Podcast: The Ride - Somehow, Galaxy’s Edge Returned with Todd Martens

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is going through some, uh, changes. It’s not aging—it’s de-aging. Part of the land is going back in time, while part of the land is staying the same. This is normal stuff for a massive, multi-million-dollar IP-based theme park land entering its seventh year on planet Earth. It’s nothing to worry about.Todd Martens (LA Times) is here to answer any of the tough questions we have about the process!"Electric Mice Orchestra" episode is up at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/PodcastTheRide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW PODCAST: THE RIDE:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/PodcastTheRide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/podcasttheride⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BUY PODCAST: THE RIDE MERCH:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.teepublic.com/stores/podcast-the-ride⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PODCAST THE RIDE IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/podcast-the-ride⁠ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will now blare in a loud loop for the entire episode, and we are no longer sponsored by Coaxium. Yes, there's been big changes on Bat 2 and Millennium Falcon Smugglers run, so Todd Martens from the LA Times will help us decode this major intel. Somehow, Galaxy's Edge returned on Podcast the Ride. Welcome to Podcast the Ride, a podcast about theme parks where hearing us talk about theme parks will make you say, this is the way to alienate my friends and family with theme park minutia. My name is Mike Carlson, joining me, as always, Jason Sheridan. That was good. Thank you.

There's Disney behind the scenes video, and they're always like, put your hands in, this is the way. Oh, do they do that a lot? Yeah. So they use the... For this, for the mandolades. Laurian and Grogu smugglers from. They were doing a lot of the groups. That's a cute little fun thing to do.

It was cute. Yeah. Scott Garner here, do you find that cute? And did you like what I just did? That's the joke I made. I got two questions here. Yeah. The hands in cute, I don't, the description was. I haven't seen a first-hand account, so I can't speak to that. And yes, I enjoyed it, and I do find that to be accurate.

I like it from now when I say something, like at the top of a show, if you just go, that's good. I do like that reinforcement. So that would be good in general. How many things do we all say that are meant to be funny? Right, no one says that's good. Either it's nothing and we keep moving or there is a laugh, but a laugh is not the same as like a, it's like a thank you note.

We should be giving you verbal thank you notes. That's what I mean. I'm needy. I'm a needy guy. That was verbal thank you note and I also had nothing else to add. That's okay. Yeah, well, what I was doing was scanning my brain for other Star Wars quotes to kind of go off of that and I came up empty because just as a reminder,

My fandom is and remains more star tours oriented than the films. I know some people like the movies of Star Wars, but I am a little more focused on it. And even with the expanded attractions and Galaxy's Edge and everything, the fandom does remain very star tours oriented. What's the first, what's the, like, number one quote from original Star Tours? Is it the first, this is my first flight thing? Is that the quote? Or is there a... Mine, too.

And Cotton a tractor beam. Cotton A tractor beam. Wait, wait. Wait, wait, what does he say before? When the things like raising on him. Oh, yeah. I'm still getting used to my programming. Yeah, maybe that's the one.

Maybe that's the number one from the original. They all give you a nice feeling. Even me doing a non-impression. Just trying to be a little lilting like Paul Rubinz. Off mic, you two are often saying, I love you. I know. To each other. Like Han and Leia.

No, I know. Oh, I know. Yeah, you know. I know. Yes. He's the one who won't return it. I love you. It's hard for me.

And you aren't even looking at me in the eye. And I, you know what actually I usually say. Somebody will say, I love you and I go, my love. And I kind of point at them and I'll say that because I can't quite say. It's a deflection. Yeah, it's a deflection. It's hard, you know. I'm a Midwest guy of a certain age.

It's hard, you know? Sure. I know. Your love is expressed in hot dish form, usually. In hot dish form? Hot dish? Like what dog's dish? Did you do hot dish?

No, I don't know what hot dish is. That must be more of like. Is that Minnesota Or Is this like a casserole? You bring a hot dish Oh a hot dish.

Hot dish is a big casserole popular in the Midwestern United States Typically made with the starch And meat a canned vegetable And a creamy binder A Tater Todd is a popular one Okay so you're saying that that's how You bring that to a party and that's your wave

Yeah well my coffee shows up With casseroles I also honestly It's the only reason you're still coming That is. Well, it's why I all that's out pretty low-gey. I also, when you said hot dish, I don't know where in my head is at, but I thought I was thinking of like a centerfold when you were like, oh, a hot dish. Hachy-machi-machi. Yeah. I mean, that's something like that's not, that kind of show.

No, I know it's not, but like that's, I mean, that's a thing like Reggie Mantle would have said. Counterproof. Every single episode of show. Why, there's no more any stuff in the show? What show are you listening to? No way. It's flashing through a couple memories. It's clean. This show's clean. We don't go over. any of that stuff. But Reggie Mantle or Jughead Jones would say that. Yeah. Or Dilton Doily?

Dilton isn't that interested in sex. Are these Star Wars characters? No, these are Archie Comics characters. Is there residents of Riverdale? I think. We're really giving a lot of us and we have an actual theme park journalist here today. We do, yes. We use it facetiously.

We're fake, yeah, we're fake columnists. No, he is a columnist. We're not columnists. We're really fake because we've never written a columnist. We've never been in a column in our life. That's the thing we've the most not done. Yeah. Journalism also, I'd say, except for the rarest case, not really done here.

But this is why having a professional. You did, Scott did figure out that Michael Eisner probably did not hit the golf ball in Soren. Probably. Well, we're like 99. No, we are 100% sure about that. From the source. From Rickrodstown. What are you undercutting me with this maybe?

I didn't try to. I definitively proved that Michael Eisner is not hitting the goal. But here we are bragging before we've even introduced. You do journalism. I do like weird, horny stuff that I pretend is not horny. And little undercuts. Let's keep that to a minimum with our guests. He writes about theme parks. He's a columnist for the L.A. Times.

His name is Todd Martin. Hello, sir. Hello, thanks for having me. And I will say you guys do a form in journalism, commentary. Don't undersell yourselves. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, you're right.

That counts. Bill O'Reilly is a journalist. Same way. We're a journalist like he is. I wouldn't have been my comparison, but... We are in a similar because, you know, he is kind of like a sort of a Patreon model. Yes, he is, yeah. Yes, so we're, I'd say, extremely akin.

And I know this because my parents subscribe to his and not mine. Oh, my gosh. They're O'Reilly subscribers? Yeah, yeah. They gather... I believe they gather around, like, a desktop computer and sit... They sit on my old bed and why... Because they haven't figured out of it out of bouncing.

to a TV. This is big news. I don't know how many hours. I don't know how long he goes for. And how many days? Todd, I hate to do this. I'm so sorry. Let me just look up the tears of the Bill O'Reilly patron.

I don't know the tier and I don't want to know. Some things you don't want to know about your own parents. I guess I can do this on my own time. I don't want to know too much about how they made me. And then second most unpleasant fact. Bill. What tier of O'Reilly did they subscribe? A majority of their entertainment is. an old melting man

an actively dying old man I feel like that's a look I feel really guilty ascribing that description to a show they really like only murders in the building that feels unfair

but yes those are older gentlemen on the show there's the concierge tier that has the most still pretty reasonable eight dollars a month just like ours it yeah But I do remember there was a time where people were making fun of him because you could pay $100 and he'll call you or something. Jesus.

So I don't know if that's still available. Maybe too many people. Hope. Or his voice, because I know his voice is kind of shot these days, so maybe he can't do that many phone calls. And I'd have to look at myself in the mirror. If I discover that due to a financial arrangement that Bill O'Reilly's calling my parents more than I am, look into it.

That's on. Or don't. Anyway, sorry about that, Todd. Sorry to take us into the O'Reilly Swamp. Todd, one of your bona fide is also, are you the first voice you hear in the Epic Universe documentary? Oh, yes, that is. That is?

Wow. You are the first face, too, I think. I am the first face. I am ahead of Steven Spielberg in a documentary. So I don't, obviously. And Vin Diesel. And Vin Diesel. And I remember that was like the text to my sister.

I'm like, Stephen Spielberg is at least aware that I am a person in this world now. That's pretty cool. I first off great job in that documentary I thought you were very thoughtful and you I feel like you gave the vibe and you talked about theme parks in a way that we often talk about theme parks and it was very thoughtful

analysis oh I really appreciate that yeah it was I thought they did a good job with that documentary it wasn't you know obviously it was put on by universal but it didn't really feel very marketing heavy and you know they really let me talk about theme parks as art and the history of the good and bad of the park yeah it was pretty frank which I like Jay Stein was really frank

and the fact that that came out like either was it days before, days after he passed? It was about a week or two after he passed, yeah. Universal hadn't even put out a statement yet on Jay Stein's passing, yeah. Yeah, but he was a great shit talk. I mean, he had incredible insights

of opening parks, but he like was very frank about the competition and such. Is that what, does it go into early, like it's the history of Universal and by? islands and everything leading up to this moment. They got the crowds of people walking to the park shot. They got the islands opening with Spider-Man dangling off the helicopter shot.

Universal frequent footage. Yes. This is something we talk about in the show once in a while. It's like those Disney shots that you just see in media, all the, like, I don't know if you flashed to anything when I say that, but it, I mean, it's definitely like Walt on the big map or Walt leaning out of the train with a little, like, toy Mickey waving. Owboy hat walking through the like unbuilt Disneyland. I feel like in like pink shirt or something.

Like kind of pacing. You've seen that black and white. You've seen a color. Yeah. For sure. But Universal, I guess, has their own. Yeah. There's like Spielberg cutting a ribbon, like a film strip ribbon.

Yeah. Which is a little bit awkward. It's kind of, when you see something so frequently, you know, you can remember the quality of the ribbon cutting. Spielberg got to take the hard half tour of like the half built epic. Oh, really? And like point at things and take up. big photo with the crew that was cool sure sure yeah yeah that's that's neat um did you get to go ahead of time i forget a big universe or i went twice i went about a month and a half before it was

officially open but it was in soft open at that time so there were guests in the park they just hadn't had the official opening day and then i did go for the opening ceremony and i haven't been back since did you ever see vincent various i did not oh shit we're still hunting for him if you could maybe focus a lot more of your journalism on finding him. I think we would be appreciative of that. Yeah, we'd love to get a hold of series Bible for Celestial Park. I would love that too. Did you see they just put out the vinyl record for Celestial Park?

Yes, yes. And supposedly there's hours and hours of music. I was told like 70, I think, is what I was told, if I'm correct. Really 70? That's what I think I was told. Wow. You know, that's the number that jumped in my head. It has been a while since I was told that.

So if I'm incorrect, you know, I might be incorrect. I'm not saying that out there is fact. 70 hours of music, zero umbrellas. They had priority. The landscape art. The trees are growing. The plants are growing in nicely. Okay.

In another 25 years, it's going to be fine. Well, look how good California Adventure looks now with all those trees and plants grown. 25 years later. That's what he's talking, yeah. 25 years. So today. we are going to talk about all these galaxies. Ed's changes, the smugglers run changes.

Are there any, before we start, Todd, are there any, like, stories you're, like, chasing down? You're excited about theme park stuff you're excited about in general, just because obviously you have a very wide view of all this stuff. Well, I mean, just the first thing that jumped in the head, you mentioned the lack of shade and celestial park. I'm very interested in how theme park design is maybe prepping for climate change. Oh, interesting.

That's kind of like a newsy story that I've kind of liked. to work on over the years. I know Disney announced recently they had an event at Disneyland that I wasn't invited to, but they had an event, one of our other reporters went. So they had an event where, and they did talk about these like instant shade umbrellas that they develop at WDI. So there's definitely thinking about some sort of. Oh, right.

That they can sort of, that they can throw up or take down based on the conditions of the day. Wow. Interesting. So I have been concerned about that. You know. Do you think that is, is climate change going? to force like you know Dubai or somewhere like that to be the theme park capital of the world due to everything being in giant indoor atriums already I have a feeling like part of my theory

this isn't this is just part of one of my theories is part of the reason Disney is so excited about Dubai is because they can build something indoor indoors and it could sort of prep them for the future of like Florida sure yeah yeah that could be part of it yeah because I think homeowners insurance is already starting to become a problem in Florida. Oh, wow. Like the rates are through the roof, like in anticipation of changing weather. Because everything's

going to get so good and they're worried that people are going to move in. Yeah, everything's going great. Yeah, okay. It's just like Disney's psyched for Dubai. Like, oh, wow, look at all these international events happening. This is cool. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of focus on it. And that's good for business is what you're saying.

Yeah, whatever's going on there. It's just having the region in the news and the headlines. I mean, Bill Riley has been saying, yeah, that's good. It's great for Disney. Nothing quite like seeing a building partially on fire in the front of like a Batman neon sign. Wow, that is what happened. So, yeah, that is true. Did the umbrellas, are they like cool?

Do you see like what these umbrellas look like? I didn't get to see them. Like I said, I wasn't invited to that media event. But it just sort of put in my head that people are thinking about the coming future and what this world is going to look like. You know, at Universal Studios here in Hollywood, they've got, you know, misters everywhere. You know, Disneyland doesn't have a lot of misters. So I don't know. That's just one thing that came to mind.

We mentioned Dubai. I'm not a hard news theme park reporter. I'm more a feature reporter. Right. But certainly curious how the state of the world is affecting thoughts on that park. Yes. Yeah. Kind of suspiciously quiet.

Maybe they don't know the plan. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of all. We hold off for a second, not saying anything about it, but who knows? I assume they would like it to continue, but Lord knows how long this whole thing is going to last. So we'll see. Three more weeks, I believe.

Oh, yeah, just a quick one. It's been over for months, hasn't it? Yeah, it's signed and yield. What are we saying? I've been feeling there's going to be no Josh tomorrow mention of it at D23 in August. I don't think so. I'm guessing. Well, because also is that going to even, in a sense,

any circumstances, that's what's going to get like the pop among the fans in the arena. Shareholders, possibly, but like the people who come to those, the big announcements. I feel like it depends because, I mean, if there was something like crazy cool, they would get

like a cheer from it. And as you know, people get worked up in those rooms. Because I will say last D23, at least there was a lot more substance to the presentation. True. But I would, but still years past, they feel like it was just as loud and they almost announced nothing. So it doesn't.

So if they're going to try to pad out a presentation, a little Dubai, you know, might go a long way. When you say substance, do you mean minutes? Well, first of all, I mean mad tea party band playing music. Well, we like that. That's part of it. That's why they're all pumped up.

And then a few more, a few more ride announcements than normal, hiding where the rides are going to prevent people from being mad. Yeah, in most cases, uh, I think, yeah, they announced things, but then didn't say no rivers of America, didn't say no. or revision.

Yeah. Yeah. And everyone was speculating. Just the sad fallout of the fun announcement. It's probably a pretty good bit to a fake D23 and then like announce all these rides and like have them in the shape of our rivers of America. Or exactly the same size of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Well, let me ask a very recent news.

What do you think about the Carousel of Progress? Oh, this is. Oh, okay. That was interesting because I didn't really. really know about that one in advance. I woke up early at like 5.30. I think the news went out of five, so and then rolled over, checked my phone and saw it.

My first reaction was, oh, this is an attraction that Walt was involved in. And, you know, touching any of that is sort of, you know, it's seen as sacrilegious. You know, Walt touched it. And then my second reaction was I don't necessarily, I know Disney likes to say the line

theme parks aren't a museum. Yeah. You know, and I don't necessarily, I mean, theme parks are partly museums in a way. Yeah. You know, the stuff that's been there for decades. But on the flip side of that, I do think Carousel Progress had become kind of like a, you go there for its history. You don't go there because I go to, like, you all of us, I'm sure, would go on it anytime

I'd do it or Walt Disney World. But it's not something you're, like, every time I'd go in there, there'd be like 10 other people in that theater. And what I'm getting to is I came around to this is a move for the positive. But it took me, it took me a couple hours to, like, get there. Yeah. I was a little upset and I'm still a little upset but I read the attractions magazine

right up of the whatever press conference or media event they did, I guess, in Florida. And I'm like, okay, this all kind of makes, I like that it's time. It's like, oh, yeah, 60 years ago would be the 60s. So it kind of makes sense. It matches. in the 60s, the times, the decades line up. And the final scene

looks a little closer to like earlier final scenes, which are a little more spacey and hypothetical. I'm a little upset because this is where you'll get a sense of our different personalities

here in the room. As far as losing the old timey stuff, I don't care at all. Jason, that's entirely what Jason cares about. I say clear it all out, but I am upset

that the future has seen through 1994 is going away. I am sad that we can't, because I've found it so insane that for so many years, that we are now in 2026, and people are going,

not that many people, 10 people per show, as you said, but most of the people are watching a show where they say, after all, the new millenniums

right around the corner. Right. That's crazy. It's 33 years old. Oh my God. That scene, that last scene, or the last update overall,

but yeah. Which is longer, unless, if I know my history well enough, that's longer than that attraction had ever gone without being changed before, right?

I don't think they're... Now, they have changed, didn't they, like, put a new sweater on a dog or something? Like, they've done little things. There's been a couple updates over the years. They've changed the TVs out of the last scene. Yeah, they've updated some closed.

So grandma's playing her VR game on an updated television? Yeah, from 20, 2007. It had it been long enough that the VR craze of, like, the 90s had all but gone. and then of the VR craze of the 2010s or so atop, it had come back around, yeah. It's like choker necklaces. It's like, oh, they're back. And I remember when they were a peak in the late 90s.

She's playing something that's kind of like Virtual Boy, and then that crashed and burned, but now there's like a new weird revival of Virtual Boy. Yes, Human Bible Virtual Boy at one. I will say this. I was leaked the information a day early, and I was with Jason and I read it out loud to him. Oh, do tell.

And he was, I could tell he was upset. And I said, you don't have to go, you don't have to be nice about this. They're destroying what you love. The old-timey scenes here. They're taking a big hammer to the bathtub. They were. I mean, I felt defensive of it

because my dad saw the original at the World's Fair. And I was like, oh, it's both a bummer. They're changing this and a bummer. he's gone now and he won't be able to see the new version but then I was like well wait when they saw it in the 70s when they first went to Disney World and then when we did a big family trip with my grandparents in the 90s it had already been changed like two or three times

I feel like you're shoving this down I think you should blast them for this decision I haven't heard any swears I know I should let him have it let him have it he's acting all journalists proper I'm on best behavior we have a guess very reasonable man guest. But it was also like a general electric sponsored show for like part of its intent was to just show products. You have to

show products and like the first time I would have seen it at 6 would have been the best time of your life playing not great baby beautiful tomorrow. Here's the only thing I'll say is that I would always like there to be a couple very outdated things in the park.

And now the country bears is this new show. Okay. I understand that people like it better than the show I love. I get that. And I get that whatever they're about to do is going to make the show better for the average person. But for me personally, I need a couple of things that are breaking down a lightly attended that are definitely day. Like, that is part of it. What does that leave? Sunny Eclipse is there. Yeah. Clunky people mover. People move. Yeah. But we're starting, we are losing them.

Is there any, what's the like, E.T is hanging on at universe. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even know, like, I consider that outdated though in the same. way. Not even just the content, but just something that feels a little old. It feels like it's been not taking care of enough, but I like that about it. I don't want it to be so slick. Is any of Epcot still like that? In terms of robots, I don't know.

Spaceship Earth. Parts of Spaceship Earth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Parts of Space Earth. Yeah, which is nice. I was glad when that redo fell, by the way. I would love if they redid just the back half. The back half I will bail on.

The back half, who cares. I don't want to see the jiv-jab any more times in my life. life, but I hope they do that and don't touch the first part. The only, yeah, I got a, I was on, I took, I went in Spaceship Birth with Mr. Morrow, so I have a jib jab of me and him and good. Now get rid of it. You got your goal. I got my wish.

And now, yeah, it can be going. But yeah, so that's, that's the only thing that bums me out about Carousel Progress. If Country Bears was still the old show, fine, change it, whatever. Sure. But now I'm like, that's another thing that's old and dusty. I feel like there's more sacred. How is that Disneyland? For now.

Yeah, for now. Walt walked in. But even that, they, you know, rotate Mr. Lincoln and the Walt robot. And I believe he said, please never make me an animatronic at some point. Oh, yeah, we talked about that. Of course, yes.

And the family still doesn't want it. Walt the man and Walt the myth or different ownership, different people. The family owns one identity and the company owns the other. Well, there's going to be like one time when they use AI Walt.

to like pretend he said something about Mater just to justify a new ride. And then like there'll be a press. Like all it's going to take is like a precedent like that. All it's going to take is a precedent at Disneyland to get rid of something old. And then we're done. Like it's done. It's over, I think. So for right now we're safe as far as Disneyland is concerned.

Oh, did you think I like Tom Sawyer? I misspoke. I like Mater better. I don't know where you're getting that from. I love it. Mater burps. Folks, Michael here. And yes, I want to refresh my.

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I got a Heather Gray. I even got a gray checkered button up that I wore to a recent audition. Now, did I get the part? No, but that's not the shirt's fault. The shirt looks nice. So, folks, if you want to be like me and who doesn't, let's go. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash the ride for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns.

Now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash the ride for free shipping. shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash the ride. I have a question for you, Todd. And I swear I'm not fishing and trying to get you to admit something. But as far as, I don't know how much you get in terms of like, you know, like a little lead time, a little like inside information before it happens.

And it just makes me wonder, are you currently sitting on any information that would astound us or infuriate us? Like, is there anything that you have where you know the when we find out, we're going to react viscerally? I don't know if there's anything at the moment that you would react viscerally toward. But, yeah, I mean, when you're working as a journalist, I think, you know, so with something like I don't cover Walt Disney World, so like I wasn't necessarily briefed on the Carousel progress other than, like, a text from a friend, like, be online tomorrow early. but like but usually yeah I mean obviously there are embargoes

stuff that's under embargo but one of the things you gotta be careful of is like right now there's this big rumor that you know is DCA going to keep Avatar oh yes I was I was look here I was gonna ask you about that maybe yeah yeah yeah interesting yeah we can talk about it but it's sort of like

is it just the game of telephone at this point like is everybody just sort of repeating a couple like online rumors or is this this has been my question about it I called this out online in a move that I rarely make, but I was just assessing, like, where is this coming from?

Aren't we just bouncing, aren't the, is not this rumor just bouncing back and forth between the same sources? That's certainly the sense that I got. That's sort of the sense I have as well, and my indication is Disney is not going to change it to Zootopia. I love that. That's what we want.

That is what we want. I could be 100% wrong. Like, I could be surprised. You know, I have reporter friends who slightly disagree with me. So, like, that's just to say that there is a question in the air. But from when I talk to Disney in Disneyland still talks about avatars if it's happening, you know, they don't, you know, aren't shy about it. You know, when people, people are like now like to really report on every time Disney files a report with the city.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Disney's like, oh, this has nothing to do with the Avatar project. So they're still, like, referring to it as the Avatar project. So it leads me to believe that that is the way. they're going to go. You know. It's good that they will go the way of water. That's what I hope.

I will, and I also just look, I'm like, all right, put in Zootopia as long as you say at that second and Avatar's going over here. Well, that's my fee. I'm like, I'm worried that they make the switch and then Avatar is left hanging in the wind. Well, D20, we'll see it D23 because like they will announce Zootopia, but they will not be, like, they won't say it's replacing the other thing. It'll be like two days later and then, right. Yeah, yeah.

Like that concept dirt That pathway looks familiar Oh what's up with that Right But you gotta read past You know this better than anyone You gotta read past that headline You gotta get to the end of the upside down pyramid

The reverse pyramid And like read the last paragraph For a second of the last paragraph For the real dirt Well the thing yeah The thing with that If Avatar doesn't happen There in that spot

I feel like it's eight years away Possibly depending on how the next movie does Or if there is one. Or if there is a next one. I feel like we're in trouble. We need it now. We need it now to ensure that it happens. This is why I'm being firm about this.

I agree with you. I think this is the thing. Buckling in their resolve. Because we need it because it still feels like Disneyland forward, whatever that is, feels far away. It is very far away. Because the avatar can't happen until they build the parking garage and then they redo the. Oh, yeah. Wait, but what is the logical? How many times has that come and gone, you know?

There's permits for that, though. That feels like maybe it actually is at least starting to be in motion. They've publicly announced that construction is going to start on that. Yeah. Because what is the logic flow of like, all right, so people, where does everybody who parks, where does everybody go? They need the garage before anything, before they can start clearing the land. Or, I mean, you might not know exactly.

Well, because they're extending out the esplanade and they need the new walkway from over harbor to be narrow enough to just put people in and have security be over by the parking garage. So there's security doesn't have to be there so you can get a narrow thing and then they can move out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But don't, but also does that need to be fully up and running so that they can have the parking that is currently a toy story lot? You know what I'm saying? Or like downtown Disney parking.

I don't think, I don't think they need the parking yet. I think they just need to have everything situated so they can start constructing things. Okay. I think. Because like they have enough, they have parking, they need more, but that's also now going to be there. So then once they start that, or once they have the parking garage constructed, and Todd, correct me, if I'm wrong, then they can change Toy Story into something. Uh-huh. So then they open that parking structure.

Then Toy Story now is available for whatever they want. Maybe my idea to just build a world showcase there. That's very good idea. Which I think is the best idea to do. Kind of a combo, some rides, but shopping. Mostly restaurants. Sure, sure. And a stage for all the greatest acts of 30 years to 50 years ago to play.

That's what I want. Yes. For all the biggest, baddest, voodoo dabbies. That's correct. Or a tribute band to them. Along this line of questioning, Disneyland Forrest, was that really announced or was that a mass hallucination we all had? It was really announced, but it's going to be a long time before we see anything come to it from fruition. You know, because they said 10 years, you know, that they've made this commitment to Anaheim.

And five years ago, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Everything feels longer these days because of the state of the world, I guess. But no, it's definitely going to happen. But I think, you know, but the stuff that's being built, like Avengers is not technically part of Disneyland forward because that was announced by or Disneyland forward. That's why we need Avengers or, excuse me, Avatar before Disneyland forward. Yeah. Because all the new stuff is Coco is not Disneyland forward.

I think Coco might be considered part of the anime. They're investments that they promised Anaheim. Oh, really? That's interesting. This is, it gets complicated for Disney land because it's so much in the middle of a city. Like, we tried to examine this once by, like, looking up every city council member. And it's the thing where they're like, it's a nonpartisan office. Yeah, okay.

But, like, you can figure out who is aligned with what. Who's in the tank? Because inevitably, they run for other offices where they do. have to announce a party affiliation. Yes. Well, this is the... Anaheim, of course, as we've discussed many times, is the only place in America we're comfortable with people that love to kowtow to big business.

It's the only place... Everywhere else we're like, no way. Get the socialists in there. So Frieneheim, all pro-big business people that will cater to the big company that runs that town. It's the only place we make that exception. But they, Anaheim, like, discontinued the resort bus... like lines, I think.

And then, but then they still need to, they were operating the Toy Story Lot shuttles. Yeah. In some public-private partnership. Yeah, and I don't know all the details on that, but yeah, I know the art bus was heavily in debt for years. And that's a bummer because I use that because I take the train to Disneyland often.

And so now I take the train and then take an Uber. But, yeah. Do you take it from downtown L.A., to the Amtrak station. The massive, beautiful Amtrak station that Anahive has. It's awesome. I went there with my son just to have him run over. Like, we're just going to play here for an hour.

Just take in this incredible site. It's super cool. It's a beautiful space. And for years, there's been signs like, restaurants coming soon. There's never been a restaurant. Do you, well, okay, if you have knowledge of something, you can tell me, like, no comment or whatever. But, like, do you think we're doing third park or we're doing expansion of the other

two parks? with Disneyland forward. I'm pretty confident in saying we're doing expansion of the other two parks. That's what I think too. I think it's better in a way because that's the weirdest shaped

park. Well, it is the weirdest shaped park, but the only reason I'm more pro third park is because, well, I should say I'm thinking they'll just expand the parks because then it's cheaper because they only have to build sort of out

so they can do one ride for three years than another ride for three years. But if you open a third park, park you have to have all of it to go and it'll be expensive and you'll have to pay all the money or whatever take all the loans out and you can't do any of it until yeah they could open some of the Disneyland expansion some of the California Adventure expansion right yeah yeah but so that's why I think they're going to do that but the reason I want third park is because I would pray they would sneak like one original new ride in there because I think that's the only chance we've got is a whole new park opens

and maybe the budget they can sneak in is something creative and interesting made by the Imagineers. Maybe that's wrong too, and they wouldn't do that. But that's my thinking is that that's the only way to sneak something in. I do love that you're asking me all these forward-leaning questions because like D-23 will happen and I'll have proven to be wrong on all of them. You know, it's fun to talk. It's fun to speculate. If you want to get, we're going to, I think we're going to bet again this year. That was a successful thing we did last year. Yeah. We bet on the outcomes. We'd made

various, if you want to get in on anything, if you feel like you have, it's not don't insider trade. But. Yeah. Yeah, we never got you ice cream. I think you won ice cream. We do. Oh, yeah, yeah. Are you collecting interest on that or is just the regular cone?

Oh, yeah, the scoops are piling up. But you have to have all the interest scoops at once. Yeah, like goofy with an ice cream code that's going to fall over, Dagwood, you know. I got to figure out what double or nothing space amount or tomorrow land bet I made. And if I still believe in it or not. Yeah, this guy is super optimistic tomorrow land bet. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong at every turn. And every D23, somebody tells me,

oh, they were about to announce it, and they pulled it at the last second. I'm like, I don't know, is that real or not? Well, there are news articles with whatever executive at the time in like 2010 or 2011 going, we got it, we're going to fix the people mover in Tomorrowland.

Nothing ever said again. He moved in the company lineup or went to another company. Yeah, well, maybe this year I think I want to be like you I want to be as dull-eyed as you maybe it's this year that's the last thing they have to do upon a star

I mean they're going ahead with Autopia with electric cars at Atopia which means we're not getting some crazy big overhaul if that's happening it means that it would be something smaller probably because of all that land there you may as well just demolish it all but yeah I don't think we're getting Tokyo Space Mountain No, no. But that's not to say that they aren't doing exciting things.

I mean, after all, they have clarified the timeline of an existing land. That's true. They have announced a revolutionary. Yeah. They have clarified what is and isn't allowed in certain districts of an expansion. Gerimandered Galaxy's Edge. Yes, brand new gerrymandering for 2026. Timeline gerrymandering.

It's a very new thing. in the parks, which honestly, is there a precedent for, we're talking about, of course, which Star Wars characters are allowed to be on which parts of land in Galaxy's Edge? But is there any precedent for that in previous Disneyland's where a certain land will have characters from different timelines existing at the same time, but they can't interact? I don't think so. It feels like what else would that have been? Like Toy Story doesn't have Toy Story 1 continuity in Toy Storyland and then Toy Story 4 continuity

on the other side of Toy Storyland. Sure, sure. I don't think that. I mean, I know that's, but I don't think there's been any precedent for it. Well, there's this crazy place. I don't know if you know about this area where it's a little obscure, where characters from different fairy tale, like from the fairy tale movies, all live next door to each other, regardless of whether one was set in France, and it was set in Germany or one was set in England. It's called Fantasyland. I've heard it.

And it's been there since the beginning, and nobody's had a problem with it. You know what you mean? Kids don't walk in and go, wait a minute, wait a minute, hold on a second. Draw me the timeline. Excuse me. What's Pinocchio? Universe. And now, are there any conflicts?

How do the wars? How do the big conflicts impact? Who's allowed to talk? Some kids do, and then they all grow to be actors and comedians. Okay. Some of us were little weirdos who cared a lot about this. Well, I would have been upset when Bear Crunchy turned a critter country, and then they put poo bear in there because of poo not being a critter.

That would have upset me. So there are, you know, there's always going to be people that are bothered by things. I don't know that I agree with that statement. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think poo is a critter? You don't think poo is a critter? I think the residence of the 100-acre wood could very easily be called critters. Collectively are all critters.

It's an attraction of critters, even if you're considering poo is a bear. I mean, poo is a bear. But they're English animals. They have like a prestige to them. Yes, all right. Now flash through all of their voice. Just think here in your mind, yours voice and rattle. habits, but all the in Tigger's voice, all these austere British voices.

Yeah, I mean, they're British in nature, not in actual voices, I think. That's sort of what I'm reacting to. There can't be a Britter. Oh, I guess there could be, but it's-Britters. You wanted them to be more, like, more, like, working class. You wanted them to be, like, the oasis boys. Hello, hello. Hello, hello.

Yeah, more like from Liverpool. Popping the pouch now. Oh, I'm Tigger. I am. I'll just meet you. T-I-W-G-E-R. Yeah, I want something like that. That would reflect more of like a critter, I think.

But whatever. I'm just saying that we all have our little things. So critter is related to class is what you're saying. Well, I guess maybe it is. A working class Brit can be a critter. But a royal. Yeah, Snooty Royal can't be a critter. A critter is a status.

Paddington, critter or not? Oh, that's a great question. Yeah. No, I say no I say no It feels wrong to me I'm the one who's arguing for poo And at the same time

It's not a critter It's very confusing I guess critter is a It's about feel It's in your gut Yeah I was just including most If not all animals

Like I know a working class Here is something to be I've been hearing that a lot Yeah that's true So anyway I mean we'll continue This critter discussion On further episodes

But He'll do a poll We're talking about these seismic changes in Galaxy's Edge. Yes. And the big change to the, I guess you would call it, I was going to call it the B ticket, but what it would, which is wrong. It's not the D ticket. It's, I guess it's a neat ticket ride, smugglers run.

But it feels like that's sort of been let down of the land in regards to rides. So they've now added Mandalorian and Grogu, the characters from the popular film that has just been released. the character They probably They probably should have added the characters From Obsession It might have been good too It might have been

Good at well There's been a lot of breaking tree branches It's multiplexes Last year or two But Todd So you've written about this Let's just start by like You know

Talking about what Galaxy's Edge Was Is what you liked about it Or like about it Currently In general So I was one of those people that love the initial plan of Galaxy's Edge. You know, I wouldn't consider myself a LARPR by any means, but I love the idea that I'm a big in two games and big in interactivity.

I love the idea that you go to this place and play and sort of become a character. I'm big on the importance of play. And so when they came up with this idea that this land was going to happen in real time and, you know, there would be these characters like Vimirotti. You know, Scott Trowbridge, the Imagineer in charge of land would talk about there'd be a bounty hunter. who would tap you on the shoulder in the canteena. You know, that kind of stuff never happened. But I, and there was the whole idea that your reputation would follow you throughout the way. Yes.

Like if you rode Smuggler's Run and you did poorly, you know, like somebody would be able to like comment on that somewhere else by using Disneyland's Bluetooth technology and the app and stuff. Right. So I was a big fan of all that. I did write in 2019 that I do worry it's too ambitious for a theme park. I don't think the idea was too ambitious. I think imaginary had the right idea. I just worried about sort of the implementation operationally of all this stuff and budget-wise.

And you saw that immediately with like the budget cuts of instead of actors, you know, the person selling you the Ronto rap will be in character. And it's like this person doesn't have, this person's running around trying to like manage the Ronto Rapp counter. Like they don't have the ability to like, you know, they're not there. They're not there to, you know, play with you. They're there to, you know, sell your merch. And it was, you know, and so, but that was just the way to, you know, not play actors.

So I think it immediately didn't live up to its expectations. And a few months after Galaxy's Edge Open and I wrote a story like, you know, what's right and what's wrong. And there were all these things that were just didn't happen. There was the special effects show that never happened. There was a restaurant that never happened. And all these sort of reputational ideas that never happened. And that doesn't even get to the unannounced stuff that, you know, like force experiences and stuff. And, you know, I remember talking to them about, you know, one of the readers would write me and say their favorite Star Wars experience at Disneyland was the In Tomorrowland, the Jedi training show.

Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, at the stage, yeah. Yeah. And so I would talk to Imagineering and be like, and they'd be like, we've got a plan for that. There's going to be something similar in Galaxy's Edge. And, you know, I wrote that and then there never was. So I'm sure there were lots of big, I'd picture. ideas that never came into play. So I think Galaxy's

edge to a lot of people felt empty. You know, you can't play, you can't play like a character unless there are other people to play with. And, you know, like I had some really great experiences in the early days of Galaxy's Edge. You know, I remember walking,

I wrote about this in paper. There was a time when I saw Ray and she had like 20, 25 people behind her and they were all crouching along all the walls. And they went up to a stormtrooper and did like a force experience. And it was like, oh, that was kind of beautiful. And I'm, you know, sappy and that made me tear up.

They all, like, did a mission together. That's the kind of thing that would happen in the early. Which now you're just, now you're describing something we finally got to do recently, which is Nod's Ghost Town Alive. Oh, I love Ghost Town Live. Oh, I love Ghost Town Live. And it's like, and that was, it just reminded me of my favorite stuff. Like, where we got involved in a, we're like part of the bank robbery now.

We're tossing bags to each other. Just like simple, fun, cool. But how insane that that, that, It's the Knott's Berry Farm just has that and you take it for it. Like that, that just happens every summer, but Disneyland can't pull that off. Well, and then Ghost Town Alive is funny because Ghost Town Alive was originated at Disneyland with Legends of Frontierland. Yeah, right. Oh, right.

Yes. And some of the same people who worked on Legends, worked on Ghost Town. And Legends of Frontierland was like a playtest for Galaxy's Edge. Oh, right. Yes. I don't know much about what you actually did in Legends of Frontierland. I like the day, but it was things like how do we kind of organically round up visitors, bring them in on missions, like choosing alliances.

Alliances. Yeah, you had bits and money. There were like little wooden coins and stuff. But it was a little, it was very wide open too. Like it could be like, I have a popcorn bucket. How much, how many golden were wooden bits would you give me? And then they'd be like, I don't know, four. Like it was just kind of like this random, you know, it was very random.

But I mean, that's kind of what I loved about it. was a playtest and yeah so that kind of stuff legends of frontier land is sort of what galaxy's edge kind of needed if it was going to live up to its original ambitions so i think um you know i did have great experiences i remember once walking through with my former partner and you know she like punched me on the shoulder and she was like what's a guy like you doing with a scoundrel like me and like that wouldn't have happened in like fantasy land that happened because we were in this place of, you know, and I was, so we were in Galaxy's Edge and we had these surroundings and these buildings. So I do love the land. I do think it's really a beautiful land. I think

it's an ambitious land, but it didn't live up to its original expectations. Yeah. Yeah. And the so, I mean, the odd thing is to plan it knowing what the heart of it is going to be. And even in some cases, the space is planned, like with those catwalks that are underutilized that like, to the physical construction is built around like what what really is going to make this special is this is that you are part of it and you're interacting in its performers and then to last minute

yank all that I think maybe left it just like without a heart past the first little run I mean I think we can all flash because we were their opening day all of those I remember like all right we're going to do one with you guys but then I'm doing one with this group of friends and then here's here's the date one here's me

and my wife we're going to a special date one that all of these those like those early visits were so amped up. Like I have like and you look at it now and it's it's pre-pandemic and that's part for me pre-kids and like it feels like a different time entirely. Yeah that's summer and I liked that time. That's yeah that summer was like you felt special. You found out your friends are going. You're jealous. Other people find out you're going and they're jealous of you. Like it was it felt like like a like Disneyland's got a blockbuster in a way that I imagine the prior precedent can only have been like Captain E. and Star Tours are opening

and they're doing these 24-hour events and like, wow, it's like blockbuster filmmaking has made it to theme parties. Well, that excitement, I feel like maybe I, and when I say maybe I for sure, used a couple of different Disney accounts to make the passholder preview reservations. So I was able to go a few different times,

especially in there. But then there would be like a very big excitement of like waiting in this little pen and then letting people in. And I remember like that ritual was really fun. I'm just like, oh yeah, we're back in, we're back in. And things, those are things that you voluntarily do all the time at comic cons and various things.

Yes, I love it. You love to be in a little pen. I love it. Pen me up, I say. Preferred in the pen. Yeah. You open the pen, I wouldn't leave. Yeah.

I'd love to be in a kennel if they have a human-sized one. But for me, that's very rare for me to do something like that and to like, all right, I'm going to get there early and I'm going to get there early and I'm going to get there. Because it's a big deal. They won't be in if you have a wrist pin. You got to be there at a time. Like, and I was, I got swept up into all that. stuff. And it's very, it's sad to be, even though we should be, we should be talking about the positives

and what they've done and that they are like pivoting and addressing these things. But I think, I imagine, and I watched your video about it, Todd, I think there's also, you're correct, I think to do like a little bit of mourning of the, of that galaxy's edge, of galaxy's edge 1.0. Todd, were you there that opening day the Friday? I was. When they let the crowds of people. did you get to see them brushing Monstro's teeth

like with a big duster at the storybook Canal Boats I did not get to see that brush right? That was like the crazy it was like a big toothbrush and they were brushing it and like the big crowd is walking back to Galaxy's Edge and we're all just cheering like oh we will never get to see this again but this is so great the realization that that's how they do it and getting to see it. I think it was just Yeah, it was just to keep grime and dust off it.

But it was just like, practically. Oh, my God, they're brushing the giant scary whales teeth. It's so silly. What a deluxe. I mean, the best would have been if they dropped the brush and then added floss. But, you know, we were moving fast. It's possible they did it. They were moving fast.

My second favorite memory is, of course, when I disappeared from you guys and then reappeared in the group, but I was drinking a blue milk. Like, I had moved wooded a blue milk and separated it all. off to grab it and somehow managed to get it in the chaos. I kind of remember that, yes. But so they opened, so yeah, this is 2019, right? Yeah. 2019 Memorial Day weekend.

And the thing with Galaxy's Edge is that they decided at some point that it was only going to be sequel Star Wars. It was not going to be the first six movies, which in hindsight, I wasn't even like up in arms about that. I was like, well, that's interesting. We'll see how that goes. You didn't clock that as a potential. Yeah, I mean, it was a little weird, but it wasn't like, oh, that's a deal breaker or anything yet.

And I feel like once they cut all the budget and like once the excitement of that year went away, it was like doing that definitely left the door open for people to pine for a version of it that was going to be much more like a normal Star Wars land. It contained all the characters you like. And at this point, too, it's making me pine for like the, usually like AI generated image of a Star Wars land of like Death Star, Spaceship Earth, Hawthland over here. Like it's because they cut the budget on all of it. When I go in there now, I'm like, hey, this part could be Hawth.

This part over here could be. Like, I start to think about that. And I think it's their fault. They made me think this way. If there was a bunch of activity and stuff, the only gig here, you wouldn't be thinking. I would be thinking a lot less of it. But now since it's sort of a quiet, it can be sleepy depending on the time of day, now I'm sort of been like, they could have just made this like four different planets cut up.

Every character could be interacting. Kylo Wren and Darth Vader could like run into each other and go whoops or like whatever. And they make a little like shrug motion. Do I know you? Right. And they walk around. Everybody laughs. And I'm going, that's awesome.

That should have been what they did. So now they've left that door open. And now I have all these thoughts. This is what I'm thinking. And they've now done a little of it. You wished your friends from the original trilogy would be there. And the monkeys Paul curled. and they appeared with these strangest wigs you've ever seen outside of sketch comedy.

I mean, if that's all that happened with the monkey's paw, I'm doing pretty good, I think. Well, pretty good. Yeah, but I look, you don't want to fall into an obsession situation. Right. If this is a mild, like, cursed monkey's paw, actually, I should make some more wishes on it because that's pretty good. I wish for them to be there, and all it was is the wigs look a little weird. Fine, pretty good. You could be a little less makeup.

Yeah, not a bad paw. Leah clearly has Disney princess trained mannerisms. Sure, yeah. So, yeah, they are doing this now. The original, the Holy Trinity of characters, Luke Han and Leia appear in the east half of Galaxy's Edge. Correct. And the West half is still sequel.

Stay out of the West Wing. It's pretty much just Ray and Chubaca, yeah. Yes, right. And Chubaca is not allowed. And all our favorites from the sequels. Ray, Chubaca, end of list are all roaming around. So, yes, were they ever walk around

of it? Was there ever a Po Dameron or anything? No. No, no Finn, no Poe-B-V-8. I don't think so. No, no, no BB-8? Artu and V. Marotti, the original character for the layer.

Yeah, and Kylo obviously walked around with the new First Order Troopers. And Kahilo in front of the ship, from the unmade Colin Trevereaux, ninth movie. But, I mean, it's still worse. It looks like a sinister empire ship. Yeah, so because now Darth Vader comes out of that ship.

And now they say it's like a vintage ship that Darth Vader once owned. So, yes, and that's a good point because they are still trying to do some logics, a lot of logic stuff with the land. So they're very clear that it is post-return of the Jedi, sort of in the same mandolorean timeline, which is why all the characters have slightly different outfits from any of the outfits you've seen in the original trilogy. Yes.

So I think the Leia one is from a video game specifically. Like her vest is from a video game. It's similar to the Hawth vest she wears. The Star Wars Battlefront game, yeah. So, but like it's still like it's all, it's post return of the Jedi. Luke is in the black. He's like a full Jedi master now.

And they will roam and take photos with people. and they're going to put the John Williams music now is all over the land and here is this make you happy that's basically the feeling I guess yeah yeah well I mean my I'm going to bounce that right back at you does it make you happy because you of all of us is the one who's been saying the whole time that you don't that you're disappointed that your friends aren't there yes I am phrase you've continued to say despite it making you sound like a three-year-old boy Well, that's fine.

And now it's happened. Now your friends are there. I express my deepest feelings on this podcast. I don't do that in public, of course. But on the podcast, I feel comfortable and free, which is good. It's the only time of my life that happens. This is Mike's level happy compared to my interest. I was like, oh, my God, they finally finished the other side of the wind.

Orson Wells' final movie. And then he watched it. It's like, oh, it's not very good. It's not great. You've been saying for years, where are my friends in regards to the characters from that film? Where's O'Haw Coderre? Yeah. My friends, the wind and the other side of it.

Yeah. Very old John Ford acting. Let's go. So I did get to go. I did get to go last weekend. I did not get hit by chemicals. There was a nearby chemical issue. If you don't live here, do you know this?

The Garden Grove almost blew up. It was kind of big news, I think. But nothing exploded. my goodness. So I did go to Galaxy's Edge. If the tank had shot up into the air, cleared the area in danger. Yeah. But flew so far that it landed right on top of the castle.

And there was like an epic Mickey. It was just covered in like goo. Oh, and then Epic Mickey becomes true. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Now Disney land is an apocalyptic. And now they've got to make a third one. Real life.

Laid off all those developers or those third. party game companies don't exist anymore, but they got to make another. They don't have to because it's real. It's real, yeah. You can live it. They just take the costume characters and they put a water tank on their back. And make you like, spraying it like Mario and Sunshine, Mario Sunshine. But your first mission was to drive with that incident, and you did.

And then your second mission was to go meet your friends. Yes. So my second mission was to go meet my friends. And I was walking in. I was excited. I think I had my expectations in check, but I was excited. And I walked in the tunnel through the,

I guess it's the middle entrance in Disneyland, not the one that's by the Knott's Berry Farm wagon or whatever. And immediately, when you go in the tunnel, the original, I think was John Music. Well, John Music, I called him John Music. That's what I call him. John Music. He was sort of the guy who makes music.

John Williams' music when you would enter that tunnel, which is a really kind of, I don't know, what you would call it, like mystery, mystery awaits style piece of music was gone. Yeah. And replaced, it was like, and then I was like,

I guess the Star Wars theme, or it was like maybe the lead up to the Star Wars team, I can't really remember. But I will say it felt weird. Yeah. I immediately did not like it. I'm so glad you've said this. I haven't been,

I haven't experienced it. I haven't done this transition myself. But I just, when I hear that they've made changes, I'm like, good, that seems right. It seems like probably the time to do that. And then when I hear one of the changes is just the theme is playing all the dang time. Like, I don't, was the music a problem for people?

I love that transition music. Yeah. That's such a neat. And didn't John Williams compose original music for the? That's what I was asking. Yeah, he did. He did, right? All right, so we just evicted new John Williams music made for this place only.

We said, get out of here. We want the ones from when we were little. So that's, I think this is dumb. I'm going out. I'm going out on a limb. I don't like the music thing. I think this is bad. I think they've taken away atmosphere.

going out on a limb and say, I didn't realize that he did that. Oh, wow. There you go. Well, what's your feeling now that you've heard it? Live take. It all just kind of the original movies and the new movies. And I thought it was all like of a piece. Like, yeah, that's Star Warsy kind of sounding music.

I like the nighttime show they do where they're playing Duel of the Fates. And there's another original, there's an original like storyteller character. Do I have that right? Yeah, you do. Yeah, and I love when theme park creators invent a storyteller character. Yes, like the guy that Robin Williams plays at the start of Aladdin? Yeah, yeah. Or I feel like Leonardo Columbus from that late Epcot parade, kind of had storyteller vibes.

Maybe. I don't think he told a story, but you did not literally. He told a story via parade. The media was parade. So yeah, the music is all over. They also put a lot more like classic music or at least a little on Smuggler's Run like at the end, right? I feel like.

And I will say that I love, like I love the like Leia theme from the original Star Wars and I love hearing it when it's playing in Tomorrowland. But I think that they put too much of this all over the land. I love this takes too much of it. I think it's done. It's not classy. It's really blunt. It's too blunt.

And like if you just heard like sort of the love theme or whatever while you're walking through the bizarre or something, I feel like that might be nice or once in a while. But the music, they made it so specific for what was happening when you entered the land. So I immediately was put off. Yeah. I was immediately like, oh, no, this doesn't feel not like this. The monkey's paw. No, not like this. Another finger curled.

I also, by the way, but here's what, here's something that I really. going into this is that, you know, you get, you're invited to things at theme parks, you have access to things. This is not something, this is not a situation that we are in. Thus, we can kind of say whatever we want and go off with our little takes. And I want to make sure that we are separated enough from you so that you don't get messed with. So I probably should have read this at the beginning, but I'll do it now, just as we're getting more opinionated. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not reflect those of Todd Martins in the Los Angeles. time. These are merely the views of three flippant comedy guys who tend to run their mouths. They are for entertainment purposes only, despite sometimes possibly failing to entertain. Please don't stop inviting Todd to stuff. And invite us to, maybe?

Yeah, smart. Yeah, smart. I like that. Okay, okay. Does I feel like it clears the air? Now that said, you know, feel free to abstain from certain topics, but also, what do you think about this music? I am lucky, my title of Yellow Times is columnists, so I can express some opinions. Yes, like Bill of journalism, like what we do. Yeah. I was trying to think as you were talking, because like when I go to Wizarding World at Universal Studios, the music there doesn't bother me.

Yeah. So like what was it about Galaxy's Edge? Was I just used to the fact that I would hear this weird radio show, you know, that DJ Rex would sometimes appear on and talk? Was I just used to the chatter? So did I get so comfortable with that? So I've been trying to think about it. And I don't necessarily mind the John Williams music.

The one thing I will say is, I did walk around. I'm not a character person. I'm not somebody who meets characters. It stands the line for characters. Nothing against anybody who does that. It's just not my thing. But I did go hang out, you know,

and listen to what, you know, Luke and Leia were saying to the guests. I wanted to see if it was like a standard meet and greet or if they were like playing into the Star Wars vibe in the space. And I couldn't hear anything they were saying because I was just hearing the theme from the latest. Wow. Wow.

Interesting. It did. It felt weird. It felt like you were going in and out of like stores at a shopping mall too. It felt like they wasn't, it felt like I would just get hit with a new song or a new piece of original music too. Maybe that's not really what it was happening, but it would feel like that. I mean, I do prefer like original theme park.

So I am bummed to hear that's been kind of lesson. We're so excited about 70 hours of. The radio show you mostly hear in the bathrooms. In the bathrooms and you would hear it in. the little shop area. The shops. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah.

I'm sure there. Did you go to the bathroom? What's going on in the bathrooms? Do you have to, do you have to, oh, I did you have to relieve yourself and it's just, uh, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-ha. Dun-dan-da-da-da. Is you're peeing?

Or it's like both of them playing at once. You have to hear them. Yeah, I don't think I went to the bathroom, actually, now they think about it. Yeah, I just, it just felt weird. And I don't think it's entirely because I'm just not used to it. I think it is it just felt a little off. And it felt like whatever they had done with the original music felt like it was so perfectly made for it.

Yeah. And it really took something away. And I'm sure there are spots. I'm sure like maybe when Han Luke and Lay like come out by the falcon you could play the overture. Like I'm sure there's like. Or in general do it at the falcon. Because the falcon feels like now we've made it. That's like their castle, right?

So we've made it to kind of where it feels the most Star Warsy. there's the iconic ship. And so let's celebrate that you've landed there with the grand arrival theme. But as opposed to just instantly when you walk, and part of it, you might just still be looking at like logs,

you know? I don't know. The transition music, I'm just like, I'm baffled that they landed on. We found the problem. Yeah. It's the music and the tunnels.

No, the tunnel music. That's the biggest letdown is that tunnel music being different. That tunnel music was a really beautiful piece of music. It really was. And I really, I knew I really liked.

it already. I look forward to hearing it, honestly. That's so, like, so, like, kind of pensive. And you're like, yes. Yeah, and you used the word mystery earlier. It did sort of convey, like, you're going to a different place and a different world. Yeah. So I do miss that.

Strange. Yeah, I was not. It's similar, my initial reaction to the Carousel of Progress News was like, we all just yelled fix the last scene, not like, redo the house, redo the furniture. There we go. Take away the tub. Yeah, take it to them, Jason. There we go.

Wait, and I, you know, I had a sense of this, and I looked it up to be sure. John Music himself, aka John Williams. So we're calling it from now on. Johnny Music, as we've always called it, won a Grammy, nay, his 25th Grammy for the Galaxy's Edge Symphonic Suite. That is not only a piece of music that we all love. The general area of music is not only music that we all enjoy. It won a Grammy.

That is award-winning music thrown in the garbage. Strange. Yeah. And that's, I would even say, like, sometimes I'm like, when I'm critical of Rise of the Resistance, I'm trying to convey that, like, I feel like it's missing some of this, like, warm feeling I get from watching the original three movies. Like the stuff on Daigobah with these big, like, kind of heavy beats with the John Williams score. And I do feel like that intro music is almost, that's the closest thing in the land to what I'm looking for. is this specific feeling from the original Star Wars,

the original three movies that I feel. And now it's gone. So it's a bummer to me because, I don't know, maybe they're just tweaking it. Maybe it can come back. I just, I don't know exactly if this is a work in progress. If somebody from Disney hears this and they go, oh, so they like that now, do they?

Maybe they should have told us a couple of years ago. I never bitched about the tunnel. Back to the drawing boards, I guess. Go through the episodes. I've never bitched about the tunnel. That's true. But you didn't say you like it. I didn't say it either.

I didn't say specifically. The way at the beginning of the episode, you say you want thank you's now. Yes, that's true. After your jokes, I guess we have to start praising things we love in the parks more actively. Fair enough. Fair enough. Or else they'll take them away. I mean, we have, I have been told over the years that people at Disney listen to the show. I have no idea if they have survived countless rounds of playoffs.

That people always say that, but I don't know if I believe it. I feel like Disney, nobody at Disney listens. If you do, if you listen and you operate the speaker. at Galaxy's Edge. Yeah. You know what to do. Yeah. Put on a, like, send us a message by putting on, like, a random song, you know,

like some pit bull song or something once. Green Day. Green Day. Yeah. But, yeah. So, so, yeah, first, I guess a strike against the new changes. So a strike before you're even fully in there. Yes.

And I'm excited. I'm running in. I'm, like, jogging in. Like, yeah, here we go. And then I was like, immediately. What? Okay, so yeah. Interesting.

So we go there. I went, well, we don't have to do it in order, but I went to Smugglers Run first, and then I saw Han Solo later and did take a photo with Han Solo. Great. I guess where are you, have you done Mando Groguzumglars run? I have. I did it three times at a media event. So I've done all three different Star Wars locations that you go to.

Which is Endor, Tatouin, and Corrosan? Endor, Bestbin, and Corrosan. Tatooine is. like the training area. You always start in tattooing in. No, you start at Baku. Not anymore. Oh, you start at, you end you too.

Yeah, you end. But now you pretty much, you get in the ship and you take off from Honda's place and you go straight in the light speed. Oh. Right. Okay. So there's not that, is there still a transitional

beginning and end where you see some Betu as if to like take you back to where you started? I think you only see that at the end. I think you only see that at the end. Okay, okay. Yeah, you always. That would also be in the stake today.

I always like that. Like, oh, I see, there's the land. I mean, they made this consistent. It feels like everything moves very quickly on the new smugglers run. It feels very fast. It feels very fast. Right. But it was like, they're trying to cram a lot in there,

so you don't quite get as much, like, lead up to everything. Like, I feel like you did in the old version. And then I don't know if it's sped up at the end. It might be. But it feels like that to me. But yes, they've added basically, I guess Corrassant really, You don't see it as like you don't, that's more of a prequel, honestly, thing. Because Corrissant, you're going through like the very neon city.

You don't really see, you don't get to like go through that until you get to the prequels. You get to see it in the special editions. You see it at the end. You see it at the end. With the big celebration after the Return of the Jedi. But yeah, you don't get to zoom through it like you do in Attack of the Clones, I think, right? That's what we're reminding me of. That's when.

That's when Obi-Wan runs, like, jumps through the window, right? grabs the thing. So yeah, you get those. Were you in a position to choose where you went? I was. Oh, wow. Okay. I was.

There is another new aspect. Yeah, so yeah, basically, yeah, you start on tattooing, which it is funny now, especially, that they've built two extra, or they've made two extra tattoos. Jacou from Force Awakens is Tatooine. And then Galaxy's Edge is also Tattoo. Batu and Jacu are tattooines. Right.

And they're only like, okay, like, I know Batu is like a little nicer and there's a little more rock, but it's also just tattooing. We've done a couple different analogous tattooings at this point. So I don't know why we had to do that. Anyway, so yeah, you start out there and then, yeah, that's always the same. And then they let the engineer

decide where you're going to. And by the way, is, am I correct, just the right engineer? Because you can't switch. Oh, really? Okay, I didn't know that, because I only, I picked once where I was going. Gotcha. So, yes, I picked Bespin. I picked the Cloud City. Oh, great. Yes.

And that was cool. It was a cool little thing to do. But they've changed, you know, where you're going, what you're doing. Obviously, it's random. The mechanics of everything are basically the same as far as, like, the way you pilot, the way there's two pilots, the way you kind of have to look to your right to do things and take your eye off the screen. Yeah. That's true. But I feel like you can, the benefit of the light up, just to defend it.

The fact that it lights up green, you can sort of go off peripheral view in a way. You can't, you know? I mean, of course your attention's a little torn. Yeah. But I also find, I don't know, I find that a little fun that you're like trying to be involved. But oh, I got something to do it. And then I go back to it. Like, I don't know.

I think that's a little. I think that's interesting. There's fun to it for sure. They now are just like popping up videos of Grogu back there. Right. Grogo is mad-dogging you a lot, I feel like. Yeah. So there's a grogoo button, too, if you're an engineer.

Oh yeah, what's up with this? There is Grogu Mode. What does... Well, that's different, right? That's different. That's different. Oh, that's like Grogu button is different than Grogo mode? The Grogu button is for the engineer, and you could just sort of press it and see what Grogu's doing at that moment.

That's just like Grogu... That activates Grogu. Yeah. Here's what I'm doing. Here's what he's up to. It's like, yeah. Interesting. It's a live cam.

Grogo is a cam boy now. Grogo is live streaming. Grogo's got a Twitch account. If you tip him $20 a bug. The Democratic. They will not stop talking about Hassan Piker, and they will not stop talking about Grogu. The Democrats have a Grogu problem. But then Grogu Mode is a thing you have to unlock with a code that I did not look up to tell the listeners how to do.

But that is who is involved in entering the code? How do generally, how do you get Grogu Mode? Grogu is if those who may have heard of Chewy mode, it's sort of similar to that. It's analogous to that. And multiple people have to press different buttons in a certain order to unlock rogue remote. So you probably have to go in with a group that is all your group, and you've got to talk about it before you get in there. And then you've got to have a plan.

That's a hard thing to do where you're like, it's three families all squeezed in there. Interesting. It would be really hard if you were, like, single rider. And you were trying to get five people. Okay, so guys, does this thing about wanted to do? Excuse me? Everyone? I've heard some people complain about the ride.

It's like, oh, if a seven-year-old is pilot. And I was like, no, I want a seven-year-old pilot to slam us into the ground, to slam us into a starship. They fixed that, though. Did that, yeah. Oh, really? Oh, you can't just fully tank it now. Yeah, you can't fully tank it now. The pilots, it's similar.

One person moves horizontal. One person moves vertical. But you can't crash it as much as you used to. They wanted it to, like, in Imagineerians, words, they wanted it to feel more of a cinematic experience. There are places you can crash it. But by and large, it's sort of. of like you can only go down so far or only go left and right so far. That being said, there are options.

Like in tattooing, I always mispronounce it, Luke's Home Planet. You could go right at the start of the course. Or you can go left, and there's sort of different scenes. Oh, really? So if you know at the very beginning, I'm part pivoting, that takes you to a different... It takes you to a slightly different scene. So, yeah, I haven't done it yet. It goes through a crater, I believe.

If I'm remembering that correctly. that's a good tip. But there are those left and right sort of pivots in each location. So you just can't crash it as much, I think, because a lot of people complain in one of my issues with the earlier attraction was, it was just four and a half minutes of being yelled at. Yes, yes. Well, you know what?

That brings me to something I wanted to talk about, which is the getting yelled at, some of that might be, some of that is like the caustic nature of like having to coordinate and strangers sometimes coordinate, coordinating and a kid is piloting. But some of the getting yelled that probably is a result of Honda Onaka being your guide and the voiceover that you're hearing the whole time,

which is sort of no longer the case. So Honda is still the pre-show with some mild changes just to correct some logic and timeline, right? Yes, he has a couple different changes, I think. But it's not like a whole new Honda show. No. And then Honda still sets it up

sets up the like the little there's the little feed on the little monitor before you get into the cockpit then he still is your guide at the beginning

but the vast majority of the voiceover now is assuredly Pedro Pascal definitely him not just a breathy guy okay okay yes I didn't know

not just a guy I thought it was in the contracts now like that's what I thought too yeah blockbuster movie have to do the ride. That might be true, but maybe in Pedro Pascal's lawyer was like, like, show some mercy. He can only be in so many places at once.

This man is committed to 100 films and 200 television shows. We cannot, we literally cannot fit in any more time. And he already, like, did all the voiceover from Mandelori and Grogu, like on an airplane into his iPhone. And he didn't have any more time to do the pre-show. Yeah. You can use the, airplane noises. It's part of it. It sounds like my helmet. He was on set one day in the air of the rest of them.

Technically, a now featured player on SNL. Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's taking up some of his time, I know. But anyway, it's so much more, which I think is a smart and savvy move given the popularity of the show and the movie. Maybe. But I mean, a smart thing on paper that they coordinated where like in the same weekend, this will all open. You having been on it, Mike. Yeah. How does that feel? just as, because that is a big shift that you're the narrative voice and just the quality of the voice is very different who's guiding you through the experience.

What's it feel like? I do think it's better. I think it's better. It's certainly like if it's a video game that you have actual options. Because the old version was like kind of an unfun star tours with no special moments that happened.

Okay. Yeah. But also a video game, but also controls were confusing or hard. And you feel like you never got somebody in there that was like an expert, including myself at piloting or anything, because it's split into two. But it is better. There's more fun stuff in there for sure.

It's still, unfortunately, like, I feel like the limitations of trying to do a video game ride, they can't overcome those without some big overhauls. Right, right. So to me, it's like, I don't, like, and I should say, like, my favorite part of Galaxy's Edge, truly, I think, was going into the Millennium Falcon, especially for the first time.

Yeah. That's awesome. It looks exactly like it. It's really cool. I like how you walk like from, it feels like you're going on an airplane, whatever those floors that are like, the floors.

The floors, the whole waiting area and with the board and yeah, the, oh, it's great, great floor, one of the great floors. So like, you're like, oh my God, this is like fully realized the Millennium Falcon.

And then you get in there and it's like you're playing a great Dave and Buster's game. Like, holy shit. It's one of those big things. Those games were like a dino or big bugs or after you. Big bugs, but it's better than anything you've ever done there. You're in the actual cockpit or whatever.

And it's like really fun. But then what I'm looking for from the Millennium Falcon ride is like more of like a Star Tours feeling by the end of it. And I think for me at least, like you can never change the ride. And maybe you have to rip the controls out and just make it so you can't pilot it. I'm not sure. But I think for me it's just like it's never. going to, it's never going to live up to the promise of me walking onto the Millennium Falcon and feeling like getting in that cockpit was just as exciting as walking around the Falcon. And I don't know if there's any real true answer to this.

I think probably, I think probably like Star Tours where there's like a bunch of different moments and stuff that happened. You get stuck in the thing's mouth or you break through the glass. All that stuff is kind of missing still. And there's not stuff like that where I, or when Yoda. beams in and you see him and there's a little nice little moment. All that stuff is missing from this because it has to be a video game and you have to go, go, go. So it is fun and it's definitely more fun,

but it's still like, I still am like, there's some version of this that's the ultimate version that I don't know, we'll never get it, I think. I think that's how I feel about it. What version would you say you would prefer? I actually think they did a really great job with the updates to the Millennium Falcon. And I should say I sometimes write about video games,

So, you know, like, I love the fact that it's like a walk-in arcade. Yeah, yeah. You know, I love that aspect of it. I think the storyline is better. It definitely, as you were saying, like, it feels faster. There's a lot more happening. There's a lot more stuff to look at. Yeah.

So I do like that about it. So I think they did. I think they made slight improvements to every position in the Falcon. So that ride does have some quirks. As you mentioned, you know, your attention goes from different points of view, the screen above in front of you and the screen to the left. So I think with whatever limitations that attraction it has, they did sort of improve each one of those positions. You know, but I think your main sort of critiques, yeah, I mean, Star Tours is sort of like the greatest hits of the Star Wars universe and the falcons never going to feel like that.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's an odd, you know, it's funny. It's like a, of course it's your dream to fly the Millennium Falcon. But boy, what an odd. Just literally the cockpit. It's just that the design of it has so many, if you just, if you think about it, it has so many, it's like sitting in a, in a concert behind a pillar. It's just like the sight lines.

The last four seats, yes, or like obstructed view only ticket. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an obstructed view only cockpit. Well, because in the movies, there's the cockpit and then they also run down to like the gunner base. Yeah, there's separate gunners. They're separate. so they kind of had to cheat it for the ride. I still kind of feel like those four seats in the back shouldn't do too much. And I guess they don't do too much.

But like there should be one person that flies, one person that shoots. The two people controlling it, I think sucks. I think it's so annoying. They need to shift it. It's like, okay, now your turn. Yeah, it's just, it's confusing. And I think it's just everything was like they tried to make sure everybody felt important thing had a job.

But when I see families, because look, I often am alone with a big family, not my own. We all know what I'm talking about, because we're all guilty of this. Single riding this thing. You know what, though? Really quick, I was proud the last time I went to Disneyland

to double ride it, which is a thing they have now, a double rider line, which is exactly what I wanted because it was a trip with grandma, which was very nice, but she thought that'd be a emotion sick situation so it was just me and my then five year old and so double right and i was like how's this new and and it moved it was pretty efficient we got in there and i think it fills in need

i think there are probably a lot of double riders yeah uh i think it was a smart thing to do i'm curious if that keeps if there's any other attractions that could use double rider um and also it all is like you know here as i look at a list of my you know my various complaints still among the things that i wrote town is just how like you know we all go oh there's this and that there's this problem the engineers don't really get to do anything out of the blue not even knowing any of this stuff my son just like a week ago said can we go next time at disney like could we go back to the real spaceship with the real buttons yep that's fine and he was engineer and he loved being engineer yeah yeah he didn't want the pressure up but not even the pressure of gunner so let me just i guess let me just to give this

ride a compliment in that regard that like it was it was fun to double ride i was proud to take him on it He loved the button. Look, the buttons just, you can't overlook them. Kids do love buttons. All the buttons being like touchable in the cockpit. They do something. They make a sound or they vibrate. There's haptic stuff.

They did a really great. He reminded me of the purity of that. And now, don't let me interrupt though for too long. Please, you're back to the 41-year-old. There's a 42-year-old man talking. Oh, 42. I've lost count. Now, the thing with your fighter is he don't know nothing.

I'm old enough to know the problems. Yes. One day he'll know. Yeah, yeah. No, the cockpit, I was trying to figure, maybe I'm repeating myself from five years ago. I was like, is there any way they could have, like, had the cockpit, like,

sort of just be some sort of, like, projection, like the way in which there was, like, you know, what even would you call them? Like, the way the windows are set up where there's, like, kind of like six windows, basically or whatever. Like, is it just like a projection? And then it goes away when you actually fly so we can have, like, a big open view of the sky or something?

The roof blew off. The roof blew off. Fine. But, yeah, I mean, like, what's funny is I think I would and maybe this is me I would like prefer I guess this is like when you're in kashik or whatever is like if chewy like falls on the cockpit and you're like chui we got to get off that cockpit he's like whatever like if something like that happened I think it would rule I think everybody would be like that's the greatest part of it he's hanging up there for a while forget about the video game aspect maybe you do have to hit buttons to help chewy out then he like oh yeah he's he's all right he's down in the the balls in the ship now we're really we're like At least the windshield wiper fluid. Right. Which, uh, he's getting attacked by an alien or something.

Unsucked him off the glass. Right. And Chewy like gets in there. Or he's trying to fix something while you're, like in the mission or something. Stuff like that I feel like is what I'm looking for. And I kind of feel like most people would love it more than the video. I think I'm right about this. I do.

I'm not always right about things. But I think I'm right. The Chewy stuck on the windshield would be the biggest hit of on the Millennium Falcon. We might be getting something like what you're looking for in that new Avengers campus ride. The Avengers ride because they're like, it's multiverse. It's like, okay, so everything's on the table. You're saying like for this. Like Ant Man will get stuck on the windshield is what you're saying?

Yeah, but it could be like 1776 Ant Man or whatever. Founding Father's Ant Man. There is like Marvel Founding Father's Comic that I use. think the issues came out so the trade would come out around the 250. Just like George Washington were the Iron Man armor or? I forget what it, it was like that 1608 book from years ago or something. I never read those. Yeah, I didn't either.

So Captain America merged with Jesus might land on that. Captain Jesus might be possible. That Avengers ride, that, that e-ticket that's coming. That's got Trowbridge overseeing that too, I think, right? Is that? He was at certain point. I believe, yeah, I don't want to, I don't, I'm honestly going to say I don't know. I know Trowbridge is focusing on Disneyland projects or he was at his most recent title.

And he has been publicly speaking about the Adventures ride. I don't want to say he's overseeing it, but he's got some involvement. He did do the Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure. He did. He was one of the people. One of the core folks of that. And I think he's retired now, the one that I always, Tiri Koo, I think as hell you say the name. Yeah, he's retired.

How much Jason are you putting on? Oh, no, he's not retired. He's working for another firm, but he's no longer with Universal. How much are you putting into this Avengers ride being a kind of sequel to the Spider-Man Island's ride? Are you, like, putting all your eggs in this basket? I'm not putting, well, no, I'm excited that he is involved. And we also had a brief moment with him one day where we, I believe, cornered him in Galaxy. He was in Galaxy's Edge, was an opening day.

Didn't we say a little? We got so, I got so excited. Yeah, corner I don't think is, I think we said hello. Yeah, I think it was an area. We shoved into the ground. I actually remember Scott is the one to talk to him. That kind of area by the bathroom is where you can only be in a corner. It was very small.

It was a natural cornering. It was a natural. Not a purposeful. Not an interesting. Yeah. Where are my friends? He was a good sport. He was a good sport.

Yeah. Why? Where did they go? It's just me grabbing him by the lapels and going, why is it hobgoblin and the Florida ride and not green guff. Yeah, we worked them over. Yeah. We worked them over with a stack of oranges.

Remove these guys. Take away anything they like in here. We put a bunch of cuties in a sock from all the different sides. Yeah, we had to keep ordering burgers to get cuties. You can't bring weapons into Disneyland, but if you put a bunch of cuties in a sock, yeah, it's pretty effective. That's a good, if you're listening and you're in a Disneyland gang, that's a good way to still have control of the streets. Five to seven cuties in a sock will do some pretty bad damage.

And this is why they had to get rid of film strip fries. at a California adventure because you could tie someone up with a long strip of potatoes. Yeah, with a lot of fries. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, use the curliness. But it is more fun.

It is more fun. And I like the, I think, I guess Choruson, I didn't get to do Choracone. I did the other two. Corrissan might be my favorite watching a video just because it's neon

and that's, it looks like the most stuff happened. There's cantina music, I think, in Corrason. Yeah, I think so. And then Choruson is the one that has the closest thing that what I'm talking about, you get like a Grogo thing where he's in the ship

and you see him and he does a force, like, hold or pull. Okay. So that's the closest thing that happens to what I'm saying, like is in a Star Tours moment or something. Yeah, yeah. Modern Star Tours. So I think that's the best. But, like, I like, you know,

you go through the wreckage of the Death Star on Endor, which is really cool. And there you see the Mandalorian, Mando, Dinn, whatever, sort of doing this thing where he's capturing the pirate. Yes. Yes. Did you get a little character action there too? Yes, that's true, that's true.

And then we should say, and I was wrong about this, I think, that coaxium is no longer an integral part. That is correct. Much relieved about that. It's just, well, Jason's upset. Well, I think it's very funny that now the McGuffet is like, you've got to get those crates. It is very much generic.

It's like cargo or something. But they say tractor beam a lot, which I like. They do say tractor. You have the engineer does that. It's kind of like round. It's like a bunch of circles it looks like. Yes. Yes.

That's the way they represent it. Is there a tractor beam in any of the movies? You get caught in a tractor. They say it in the ride. But is that a power that the Millennium Falcon has had? Right. It's a Star Destroyer thing though, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Like Layas ship and the first one gets caught in a tractor beam. Yeah. So they've like a mini tractor beam. only can suck up a crate. So the Falcon has now been equipped with this technology, because I don't think it had it before. Yeah.

But that's okay. I'm not mad about that. I'm not mad. I know what you're saying, though. Like it can do this. They fly now? It can do this, I guess. Well, Leia flies through space and last Jedi.

If that's possible, then fine, the Millennium Falcon has a tractor be. Do you have any more thoughts about that film? No. Really? That's it. Yeah. No more thoughts about it, huh? That's the only one.

Okay, that's all good. Let me... What about the other side of the wind? Do you have any thoughts? Oh, you know, I don't, actually. I'm sorry. Which version of Mr. Arkin did you prefer? There's three cuts.

There's three cuts of the movie? There's three cuts of this film. I think I've only seen the one. So if they ever do a theme park land of this, they're going to have to decide. These characters are from cut one, but they can't go into the realm of cut two. And then the producers cut and the studios cut.

Yeah. So, well, will Disney ever make a land based on that film? Based on Orson Welles? Yeah. We got like two more mergers to do. And then they'll own it. And I think the only chance is if they make a third park, not if they do Disney forward.

Orson Well, Worson Wells directed at the film of Kafka's The Trial with Anthony Perkins in it, you get some real tall guys, the walk-around character, you got it made. Just get some tall guys. He wants to see a tall guy. He's stuck in a bureaucratic hell. Can I ask one thing?

Yeah, yeah. I was sort of alluding this a while, but the idea of you were getting yelled at in the previous situation. I'm watching this new one. And I'm... Let me see this. I wasn't there.

I haven't done it. I kind of missed the getting yelled that. I kind of like... I thought that there was... I thought that Honda and therefore Jim Cummings' performance had a real, like, vitality to it. I'm watching these ride throughs and I'm listening to Chill Mando. Yeah.

Hey, pick that, use the tractor beam. Pick it up. Hey, keep aiming at the crate. I want, I'm missing like, boost, boost. Get in there. Why? Faster! I can't, I thought that it like added urgency to the entire thing.

I'm like, this is a little, and look, I like a mellow ride. Like, if Soren, that's what I know, I know I'm getting that. Put Mando and Soren. That's great. Do you smell that? That's citrus. but I think to side it's like I think he's a little too he's taking a few too many edibles I think for I want some I want some anger some activity to drive me to do a good job yeah I agree I agree with that I like seeing mandolary it's also like in the pre-show it's like hello hello my friends by the way here's the mandolian and then he cuts the mandolaryon oh there I'm talking to you now had things over to him for a bit and then yes right and then yeah he's

He's obviously got like a fun voice, Honda does. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that could be wrong. Maybe I'd go on it and not feel that way. It didn't,

it wasn't so offensive to me, but I agree with you. I agree with what you're saying. I miss boost, I thought just bring him back in to yell boost boost. That was my favorite part of his before. Just give me that and then I'll shut up. Yeah,

yeah. Then it ends with like the Star Wars theme, which I think, unnecessary, I think, like they changed the music at the end. I didn't need it there. I don't know why.

But that felt weird to me, So, but I don't know, it felt it was fun. I mean, the fun of the ride I do think is going on and everybody starts screaming. Like, like the fun of it is just that it's like almost like a scream, like a, not a simulator, but like it's a, it forces screams out of families because they're constantly crashing into things. And everyone is having fun, but it's very chaotic in a way. Like, it's always very chaotic. I've never been on with a family. And at this point, I've been on with hundreds of families.

I've really done the market research here. You're in a lot of group pictures in the background. A lot of group photos. You mostly remember the screams. You don't remember what happened actually on the ride. So there's fun. It's still generating fun from everybody who goes through. It's doing its job for the people who are just there to like yell and scream.

Yeah. But now we're, I mean, it's just, it's a net good that they are changing up the where you go. Yeah. Everybody's getting pretty tired of that one path. So the fact you don't, you don't. don't know where you're going when you sit down on that thing. This is a theme park attraction where they said they would update the levels, and sure enough, they took a little bit, but they updated it.

You got three new levels like once. Pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And probably my critiques are ultimately like I'd rather just like spend 45 minutes in the ship. I'd rather walk the halls, like clean up or something, eat a meal there, kiss in the hallway. Well, Mike, that's what I, in this behind the scenes footage that's on the Disney. Parks, YouTube. It's all of them

configuring the ride at like two in the morning. Yes, I watch this. So it's like six people doing the ride with MacBook pros on their lap, which looked very fun. And they're all like concentrating and trying to track the like subwifers and the graphics and everything. But so I was like, well, let me in. Give me a pass to that. I want to go at 2 a.m. with the crew. I want to go with the programmers.

Are you going to help? Huh? Do I just want to watch? We're talking about liking operational stuff. You want to be the behind the scenes photographer. You want to be. No, I just want to be a lookie loo.

I don't want to. I'm actually a huge burden on them. I am, there's a funny moment where they, like, imagine here, it's like to the camera bay. I was like, okay, you can't see this. Like, because they were in, like, a server room. But I,

I really liked when they're like, all right, we have like five, ten minutes to fix this. There's a reset automatically at two ten every morning. And they're like talking about what they need to address. And then everything around them starts powering down. And I'm like, let me, I want to see the reboot. It's an interesting little video. And it is funny because like I'm watching this. And this boy, this seems hard to make.

coordinating audio and they're in the cockpit and they're trying to make sure that like you get hit with a piece of debris and the ship bounces the right way and the audio in the back is in as loud and it's different from best blah blah blah going on and on and on and then I got on a podcast and I'm like if chewy stuck his tongue out on the windshield it would have been better

you should hit Jabba's new son you should land on him and then he should fart and the fart blast him back off the... Sorry, Scott, he's too strong. He would just pick it up and throw it away. And what I've heard about him is that he is his own man, not his father.

He's his own man. You're right. He's not Jabba. He's Rota or something. Rota, the hut. Yeah, yeah. And not his father. I want a familial melodrama about the whole hut extent. I want like August Osage County, but

it's all the huts. I think you will get a hut. And bringing over hot dish after a funeral. Make it bring hot dish If you're playing the hot dish drinking game You thought you were done at the beginning But hot dish

It's a comeback Hot dish We should touch on the Do you have anything to say About meeting the characters You know This aspect of it I don't think we fully

Yeah I didn't get to see a fun Like thing where anybody did a fun chase I've watched some videos of like Luke and Leia interacting with kids And it seems like they're doing a little bit of like the Ray thing nothing quite but like they're still in that zone it's not it's not fully like regular meet and greet where like plants okay like there's some of it that's how i met han he kind of plants in front of

millennium falcon but then he does a little business with people uh han was not the performer was like in character but it wasn't it wasn't like the Jurassic park stuff recently at fan fest where you were like they got some like grade a like impressions of these perform of these characters So it wasn't so compelling. You wanted Han to be a little gruffty. You wanted carpenter slash weed dealer Harrison Ford to be gruffty. Well, who doesn't want that? Yeah, who doesn't want that in their daily life?

You wanted the Han. You wanted to feel that that performer was bad at sex, like Kerry Fisher said, like Harrison Ford wasn't a good lady. But then on some Ringer podcasts, one of the hosts said that she heard that Harrison Ford was a great lay. I would assume he would be. I think Kerry Fisher was trying to take him down a peg. Probably. Well, I just took what he said. I took what he said. He was a great lay. That's something I say constantly in my daily life. Who was a great lay? I want to go for a great lay. I'm sorry. I told the one apocryphal story from a podcast, not the other apocryphal story. She was just trying to

knock him down a peg. They were ribbing each other. They knew each other for years. Come on. Here's some Ford. Get out of here. Todd, what do you think? Do you think Terrace and Ford was good? This is one I'm going to refrain from. Okay. Fair enough. Smart.

We're all hoping for the postcards from the edge ride. There is a Galaxy's Edge, a new one that's come out. And I'll say what, what, the, seeing Luke Han and Leah, it's like, it's cool. Is it life changing like I want it to be? Does it change the land in a profound way? your friends, what'd you think? No, it's not as big of a deal. I will say it is fun, especially

now, to like imagine that they can like continue the story of the, of these characters in the land in some way. I don't know if that's actually going to be fulfilled or the promise of that will be satisfying or whatever. It seems like most of

their story in future is going to be speaking to little children and taking pictures with them. Yes. So their story is taken a very a different turn than what they did say and the Empire Strikes Back. Perhaps it won't be as exciting as they just wander by the blue milk stand.

Did you want some like Timothy Zon, Mara Jade extent universe stuff? Sure, I would love that, yeah. But I mean, there's a little of that in the streaming series of Star Wars, but that's a whole... I've lost track of all. There's so many shows and comics. Theron. Theron is in the shows.

I haven't even finished the comeback yet. Is that in the Mandovers? Thanks to the, date. You did tell us earlier that you were about to start it. Season half did. We got a season half left. So if you're, if you're, if you've got your Jason comeback meter on, how many episodes? People need to, let's place, people are going to want to be track, people want to track your journey. A few episodes in this season. Seth Rosen is like her ally. Well, you're still in season two? Yeah, we're still in season two. Oh, you're still, oh, you haven't even,

oh, okay, so Jason's, I don't know, Jason's, Jason's comeback, not the new comeback is in the former, doing old comeback so we can start a new comeback. I mean, it's smart. You should. I think that's right. Now, look, you're right. There's so many shows the track. We're saying, is their journey, you know, where can these characters go now, now that they are all finally in Galaxy's Edge?

And some of this was answered in a pretty compelling and exciting way on ABC primetime television. I posted this on our social media but I thought it bears mentioning here. And I think the best thing, all right, so I guess seeing your friends didn't change your life. But there is one stellar piece of entertainment that has come from, you know, the Holy Trinity now being in Galaxy's Edge. And it is that on the program, American Idol on Star Wars Night, did you happen to catch this, Todd?

I didn't know. I'm very excited to hear this. There was, okay, so the judges have all dressed up. walking through Galaxy's Edge dressed up like the characters, they're actually wearing like the stand, like the costumes that we know. Yes. Except for Ryan Sechrist, who I believe

is dressed like Yoda or something. I don't quite recall. I'll see when I play. But what I'm about to play, I mean, I feel like, okay, look, it's just a fact at this point that ever since Disney bought Star Wars, it's been tumultuous. There are people disagree about the movies. People disagree about the shows.

You know, we've changed Galaxy's Edge. Like, all right, now it's a new thing. We aren't quite doing what we started it as. I think we can all agree that what I'm about to play is the ultimate manifested. This is why they bought the franchise. They made George proud. They made the fans happy. It all coalesces in this incredible clip.

Gosh, the leaders of the Rebel Alliance are coming, y'all. Should we hide? Nice disguise, Rebel. Thanks. I learned it from the best. Well, Luke Skywalker, I've always wanted to meet you. May the Force be with you, Padawan. Wow, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen.

And that was it. They didn't have to, they didn't need a lot of real estate for that. The American Idol judges all walked up in a kind of a bizarreo Seinfeld moment. The two groups of four met and they stood. The blocking was they walked three steps. They talked. Some of them talked. and then the conversation was clearly over,

so they all just kept walking. They moved past each other, and I mean, if that doesn't fill you with the Star Wars spirit, I don't know what else will. Yeah, it is a great piece of Star Wars media on par with the Christmas special, I think. The greatest thing. It is canon, though, I think.

Luke Skywalker, I've always wanted to meet you. Then he calls him a paddlewine, but he's like 50-something years old. I feel like you've got to be younger. You can go back to school? You can always up your Padawan trainer. I guess they shouldn't be offensive like that. Youngling is just a phrase.

It's not automatically. Doesn't, but they say Anakin's two, or no, Luke is too old to train. Isn't that so what somebody says? Luke is too old and Anakin's too old. Yeah, that's a running theme of the history rhyming. Wow, it's the leaders of the rebel lines. Should we hide? Why is that?

What's that on the two? I don't know, because they're good guys too. They're not dressed like the empire. Yeah, yeah. That would make sense. But I first saw that. out of context and I thought it was just a commercial. I didn't know about American Idol Star Wars Night

and I don't know who the judges are currently. Yes, I know. Most of them I did. I have not been up on who are the Jelukh Brian is one of them. So I guess that was the Luke's are meeting. Lionel Richie, I don't believe has a line. I don't believe Han Solo has a line. Yeah, Han doesn't say anything. Well, they match up.

They, yeah, both actor, Lionel Richie, the giant rich pop star and the guy just playing on solo in the sketch. Both of them were like, no lines. please. Can I sit this one out? Lionel Richie looks cool wearing his outfit though. It does. That's our good loop group. I don't think it's going out on a limb to say Han Solo is cool and Lionel Richie is cool.

So, you know, they saw an eye and they didn't need to engage. He wears it well. I think I, after, because I'm such a fan of this clip, what I want in Galaxy's Edge now is that I get to meet Luke, Brian, Princess Carrie Underwood, Hans Solo, Lionel Richie, and Ryan C. Christ and Yoda ears. There's so much an impact this make on me. That's the walk-around characters I want. I agree with that.

I would love to see them there. Just insert them whenever. It doesn't matter. When you think of it, this, Luke Lay and Hahn all being together, we didn't get that in the sequels. No. We didn't get the characters together one last time. Why would we want to?

Who wants that? Who wants to see those? When you could have this. Disney owns this now and we got this. May the force be with you. Wow. Should we have hid a couple of minutes? minutes ago? No. We're your friends. All right. Well, cool. Anyway, we don't want to keep you. Okay, bye. I wish it was a full-length

special. Yes, I would watch it entire. That would be really fun. So, thrilled to have that. I am too. Todd, do you feel anything when you see? I don't know what your feelings are about the characters. Do you feel anything when you see these original characters? There's a matter to you. I like the fact that people, from what I'm hearing, especially from readers, and I like the fact that there are more people, going to the land. Yes. It feels a little bit more active. It feels a little bit more alive. So I do like that aspect of it.

And, you know, Darth Vader does do a similar sort of show to what Kylo Ren did coming out of the ship. And, you know, they play the Imperial March. And the few times I've seen that, people cheered and booed. So I think it sort of, some people cheered, some people booed. And I think it sort of gives, so he gives guests something to play with and interact with. So overall, I think it's, you know, a move for the better. Yeah. So you feel like overall this nets out at, like, it's not what it's not what it could have been, but we're, you know, we're, they are, they are adjusting in smart ways and just admitting it's something different now.

And there's cool stuff about that. Todd, is the datapad functionality still there in the Disney Play app? It is still there in the Disney Play app. I looked it up a couple weeks ago when I was there to make sure it all still worked. But it's still there, but I haven't used it in a long time. and I think this was I think long, long ago in 2019 I think you had written about it

or mentioned in an article I was like oh maybe talk come on and talk about the data pad stuff and then the world changed and it's just been chaos for six years you've been meaning to get to the data pad episode for six years you didn't tell us maybe five I was in the back of my mind I was like oh that's an element we haven't talked about

maybe something and it only came back to me now because again chaos health you know the data pat i remember waiting in those those that first summer in the previews or whatever it was spring whatever whatever it was uh and i would use the data pad then to like make stuff make noise sure while we were waiting in the forest area and that's about all i mean i did think i made a droid beep and boop once in a while yeah i have i have a running data pad thing where i'm like oh, if I'm on Main Street, I want to go to Esmeralda, the fortune teller, and get the little card fortune. Because it has your fortune and a storyline on the back.

And if used the Disney Play app, it tracks where you're at in the story. But every time we get there, we're like, oh, the phone auto remove this app for space. I got to download this on the Bay of Disney Wi-Fi so I can get my little card. Yeah, that's not so magical. when you're trying to get that app re-downloaded. That's happened before. You've downloaded all those comeback episodes. Yeah.

I can't delete these. I can't delete these. It's got 2014 era HD. It takes up a lot of room. The Disney Play app has always over-clocked my phone. It's always made of very warm. Yeah, you always are talking about certain apps that make your phone warm. I don't, because I'm always a few phones behind.

I would like to test out which apps make your phone hot. I still got the mini. I'm holding on to the mini till it collapses. Certain apps we could cook an egg on your phone. That's a good idea. Try to prepare a delicious meal. Entirely cooked on. Wait, but it's a mini, though.

That's going to be tougher to cook a meal on. I know. You got to start, like, an entire egg is going to overwhelm that. Well, we got to make the meals for, like, dogs or hamsters. So it's got to be a little size. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like a viral video. Like a viral videos.

Yeah. All right. So let's make a cute. viral meal entirely using Jason's phone as a habanji. As long as he knows the right app. You know what? I'll shoot any, I think I know the guy who made those.

I'll shoot him at e-bail. How do I best make tiny food? Or the surface. Ask him. Todd, anything you're like, what are you looking forward to in the near future theme park-wise or things that you're going to go with? Like, what's on the horizon

in 2026 that you're hopeful or excited about? I'm excited about the Fast and Furious Coaster a universal. Yeah, yeah. Great. I'm very curious about sworn across America. Mm-hmm. And let's see what else is coming in 2026 in the SoCal area. I'm excited for the return of Ghost Town Alive, which you guys mentioned earlier. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. They were pretty impressed list here. Yeah, yeah. And Mautz is also bringing back the Montezuma coaster, so I'm excited about that. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yes. Wait, that is, is that the one that's basically a loop in back? Correct. Okay, okay. Are they like jazz and are their like effects as the Q?

Like is it like a little more, does it have a little more going on? What do we do? What do we know about that? So it's a new track. So I think it's smoother attraction. And I think that's why it's been taking so long. Oh, sure. And definitely some upgrades to the Q area.

But it's still going to be a pretty short coaster. It's still the same footprint. Sure. It is a classic sort of coaster. Yeah, yeah. It's been an interesting year of like, we aren't getting like big old new stuff. But there's like so many little. redo like sort of modest

redos that I guess none of which add up into like wow that's insane that changes the industry but they're all nice I like you know Universal Disney but all over the place people like these parks are like given some love to some things that could use it you know it wasn't something you can put on a billboard

but it's it's nice for us we notice somebody was saying and who am I quote oh sorry somebody tell me who I'm quoting somebody recently said that like imaginary maybe specifically was thinking in terms of like we don't have to hit like a grand slam every time. Yeah, yeah.

You can have like a single or a double. You got to play small ball sometimes. You gotta play small ball. In a way that I think maybe current, like recent imaginering hasn't thought about it like that basically. Like, so I don't know. Whoever I'm quoting, I'm sorry. Brad Pitt. You're quitting Brad Pitt.

That's what from money ball. He gets on base. What's he gotten called? He gets on base. Well, thank you, Brad, for that quote. Yeah, so yeah, no, I agree. It's like, there's a bunch of, like, little stuff that all, like, seems like pretty good. Yeah, yeah.

Pretty good. No, current, decent, little translate. It's been nice. Yeah, yeah. This is nice to talk about. This is a good thing to meditate on. Yeah, sure. I'm excited to get down there when I do.

Well, I complain about the music, I guess. Yeah. That does need to change. Yeah, yeah, all right. We'll fix that. We need to switch that. Otherwise, thanks for coming to us with this. Todd Martins, you survived podcast.

ride. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Thanks for joining us. We've been reading your stuff forever. I'm so excited to, we could have you. Let's exit through the gift shop.

Is there anything you'd like to plug? Sure. We just launched a theme park newsletter. So it's L.A.Times.com backslash Wild Ride. And that's where you can go and find me. And that links to my socials as well. This is Mr.

Todd's Wild Ride. It is Mr. Todd's Wild Ride. I do feel weird sometimes saying the name. I'll do it for you. It's good. It's fun. I think it's good. Yeah, don't know.

We've said a bunch of weird stuff today, so I think you're good. Don't worry. No, it's a fun name. It's actually my editor's idea. Oh, that's great. And she said it as a joke and it's stuck. So, yeah, that's all. Oh, that's great.

That's great. Well, yeah, go take Mr. Dodd's Wild Ride. And as for us for three bonus episodes every month, check out Podcast the Red the Second Gate or get one more bonus episode in our VAP tiered cloud three. You'll find all of that at patreon.com slash podcast The Ride, where you can take Mr. Jason's Wild Ride, which I guess will go to the other.

side of the wind. Pleasant listening. Forever. This has been a Forever Dog production. Executive produced by Mike Carlson, Jason Sheridan, Scott Gerdner, Brett Boehm, Joe Silio, and Alex Ramsey. For more original podcasts, please visit Forever Dog Podcasts.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 Foreverdog Team and liking our page on Facebook.