casual socks but they're not quite like skate socks but they are very long and the answer was clearly a sanuk probably the disney springs one because she had just gone to florida the big thing

that gets us back into familiar turf with sanuk. This is Downtown Disney's best location for novelty socks. Novelty socks. You know what? I'm looking over at the sector keeper right now, and your jeans are riding up a little bit, and I can see what you got there. Scottie Pippin socks. You have Scottie Pippin's big stretched out face on your cap.

The way you are wearing it, his torso is very skinny and then his face is extremely wide. You got some muscle tone up there, Sector Keeper. You're stretching Scotty out. Thanks. Yeah. You know, when you look at it for a second, it kind of is ugly and weird, right? I might say so. I posted a picture on my Instagram story of the unworn Scottie Pippen sock,

and it's very strange. Any of these, like, just a face on a, like, whatever the cardboard they put it on, or a leg, just makes a face seem super wide and weird. I do have to say the Mickey and Donald ones were more the spirit of them. Were more like their colors and their clothes. They didn't really have their face on. I do want the Donald ones. I do have to go back and get the Donald ones.

Okay. I like that. Nobody bought socks from Sanuk. I did not. You didn't get the socks from Sanuk Sector Keeper No these are from the Stock market Sock market

Oh really Oh they're from City Okay very good Yeah Scotty Pippin beloved Since He is not I'm happy to say

There's been nothing since 94 Whenever you got frozen That made us view him In a different light Scotty Pippin rules Yeah He and Larsa

Just got divorced a year or two ago, I think. No. I'm so sorry. All of his records are... I don't count basketball stats put up by a dirty divorcee. Wow, Scott.

Yeah, I got to lay the law down. Yeah. I want good, clean living basketball. That's fair. Committed relationships. Did everyone come across Sanuk's motto? No. Do you guys know?

And it's a hashtag, too. Smile, dot, dot, dot, pass it on. Burf. Well, that's funny. No dots in the hashtag, of course. Because there's a shirt they have that says, Sanuk, smile or die. Oh, what? Oh, they had to get more aggressive.

And it's a picture of... We're getting results from the first one. I'll show it to you. On the back, it says, smile or die. And there's a picture of the Grim Reaper with his sickle. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah, that's him. And this is on sale for $14.

Oh, Markdown. It's's markdown those are moving man he's gonna be pissed when he finds out they're using his image unlicensed do you know him yeah i spent time with him oh man is he okay are we just judging him harshly because he looks scary yeah it's i mean he's just doing his job, right? Plowing fields? Getting rid of corn stalks with his sickle? Oh, yeah, with his sickle and whatnot. It's not a scary thing. He's cast a clear farmland with it.

Like Bush on his ranch. It's relaxing. He's a lot like Bush on his ranch, yeah. They hang out, I heard. Hey, you're not wrong I don't know You were saying You were saying You have some things

From the Sanuk.com In general Yes So Sanuk.com I'm looking at their line Of flip flops And A lot of their flip flops

Could be the names Of Jimmy Buffet songs So let me just go through a few of them. One of the ones is called Beer Cozy, or Cozy, I guess, Light. One is called Land Shark. Oh. One is called Fault Line. So I'd be like, Fault Line!

He'd be like, here's my next song, Fault Line! And you'd be like, oh yeah, that sounds like a Jimmy Buffett song. It's fun to get if an earthquake happens. You get shaken into a fault line and there's a bunch of critters in there you have a party vagabond hemp there's this there's one called land shark hawaii uh this one's called frayed knot this one's called frayed not big and tall this one's called pickpocket this one's called Vagabond Tripper Slub. This one's called Chiba Quest Lace. This one's called High Five. This one's called You Got My Back.

We got a lot more here. Chiba Quest Knit. Donnie Funk. Hold on. Did you see the yoga mat one? Oh, go here's the last one uh puff and chill that one's that one's 80 dollars yeah i can get behind that one puff and chill yeah you get that now there's puff and chill low funk there's chiba chill there's vagabond tripper there's chiba weva there's chiba chill cord these are shoes these are shoes and sandals chiba uh yeah so tko tko is one too vagabond

lace sneakers so they're all like kind of groovy weeded weed lifestyle adjacent i think hey and you know what that whole store is full of grass oh yeah physical location yeah yeah so so kind of place um i uh yeah wait i read something about the yoga mat flip-flop where they they're pushing that they they turned yoga mat material into a shoe i read some copy possibly from sanuk.com that says move into your own away from ohm uh genuine laugh um with the yoga mat flip-flop made with real yoga mats for the softest squishiest most relaxing and meditative sandal yet so if you want to always feel like you're about to do a downward dog i I saw a review and someone was like, I think it was on the Yelp and someone was asking,

which kind should I get from here? And someone went, well, definitely the yoga mat flip-flop are the most comfortable. Trust me, I have 12 pairs of Sanuk flip-flops. What? I guess if you like Sanuk, you'll like Sanuk. I mean, there's people probably mad at us now. Did you see all the ambassadors on the Sanuk website?

No. Like skaters and surfers and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Of course, Wakeboarder, Bob Sovin, Surfer Brett Barley, Surfer Musician Donovan Frankenreiter. I mean, these are all the ambassadors. Sure, they're comfortable. I mean, I have seen those sidewalk Surfer kind of like Wow did you say

Bread barley Yeah yeah so here's a picture of him with a Pineapple in front of his face And then there's this one guy Who is using a banana like a telephone Banana like a phone That's such a tough audience That one got him though that's that physical humor

that kind of translates generations or transfers so i i didn't really see if there were i don't remember if there were ugg boots in the store like their other brand that decker owns but uh i was right when i like shortly after i had finished doing some research on this i was watching eyes wide shut for the first time and there is a really weird moment where tom cruise like home from a long day of work sits down on his couch with nicole kim and he's wearing a t-shirt and jeans and ugg boots and it's so odd. Ugg boots have been around for a long time. Ugg is a brand but like the silo boot have been around

for a long time and did get popular in the late 90s. But it's just such a startling moment in this movie because you think about Kubrick making everything and it's like that's what Tom is, that's what his character hangs out in. Comfortable, casual, relaxing. Fur boots.

This can be his ohm away from ohm. I didn't spend as much. You losers. I wasn't hanging out on sanuk.com. I was on stance.com, the website for the kind of sock that they carry and then made the sector keepers. Oh, wow. Socks.

Uh, this website, um, I, uh, I, if they weren't fictional, I would say that at some point stance became under the purview of, uh,

uh, clothing, Titan, uh, Jay Peterman, and that he had his most trusted copywriter, Elaine Venice, right? Jay Peterman and that he had his most trusted copywriter Elaine Bennis write the materials on the website because

there are some flowery paragraphs going on for some very strange socks. There is a sock of Johnny Cash's mugshot. Buy that. The Johnny Cash's mugshot. Very cool. Put it on socks. The opposite

of cool. We have washed socks. The opposite of cool. We have washed it all the cool away. And I don't need to read the whole thing, but just to get a taste. If you're even looking on the website for Johnny Cash mugshot socks, you don't need this to convince you. With a sound that transcended time and an honesty that cut straight to the soul, Johnny Cash became an American icon. His songs, be they about prison, love, lust, hope, or redemption, are inseparable from the fabric of the nation. the transcended time in an honesty that cuts straight to the soul Johnny Cash became an American icon his songs be they about prison love

lust hope or redemption are inseparable from the fabric of the nation fuck you Stance's Cash Flyer pays homage

to the man in black thanks to its plush combed cotton and deep peel and to keep things cool blah blah blah I'm skipping a bunch and to keep things cool

the Cash Flyer sports mesh vents walk the line with stances cash flyer boo fuck you someone get paid to write this i guess so i see the train coming it's bringing me some socks that's how that's gonna happen i think with all this stuff where because every every like artist especially who's dead and was famous like their estate is just licensing them out and it's just like the grossest the but we just saw the buddy holly roy orbison hologram tour yeah that's happening and it's just actors who recorded the performance and then you just see that how it's not even like maybe it's one thing it's also not one thing if you saw the actual performers hologram somehow they recreated it

from video that's not what this is this is what's bullshit about all these hologram things and the one that i saw at the shady theater it's just some guy right tupac was a hologram there was no actor playing i mean maybe as a physical reference but then his face was compiled from uh like like photos of tupac right that was like a weird digital tupac the rest of this they get get some guy dress him as roy orbson what a piece of shit it's crazy so i imagine that they'll the i imagine they'll start taking songs like that the folsom prison blues and putting like ads for whatever. Well, Stance could afford it. After all, they were named the official sock of the NBA and MLB

in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and won Best Socks of the Year in 2017 with their tribute to rapper Gucci Mane. Wow. Now, who awarded them that? Well, let's check Sneakscore.com just to confirm and you're on a website where you just passed by some socks a picture of socks hell yes looking so tough that's as tough as you can look on a sock sometimes you guys put words together that make my head spin

look it's just a lot of info to get it once i know it's just stuff you find out on sneak score the top rated annual review of footwear technology and innovation sneaks how is sneakscore.com not come up yet on this podcast i've never heard of've never heard of Sneakscore.com. Wow. So that is like what a sneakerhead would look at for like real... Is that like a sneakerheads inside the magic? Is it more like the

Theas for sneakerheads? I don't know. We should go to the Theas for sneakerheads or whatever that is. We're not calling it the Oscars for socks. We're calling it the Theas for socks. Yeah, whatever that is we're not calling it the oscars for socks we're calling it the theas for socks the most prestigious award you can win flip-flops of course went to the gucci main flip-flops what how did gucci main run away with this gucci main own sneak score.com did you buy sorry these are just coochie flip-flops i fucked up not coochie oh yes coochie they're just next to gucci main branded socks i'm sorry i got a little overwhelmed by the majesty of these awards i mean i'm in a skull scored what's what sneak score

so wait sneak score ruled that the gucci flip-flops that aren't related to Gucci Mane were the best flip-flops. No, but the similar color patterns. Best flip-flops Gucci. Red and green. Best socks Gucci Mane. Whoa, that's weird. And then you just got to give it up for the Nike Hyper Adapt 1.0 and the Adidas FutureCraft 3D.

Wait, what is the last thing you just said? The Adidas FutureCraft 3D. What is that? It's a sneaker. Yeah, I'm looking at it. Can I see it? Here's, sorry, when you click on it, it disappears. It's like fucking, the iPad's fucking with you.

That's the Adidas one, and... Oh my god, what happened? Sneak score, you're killing us. sorry when you click on it it disappears it's like fucking the ipad's fucking with you and oh my god what happened sneak score here's the nike one i like this one yeah i like shoes i'm not trying to put down the shoe community or anything here wait and there are podcast there i know there's a lot of shoe podcasts that would be furious we don't aren't respecting the differences between these things they don't give a shit the differences between these things. They don't give a shit the differences between level one stage three and level three stage two.

And this is a theme park podcast? Yeah. We're going to throw rocks at every glass house we can find. Ours is plenty relatable. The most relatable podcast there is all right should we keep moving i think we probably should i mean let me let me quickly say you can also get

a sock that there's a star wars three pack and you can get a sock of uh like it's a three-pack gift set for rogue one that includes death trooper stormtrooper and krennic the director of the advanced weapons research division of the imperialoper, and Krennic, the director of the Advanced Weapons Research Division of the Imperial Military. Orson Krennic, of course. That's just the character's name. I liked Krennic. Krennic is Mendelsohn, Ben Mendelsohn. Ben Mendelsohn.

Yeah. So get him on your socks. I have one more thing that also will apply to, I know we need to move on, but it does, this is important, I think, for future sectors. I saw- Sector? Levels. Sorry, sorry, sorry. to i know we need to move on but it does this is important i think for future sectors uh i saw god i cannot it's too much uh big big it really is um uh so uh there was some discussion on an official disney sanuk website of somebody who was confused about are they talking about the one in uh in florida or in anaheim and this might be from a time where both were called

downtown now it's disney springs in orlando um so uh this is a official disney response hi patrick i'm sorry for the confusion. When we say downtown Disney district, we are referring to Disneyland Resort. At Walt Disney World Resort, we simply say downtown Disney. I realize that it's just a slight difference, but I hope that might help with any confusion in the future. So, guys, we fucked up. The real name of this place

that we're already deep into a show, a series about, is the downtown, is not the downtown Disneyney district so this whole thing should be called downtown disney district ordeal right but now is it too late yes yes because we've done the song and how much work are we supposed to do but i think this will change how what the audience does going forward so no more retire your beloved hashtag DDO. It is now hashtag DDDO.

Oh, God damn it. And rewrite your previous tweets. Delete them. Clear them out. Pretend that they're cancelable. And don't let anyone see your shameful DDO tweets. Everyone else in the room is rubbing their eyes. Why?

This person spoke to Patrick, laid the law down, and we have to be respectful. We've all spoken to Patrick. No, I just... It truly is an ordeal. It is a facsimile of a district in a city, and it is a facsimile... Even though it's town,

downtown district. Downtown Disney district. Awful district awful okay we have to abide it so it's downtown disney district yeah from now on okay now let's move on to the ice cream store all right um and i'll take a breather while jason sure i gotta take the bathroom break jason please well you know, like a really rich ice cream, I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet. I think I've made my feelings about the more

bourgeois ice cream dealers kind of known in past episodes. Yeah, it's a little... I'm really mixed emotions about them because I think ice cream, it's so delicious. It's for everyone.

It's something made in such large quantities when places like charge a lot for it. I'm like, God damn it. Really? And I find them a little exhausting. And I think salt and straw is one of the more exhausting ones. I,

I, of the nice quote unquote, nice ice cream establishments. I am a big fan of ample hills uh located uh at disney's boardwalk resort coming soon to disney springs in orlando uh and one here in los angeles i like ample hills a lot i like uh santa monica based sweet rose creamery but salt and straw is one of the ones like that uh like jenny's where it's just like the lines are so long and it costs so much money for a single scoop you don't know what jenny's is

you're so much more up on the ice cream jenny's is the one that gave everyone listeria and had to shut down and scrape some batches um salt and straw like i like just the regular i like like a salted caramel from there they they kind of got known for doing the, like, Thanksgiving stuffing or cornbread flavor. Or they have one with olives in it. Olives and goat cheese. I really like it. I like it. I don't like olives in general.

I like goat cheese. I've had goat cheese stuff before. But, like. It's more goat cheesy than. Yeah. I don't know. I like this place. I made a point of

going to the other one in studio city i i uh i dig it you're right it's it's it's a hefty price probably but uh i don't know how much how much is it what do you think what is your price point for a cone a cone with a scoop should be under five dollars i would agree with that and it is not i don't believe it's closer to six or seven right how but isn't jenny's expensive too i'm saying that one's too oh you're saying that was bad too but i think ample hill is usually right on the line and they innovate it with that ice cream flight uh so i really admire them for that yes of course um i mean salt and straw is definitely like it is a good get it's very popular right now it makes sense in terms of revitalizing the downtown and an improvement over haagen-dazs which i think

haagen-dazs is too expensive for what you get it's gourmet prices and more like beskin robbins quality sometimes i think it's a little better i mean i get why it's usually priced around like the ben and jerry's price point um yeah i like it's usually priced around like the Ben and Jerry's price point. Yeah, I like it. It was definitely like the people's expectations, I think, have changed since the late 90s, early 2000s. You have great passion for ice cream. I sure do, Sector Keeper. And I, you know, we've talked about before,

like, you know, the Disney, the ones on Main Street and Buena Vista Street are just using dryers or Edie's, whatever you call it. But it's like that Disney boost. It makes it taste so much better. I do like the dryers a lot on Main Street. I have the cookie dough. I have a sherbet.

I like, I'm trying to find the price. It looks like obviously there's's it's more at the disney location sure yeah than it is anywhere else and that's the other it's so it's already a little pricier than yeah your bassman robbins or your haagen-dazs certainly um but then you get that disney that downtown disney district tax on top of it very good uh what's your feeling on solid straw mike uh i forgot to get it. And I haven't tried it yet. Well, I think you'll have it and think it's good ice cream.

It's probably a little too expensive. You know what? I think I like it logo-wise and their big sort of like fantasy land door handles. I think it's appealing aesthetically. I think that it's very appealing aesthetically. I walked inside. This was back when the line was truly insane. the wood is nice i think it all it looks good it's a good mix between like the aesthetic of what's there right now and uh you know maybe a more modern-y kind of design

so it's good it look i mean it looks obviously much classier than the haagen-dazs um and yeah it's it's probably not that much more money special i like the idea of these kinds of places having more like it's a local california i don't know if it's a local brand and that it's not a haagen-dazs you can find in any mall i don't like any of the things in any in whether it be city walk or downtown disney where this would be anywhere it should be special it should be something that isn't everywhere that's what i said about the ben and jerry's at city walk it was like a little bit of a boring interior. I mean, outside there's the fun, what is it?

The cow crash down. Yeah, that's fun. Yeah, you know. You were really hard on the interior. I do remember being really hard on it. And they had redone that, too. What's that? They had redone that.

I feel like they slapped a bunch of wood in there. But it's not neat. It's not as good as the salt and straw. Salt and straw looks a little, I like a little more brighter pastel-y like a traditional ben and jerry's or an ample hills really has that like hand painted do you remember go marry ample hills then that's not who moved in there your straws gotta be salt and your ample hills ample hills is expensive too and it's good i just think it better i don't know I don't know I really wish

I didn't forget To try this yet Because I think Amples is good There's still time I think you just like The flight Do it tonight

And review it In tomorrow's episode Maybe I will Ample Hills I think you just like The flights I mean I like the flight The flights have delighted

The flights have delighted you So much That you can have Three different scoops That I think Is making you Such an Ampahill stan. He's going to kill for them. We'll see.

I don't know. You're genuinely like shutting down. You're like, how dare any of these rubes question Jason's ice cream opinions. I just think it's a little much. That's definitely the newer downtown Disney stuff. It's a few dollars more on top of what was already a few dollars more. I think everything's a little too expensive, especially when we go dealing with clothing and sunglasses.

It is, yes. I'm just saying that. Which adds to the exhaustion of doing these things. We're all going to places that cost too much money. Yes. And then it makes us complain about doing it here within the episode that you're listening to yes it's a true ordeal it's on point for what the districts go for and it's on point for what we have called it

the correct word i had a feeling it was gonna be rougher this time around it is but i think it's an unfair note to give to say so I don't like the inside of Salton Straw. It should be like Ample Hills. I'm saying there was already an ice cream parlor, a craft ice cream parlor. Disney had an existing relationship and they did not extend it. What if they were difficult?

What if it was on them? What if Ample Hills was like- It's good. They should. Everyone should charge Disney a lot of money. But then prices go up. Then we're paying more too. We're going to have to figure out

because Apple Hill still is very chummy with Disney and they release their Marvel flavors and their Disney. So I wonder what the situation is. And Bob Iger owns stock in them. Sure. He probably gets a case of ice cream every week for free. Free flight when he gets to work every day.

Oh yeah. Oh my god, Jason's dream Oh, I would love to A free flight on the desk every morning I ate the flight on my own once And my throat hurts so much from that amount of sugar One man is not meant to eat that much sugar in one sitting But it hurts so good, baby You've got a lot of opportunities to get sick during this ordeal

Yes, and I have. You eat ice cream like I dream of eating ice cream. Yes, that's right. Well, I'm an adult, and when you're an adult, you get to do things like that. Can we do a quick ice cream check? What do you have in the freezer right now? I'm out. I've got to go to the store.

Are you going to get some tonight? No wonder this is an ordeal. I might stop at Ralph's on the way home. What are you going to pick up? I don't know. I've got to see what's on sale okay so you just gotta wing it you're not feeling yeah i like to wait uh you know i wanted to try this kit kat kind that i think dryers is putting out they have a kit kat do they have

pieces of kit kat in it yeah or is it just flavored oh kit kat mint yeah it's kit kat mint oh you got really cool i feel like you have all these mint ones like i feel like these mints are like a loophole like if it's mint it's they can get away with selling it even if it's got like other shit crammed in yeah they all have mint in them okay that's the technicality it uh i also like we're all agitated and you're over there cool as a cucumber yeah probably from all of these jewel maybe this is a lesson we should be doing jewel yeah yeah well if we took away his nicotine source like he for sure would be agitated please don't do that okay we don't want to see when the secretary keeper gets angry. Yeah. Well, speaking of things that are in every mall and boring,

Wetzel's pretzels. We come now to Wetzel's pretzels. My enemy. We meet again. Yes, this is... Son of a bitch. Dual citizenship with CityWalk. Yes. It's one of those brands that is in both.

Is that where we're settling? We should settle on... citizenship with city walk yes it's one of those brands that is in both is that the um is where are we settling we we should settle on in my head i've been calling them like city walk like the cousins oh sure city walk but i like dual citizenship okay sorry sorry boys i should warn you be careful as you speak of wetetzel's pretzels today. Oh, okay. That's right. It's a boss episode. Oh, right, right. Okay.

So we should. All right. Well, now. But you know what? We're torn now. All right. We have a choice. We can just be complimentary of Wetzel's pretzels so we don't incur some wrath down the line.

Or do we say our honest opinions? And I think we owe the listener. Yes, we do a little bit of a theme park journalist that's why we started this podcast so i ain't scared of a pretzel establishment i didn't go to this place it got me sick at city walk yep all right so if you didn't listen to the city walk saga yes uh jason uh shockingly combined uh hot dog pretzels with indoor skydiving. It was a problem. Correct. Pepperoni pretzels.

Pepperoni pretzels. And when I had the full size pretzels with pepperoni before, it had been fine. But these were pepperoni pretzel bites. They have. Have you ever had their hot dog pretzel? Yes. And I'm fine.

I was fine. But this was me. I think this was the universe punishing me for not showing my fealty to Auntie Anne's. My lifelong favorite. Your wife. Your wife. The listener doesn't know that you're married to Auntie Anne. The woman who made the pretzel company.

That never comes up. Yeah. Uncle Jason and Auntie Anne. Unky Jason. Unky Jason and Auntie Anne. Okay. You didn't go to this one did you no okay yeah good because i was gonna say like every picture i look at like i'm looking at ones with like okay here's what i'm also they spruced it up and i still am like no they did they have slushes in there it's slushes this is i will say it's a recently remodeled particularly consider it a

flagship so now it's a recently remodeled flagship wetzel's pretzels and why they come they uh worked with local artists to bring the store to life there's a door handle that was made by like a sculptor i don't remember forgive me i don't remember he made like some statue that's downtown of you know a like a you know local leader who's important to people and then now he's making a door handle of pretzels complete with like salt rivets um and and then he's gonna remodel jason's house every toilet uh flusher it's a hot dog floppy toilet handle there's also a mural uh in this uh in this facility now by an artist named trek thunder kelly who ran for governor of california in a performance artish way

in 2003 i ran for governor of california in 2003 yeah that's no that's no rare fact of it anyway this was the arnold year and there were lots of weird novelty runs in one of them. So now, next time you're in Wetzel's Pretzels, know that the mural was made by somebody who joined in the gubernatorial fun. Sure. Got it. So, all that notwithstanding, the recent cosmetic refreshes. Still, there is a big, you know, like vinyl sign that says the three yummigos. And there's a pepper.

That's pepperoni twist, jalapeno cheese melt and halloroni. Looking at the pretzel makes me want to vomit. But the word makes me really want to vomit. Halloroni. Halloroni. Yeah. That's disgusting. And the jalapenos look terrible.

They're like blackened and sickly. I just, in general, like, it seems like, I don't know why, I've never been like, I got to get myself a mall pretzel. Honestly, I've never had that thought. I'm not trying to act like I'm better than anyone who has. I'm just saying I've never had that thought. And then all they're doing is just making it seem worse by like adding all this weirdness to it there are dark forces at play oh no oh well you look you don't look good i just received a text from my cousin and his

cricket wireless prepaid be careful boys you're venturing deep into a a very very risky place it's fine i'm not scared i'm not scared to call out the guy who set up this this shit establishment a guy named rick wetzel rick wetzel with his partner bill Bill Phelps. Of course. And his wife, Elise Wetzel. Okay, yeah. One bizarre fact is that, it's truly a strange fact, is that they wanted to start a pretzel business and did not immediately think to call it Wetzel's Pretzels. I was watching an interview with Rick Wetzel on The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch, a YouTube clip of that show that doesn't exist anymore. And he said he used to be called Wetzel's pretzel when he was a kid that was his name that was like

a nickname yeah so i may he was like maybe he didn't want to call it that because of that and then they finally were like come on man well yeah every it seems like like he got a lot of attitude for not figuring that out right away yes uh i saw another interview where they said they wanted to cook it to be like california pizza kitchen so they were going to be california pretzels but that was already trademarked or something and and rick wetzel said one of my wife's friends who was the proctor and gamble said you idiot call it wetzel's pretzels and they thought that was corny so they just called it wetzel so they still resisted it and people walked up and like what is this they so they were not

putting together what was right there right he wasn't rick wetzel right now he's gone on to great things since he's responsible for blaze blaze pizza empire and they were talking about another place i didn't like oh yeah i thought you liked blaze no you got like a weird combo there like i fucked up where like the whole thing was there was so much yeah yeah i remember all you could taste was like uh yeah they he did blaze pizza i watched a five minute video of elise and rick wetzel talking about how they were going to enter the pizza space and people said they were crazy to do it so much competition out there but they did it anyway and they're growing still you want to flash fire pizza folks you go to pizza rev you go to pizza press oh you go to Pizza Press.

Oh, you like those two. Those are the ones I like. Yeah, I got that confused. Those are all newer pizza ventures. There's so much room for pizza, I feel like, out there in the marketplace. I just thought there wasn't. Everybody told them they were crazy. A lot of these guys get a lot of resistance.

They keep plowing through it. Yeah. But people are calling them idiots. I mean That's insane They didn't figure that out Well Rick Rick and Bill

They were talking about this They were talking about A pretzel business And they were on a plane This is according to them And they heard Somebody overheard them say We're going to make

A pretzel like business And somebody turned to them That was a stranger And said that's a great idea And that's when they knew They were on to something They went to a bar they wrote all the business business plan down on a napkin i'm so excited talking about it they wrote the business plan down on a napkin and it was like april or february and they said we'll have a store open by november and they did

that's the story of wetzel's pretzels that's some horatio alger bootstraps bullshit they were working for they were working for an abyss they were working for friskies and uh whatever whoever owned friskies at the time well now you have my attention it feels like they're leaving something out well they got a third investor which i think was the person who actually did all of it yeah all these charming stories don't entail how they don't talk the money and on the big idea with Donny Deutsch, they didn't talk about who the third investor... They didn't say the name of the investor. Mohammed bin Salman.

The Prince of Saudi Arabia. And I think on another interview they were like, we had an angel investor. So maybe that's the silent partner that doesn't want it out there that he started. Dark money ass pretzel money. What are they hiding? Okay, any mall could

have a wetzel's pretzels yes this space could be used for something like specific and disney related and instead they're just they're still telling the story of this guy who couldn't even figure out that his name rhymed with the product he wanted to sell i don't like this screw wetzel's pretzels this is the dumbest thing. Yeah, I have never. That's I have literally I've not once in a while in a theme park.

I'll have a pretzel, but I've never wanted one in a mall. Do you disagree? What's the problem? What? I'm just saying these are uncharted waters.

You're not. You're not looking so good. It's a lot darker. Wait a minute There are a lot more pretzels around us This is the inhabitation It's happening No

He's changing What do you think you're doing Oh my god It must be him He's got little thin owl glasses And he looks a little awkward. That's right. Rick Wetzel.

Oh my God. Son of a bitch. Jumbled in your own dumb brain. I'm not afraid of you. I'm glad you're here. I'm not even sure if I still want it to be my name. I've never been sure. I'm not even sure if I want my business to be called that.

Oh my God. The dark spirit of Rick Wetzel has inhabited the sector keeper. Yeah. You know it's well. You know it's problematic. You know you have a boring brand. You know that making your door handle a pretzel doesn't make it a problem. It was a genius idea. The man ran for governor in 2003. That's not

that novel. That's a good idea. So many people did. He failed. It didn't get any performance or attention. The three amigos. Did you come up with that? Yes, I came up with that. It took me years. I came up with that. And I wasn't sure about it.

Then a man on a plane told me it was a good idea. And I did it. I made the poster. Who was this man? I don't know his name. I think every time this man is the third angel investor, he's just pumping your pockets full of cash. And you present

it like some folksy story yeah maybe i'm a fucking idiot and i don't know what i'm doing but you three wandered into my pretzel store and you had the nerve to criticize it there's like you're putting pepperoni on pretzels and like they've been sitting out. That's a good idea. It's been sitting out all day. It got Jason sick right before he had to skydive. You made one of us sick. You made me sick. I made you sick?

Yeah. What did you do after you ate my food? I did a normal round of indoor skydiving. Okay. He floated through the air. Hey, that's a good idea yeah but i bet you won't pull the trigger you're gonna start skydiving yeah yeah maybe people should be eating my pretzels while indoor skydiving i did this you're not gonna pull the

trigger on this unless some guy on a plane tells you it's a good idea or maybe your wife's friend or something you don't have any spine you can't name's bob phelps this guy has so many holes in his brain inventory what's that we got oh yeah you're right let's take this guy down okay let's take this guy down wait a minute i know what we have what we have is a healthy item from one of his competitors just across the way in this same district of Downtown Disney District. What? From the same level, what we have is some of Jamba's beloved new oat milk. No. Hell yeah.

Throw it at his fucking head. Get it in his eyes. Squish. Squish. You can see the spirit of rick wetzel dissipating the sun is coming out his army of pretzel guards also has disappeared we forgot to mention we didn't talk about the three yum egos they appeared and now they're gone oat milk now that's a good idea

oh my god and his spirit flew away like he was on a plane with a third man Oh, milk. Now that's a good idea. Oh, my God. And his spirit flew away like he was on a plane with a third man. Boys, boys, I'm back. Thank you. Oh, he did it. Dude, did you even know what happened? No, no. You turned into super creep, dumb idea having Rick Wetzel.

No, not Rick Wetzel. Yeah, man. He's going now. Don't don't worry to be fair it was like the dark spirit of rick wetzel so we're not quite sure logistically if it's actually him or if it's like sort of a dark version of it which couldn't sue us for a lot right so it's like uh yeah we don't really know honestly rick wetzel all the bosses are dark boys you become braver by the level and by the stage thank you thank you yeah unfortunately the level keeper is not at this stage oh man oh no maybe we would find him or here they moved on again yes he or she has moved on again okay. I guess we'll keep going on the journey. Something tells me, like, I have been feeling like, do we have an out?

And are we going to find... Oh, because then we can stop. In one of the... Yeah. But why do I have the feeling that it will not be until the 15th stage? I see what you're saying. That's probably right. We'll probably have to...

Can we give up if the level keeper is in like the fourth one i guess yeah you could sweet you know it's not gonna be though i don't think so but you never know yeah you don't know i don't know i like to gamble sometimes i think it's possible i mean it doesn't change what we do we still have to fight all these fights but oh fuck what if it was in the next one maybe level three or level three might be our level maybe i'm gonna hold out maybe level three yeah boys boys as you venture into level three i have an item for you oh thank you what is that something that will help you along the way boys i present to you the puff and chill ankle boots from sanuk's oh the puff and chill ankle boot this could come in handy if a future boss tries to hurt us in the ankle yeah our ankles are

protected wait is it just one singular boot for the three of us yeah that's all i could get my hands on okay well in worst case we just chuck it out their head like we did this time. Or like... That might be the way we handle all of these. Do you remember like in Mario 3 when Mario was in that boot and he's bouncing around? We put you in the boot. I loved that feature. Oh, the big boot is one of the best.

I love the big boot. What did I do? Michael, yes, yes. That is the idea. Okay, great. I had a feeling. We're going to have to put Jason in that big boot eventually in this series. Yeah.

And we're going to have to have one of you out there draw it. It's just half of Jason's face poking through a boot. Well, Oh my God. Thank you. You just gave us maybe the most valuable item yet. Really appreciate it. And we,

that means that we audience, all of us have survived level two, stage three of the Downtown Disney ordeal. So on we move to level three. What will we encounter there? I know that with this, we start getting into the wine bar district by the old classifications of this area that they don't use anymore. So we know that we'll encounter me being way happier,

but what will the rest of you face? It remains to be seen. we know that we'll encounter me being way happier, but what will the rest of you face? Uh, it remains to be seen, but, audience, you can follow us no matter what happens. Uh, and the entire downtown Disney ordeal been remember to use hashtag.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and use hashtag D D D O. Downtown district, Disney district ordeal. Hashtag. Uh, I already forget what the other thing was. Save the Level Keeper.

Save the Level Keeper. Hashtag, Sector Keepers Cricket Wireless Severance. Yes. You don't have to use that one. It's too long. I know. Come on. Hey, don't be selfish.

We're going to help our friend out. Only, yeah, just like toward, like, at Cricket Wireless. Yes, yeah, yeah yeah that one you can just direct uh yeah and follow us don't follow cricket wireless don't stick around just tweet something right at them and then leave uh and for three bonus episodes every month subscribe to patreon uh our patreon at patreon the dot com slash podcast the riot podcast right the second gate uh we'll see you once again tomorrow it's level three here we go level three this has been a forever dog production executive produced by mike carlson

jason sheridan scott gardner brett boehm, Joe Cilio, and Alex Ramsey. For more original podcasts, please visit foreverdogpodcasts.com and subscribe to our shows on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keep up with the latest Forever Dog news by following us on Twitter and Instagram at Forever Dog Team and liking our page on Facebook.